# 220 gallons tank build



## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Hi!

This is my first journal in here but this is not my first viv. I currently have a few tree frogs (RETF and Milk frog) and a few mantellas as well. 

This time I wanna go big and elaborate. This one is gonna be for dart frogs. 

Right now I am choosing all my equipment (mostly online). I live in Quebec and we don't have a lot of specialized shops in here. The shipping is gonna be long and expensive, so I'm trying to get everything right the first time. 

The planning is going well. The background will be on one of the small sides, so 24" by 30". I want a 3 sides display. This means that I need a lot of wood and rocks in the tank to mount some broms and vines. I'll make a little pond, I still dont know where. The tank will be drilled and I'll use a sump (I'm thinking eshopps wet/dry one right now). I am also thinking about the herpkeeper. It's expensive but I like gadgets and this controll center looks great to me.
I really like rocks and wood, so I think I'll purchase some fake rocks (big ones) to make the hardscape. I may also buy a fake stump if I can't find a real one. Do you know if plants do well on this? Like broms? Custom Vines/Vivarium Items For Sale - The Green Oasis
For the background I want to put some corkbark and rocks in there, held by GS, which will be covered with the silicone/peat method. 
The flase bottom will be done with eggcrate, but I want to put some substrate (from joshsfrogs) to get biofiltration down there.

The most difficult choice I'm facing is lights. What I know is I want to use led, and I would prefer a nice looking fixture to a DIY one. Also my tank will be 72" so I don't have a lot of options, since I'd prefer a 72" fixture rather than 2 X 36" fixtures. Right now I am looking at buildmyled.com, where they do sell 72" fixtures. I think I'd need 2 to get all my tank covered with a sufficient amount of light. Have any of you guys tried these fixtures? Any review for terrarium use of these would be appreciated.

The second difficulty I'm facing is with driftwood. The only great aquarium store I found here is for reefs, so they don't have any wood. I've been looking online for a great store in Canada, but I've had no luck. Any recommandation here?


That's enough for now, I'll keep you posted. Still a lot to figure out before I actually start the build. Tell me what you think!

Gabrielle


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## gabrielle.martinfortier (Nov 20, 2013)

Here's where I'm at in the planning. I hope you can understand my drawings!

For the fans : I'll have 3 diffent air tunnels. In one of them will be a vent, and the fan in it will be independantly controlled. I want to be able to ajust the circulation and ventilation to the ambiant temperature and humidity. Seasons here are very different from each other. 

I'll also have a heating cable in the soil. So too hot = more ventilation and too cold = cable heat. 

Humidity too low = mist+fog and humidity too high = ventilation.

All this will be controlled by the herpkeeper. I also found out today that the buildyourled fixtures could work with the herpkeeper, so right now I'm pretty sure these are the lights I'm going to use.








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Any flaw so far?

Gabrielle


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## Jewelvivariums (May 28, 2013)

Looks good. I like the whole temperature control idea. The second picture confuses me a bit, It looks like its going to be a peninsula? Keep up the good work


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

Cool mist + Ventilation can also help keep the viv cool. Also, my drawings and what the vivs actually turned out to be were two very different things. Just an FYI. But it looks pretty sweet. And that size is huge! Lookng forward to this


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

One picture is worth a 1000 words, so here is where I'm at right now.






















































































































Fly proofing.



















Cheers,
Gabrielle


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

For artificial rock/wood taxidermy supply stores have some cool stuff with pretty decent pricing...

Artificial Wood

Artificial Rocks


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

I already have artificial wood and rocks being built for me buy a canadian guy  should be ready in less than a week!


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

This is the protection house for the humidity and temp probe from the herpkeeper.
































































Fake vine and rocks I got:


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

I received my AWESOME lights. 6' baby!


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

Pretty impressive so far. Can't wait to see more.


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## Sirjohn (Jan 1, 2014)

Very nice build, its going well.. Can't wait to see it finished.. Any idea what's going in it?


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## Giga (Mar 31, 2011)

you should post bigger pics, those are pretty small and hard to see the detail


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## Bob1000 (Jan 15, 2014)

I use the ap1 humidity and temp probe and they work best hidden under an umbrella like feature or over hang.. the box you built will drown it in a couple months.. Trust me Ive been through 4 of them.. Best of luck with the build..


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Sirjohn said:


> Very nice build, its going well.. Can't wait to see it finished.. Any idea what's going in it?



I think i'm gonna go simple with azureus. I already have 3 and a few tads.





