# New exoterra - fruit fly proofing



## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I picked up a 18x18x18 sale exoterra a while ago and here is how I made it fruit fly proof . This is mt first one and I will be moving my SI tricolors into it when its ready .

For the front lower front vent I popped the inner molding piece off . I forgot to take a picture if it but it pops right off real easy its just clipped in . I just pops upwards . Just use a small knife and it comes loose easy . Once its off you can look in the back of it and I just cut a few small pieces of screen and glued it in the slots with weld on glue . The center two holes I just filled with silicone since I didn't want to interfere with the latch . Then just pop the molding back on .









For the top I removed the screen and replaced it with glass and a front vent and a center internal circulation system . I siliconed the center part of the screen so it pulls air from one side of the tank and blows it back in the other .
























A sealed in computer fan goes in the back housing for internal circulation .









For the gaps in the doors I just siliconed the gaps closed for a perfect seal . The way I did this was , I opened the doors , and on the side panes of glass I used a piece of glad wrap and wrapped it around the side glass were the doors meet then ran a bead of silicone down the edges of the doors and closed them . When it dried I just sliced off the excess front and back silicone with a razor blade . I did the same thing for the gap were the doors meet , just use silicone on one door edge and glad wrap on the other and close the door . 

































No fruit fly is getting out of this . 

And they are Drillable for drains . On this one I put the bulkhead on the side since its going on a shelf not a rack .










For the back ground I used a combination of a piece of sheet cork ( The exo terra bark background ) in the center , Great stuff and the original foam background that came with the tank that I just trimmed down and used on the side panes , some wood and tree fern plack . Its hard to see but I made a few "platforms" in the corners from the GS for places for the frogs to "call" from or just hang out .

And I also ran an extra bead of silicone around the whole bottom of the tank and up the sides part way since they didn't do a good job of this at the factory . just to make sure there were no leaks .


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## onefstsnake (Jul 31, 2008)

Looks great!

Id love to do a small cube. But the local Petsmart wants $100 for the small ones. :shock:


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## Fishman (Jan 16, 2007)

Nice descriptive post! I just pickup up two on clearance at Petco, until now I have always stolen tanks from my fish for vivs. Now I get to play with an exo,


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## bennytec (Aug 4, 2008)

Nice circulation fan set up. I'll have to try that.


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## MattySF (May 25, 2005)

Mods look great! Nice work piggy!


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## sinflspeed (Aug 6, 2008)

Did you drill the drain port yourself? Is there anythingspecial I would need to do, or worry about if I wanted to try this on my own?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Yes I did , you can see a brief description on how I did it in this post .

parts-construction/topic23296.html

You can forgo the silicone on the jig if you can keep it holding water with out it . And make sure you support the underside of the piece of glass your drilling with a flat  piece of wood , it helps prevent cracking when the drill goes all the way through . And don't use too much pressure while drilling . I've only cracked one tank while drilling it and that was because I didn't support the underside while drilling . go gentile and slow .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Here we have a few plants in it now , I have a brom to move in here from the other tank and a nice piece of driftwood branch goes in also when this tank grows in for a while . 
I'm moving my Santa Isabel's into here when it grows in and will move the wood and brom in when I move the frogs from the other tank . It should make it easier catching the frogs when I go to move them .









And the space I made for it lower left .








I'm slowly running out of space  and have to be creative in finding room .

Right now they are in the 29g on the top . It dosen't look like it but the Exoterra actually has more floor space than the 29 . Due to the thick background and front vent , its only 8" deep . So I hope they like it .


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## Gillbert95 (Mar 27, 2014)

For the gaps in the doors I just siliconed the gaps closed for a perfect seal . The way I did this was , I opened the doors , and on the side panes of glass I used a piece of glad wrap and wrapped it around the side glass were the doors meet then ran a bead of silicone down the edges of the doors and closed them . 



Do you have to use a specific silicon? I don't know much about the chemicals and if they would hurt the frogs.


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