Giga said:


> you should post bigger pics, those are pretty small and hard to see the detail



I don't know why my pics are so bad on here. They look much better on other forums!




Bob1000 said:


> I use the ap1 humidity and temp probe and they work best hidden under an umbrella like feature or over hang.. the box you built will drown it in a couple months.. Trust me Ive been through 4 of them.. Best of luck with the build..



What do you mean drown? It's attached near the top of the tank, I don't know what could possibly happen?


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## Bob1000 (Jan 15, 2014)

The high humidity eventually water logs the problem when you have it in an enclosed area having it out in the open with something to shield it from the top is a better way to mount it.. Also in the box you built you will be reading Rh of that box not the enclosure..


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Yeah well I wanted to hide it the more I could. I know my humidity reading is gonna be higher. If I open it too much the mist is gonna go right on the probe. I could open one side, the one opposite to the nearest mistking head.

Thanks for the advice!


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Here's the progress for the stand! All the panels are ready now, it should be done in a couple of weeks.





































The tall drawer is for fruitfly cultures. 

I also glued some hygrolon to the background. Still have some work to do though.


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

The stand is (almost) done! 

Now we have to show out muscles to get the viv on it. When it's done it should progress quickly.


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## shawq0x01 (Sep 25, 2013)

Could you give some details on your lights and where you got them from?


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Yeah my lights are from buildmyled.com . It was not cheap for this lenght but definately worth it! You can chose the color of every single led on it. For mine they did a special terrarium mix to help with plant growth. I have a double ceiling mounting kit and the lights will be connected to my herpkeeper.

This system is gonna rock!


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

Sweet build so far man, loved the cat pic lol My wife and I want to do either a 180 or a 220 as well but decided to wait until we sell our house and buy something more permanent with a finished basement to house my tanks, were kinda thinking bar meets tank room lol with a big screen tv of course, Im working on my third viv now but knowing me will have at least 2 dozen in the end  its pricey! But every hobby is!


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## shawq0x01 (Sep 25, 2013)

Great, thanks for the info! I'll check them out and keep the pics coming on the build!


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## ndame88 (Sep 24, 2010)

Holy Crap, the stand looks amazing!! Great work.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Fine carpentry work! compliments


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## spawn (Jan 2, 2007)

Gabousse said:


> I already have *artificia*l wood and rocks being built for me buy a canadian guy  should be ready in less than a week!


Be careful - Canadians are the worst. Double-check to make sure it's not made of real wood.


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Haha thanks for your concern! I'm actually Canadian myself, that's why that guy got the contract. I wanted fake wood to get the shape I wanted, and it's not as heavy.


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## spawn (Jan 2, 2007)

It was a joke lol. Can't wait to see the pictures


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Wusserton said:


> Sweet build so far man, loved the cat pic lol My wife and I want to do either a 180 or a 220 as well but decided to wait until we sell our house and buy something more permanent with a finished basement to house my tanks, were kinda thinking bar meets tank room lol with a big screen tv of course, Im working on my third viv now but knowing me will have at least 2 dozen in the end  its pricey! But every hobby is!



This viv is meant to stop me from building too much of them. It's huge and I bought everything I wanted to go in/on it. I think it will hold me for a while 

A bar meets viv would be awesome! It's a lot of work and money but for me it's worth it, even if nobody gets it around me!


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

Gabousse said:


> This viv is meant to stop me from building too much of them. It's huge and I bought everything I wanted to go in/on it. I think it will hold me for a while
> 
> A bar meets viv would be awesome! It's a lot of work and money but for me it's worth it, even if nobody gets it around me!



Yeah a large project like that is awesome, you could do a plaudarium with fish and stuff but if experience dictates the magnitude also translates into maintenance lol one large project would fill enough time to kill 6 smaller projects lol that and if something goes wrong in a small tank it cant spread as easily, if something happens in a large tank it could be a real problem to fix, that and cost. Thats why we want to wait, let me get a bunch of 18x18x24 experience first and work my way up from there  


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

There it is, on its stand! The work can continue!


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Installed the lights today! Don't look inside, it's not ready haha!




























I may put the lights higher.


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Started planting, still a loooooot more to come. I also seeded with 2 kinds of springtails and a few woodlices.


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

Thats gonna look awesome once it establishes! Don't worry people around me don't get it either lol its for you not them, they all seem to gravitate towards the jungle when they visit though 


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)




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## pdfer (Jul 3, 2013)

Really cool. I want one like this just for the fruit fly drawer!


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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)




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## Gabousse (Apr 5, 2013)

Enjoy!


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

I think you've done a great job!


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