# Rookie mistake :(



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

I was well underway with my new build, a 40 vert with a 2 sided titebond, cork and ghostwood background. it looked awesome IMO. Now it was a few things that I wish I would have done differently such as not make my false bottom nearly 7" high and plumb my drip wall to drip on the side wall too. Now those were only minor issues and I was still moving forward full steam ahead. 

Tonite after I got off of work I was going to stop my procrastinating and install my sliding front kit from Dane at Jungle Box. I t was well made and well packaged and I was stoked tearing through the foam, bubble wrap and tape to get to the goodies. I got everything unpacked, laid it out on the table, grabbed the directions and began getting the tank ready for the installation.

First step was to add some notches to the tank rim, check. Second step, scrape of pre-existing silicone from the bottom corners, check. Third step install the bottom glass pane inside the rim, uh oh.

Now me with all of my infinite wisdom made it up in my mind that the bottom pane of glass would be installed on the outside of the rim and i didnt even thing twice about the now rock hard 1/4" of titebond and peat that covered the side all the got#!%$ way to the tank's rim. Ok think fast, I'll just chisel it out..... nope that didnt work. Ok I'll just slide a butter knife in the 1mm gap between the rim and the titebond, damnit that didnt work. Well I'll just wedge the glass in the gap....$%&@ I chip the glass!!!!!

To make an already long story a little bit shorter, about $100 worth of cork wasted. A gallon and a half of Titebond III wasted. A total of 4 months of dreaming, planning, saving, buying and building....wasted. And all I ended up with is a useless 40 vert with a nice, useless background. At least I saved my ghostwood lol.

That was my super rookie mistake, whats yours?


p.s. I'll post a pick of my useless 40 before i tore the ghostwood out.


----------



## Blue_Pumilio (Feb 22, 2009)

Dremel it out? Sand?


----------



## winsch1027 (Jul 1, 2008)

Man, that sucks, your hardscape is bangin'. Hopefully you can find a fix for it.


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Blue_Pumilio said:


> Dremel it out? Sand?


A dremel may work but I'm worried it will damage the glass. 

I appreciate the compliment. Like I said the side was was added on much later than the background so its missing the cork tubes and I wanted to add them to unify the design so its somewhat bitter sweet

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## evannave (Jan 23, 2009)

I have a friend who made verts were he removed the black bracing and just did glass on glass like euro bracing for aquariums works just fine and has held up for about 4 or 5 years I would give that a try that back ground looks great by the way.


----------



## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

The background looks great if thats any consolation! 

Maybe this will make you feel better:
I just got my custom built 125g lid from Dane. Took it to the frog room unpacked it & set it on the floor while I setup all the screens that came with the glass.
Got a phone call pertaining to a family emergency that required me to leave the house immediately. Im running around the house gathering up a few things & in my haste I hear a CRAAAAAAAAACKKKK ... 
I looked down and see my lid shattered.
In the mad dash to leave the house I had totally forgot it was laying there.

Needless to say, I called Dane for a replacement & it was there in a week.


----------



## ndame88 (Sep 24, 2010)

Jungle Box has a 40 vert conversion kit? I could not find it on their website?s


----------



## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

ndame88 said:


> Jungle Box has a 40 vert conversion kit? I could not find it on their website?s


He only has common sizes on his website. If you contact Dane, he is more than willing to do custom builds. You just have to give him the dimensions of the tank you're working on.


----------



## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

I cant count the times I've forgotten the "measure twice, cut once rule" and destroyed a piece of glass.


----------



## whitethumb (Feb 5, 2011)

agreed nice background. you have tons of little hiding places that look really good. hope everything works out for you.


----------



## Tony83 (Nov 11, 2012)

What part is damaged? Before you rip it all out post a photo. It may be fixable!


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Tony83 said:


> What part is damaged? Before you rip it all out post a photo. It may be fixable!


Well its not damaged I just got carried away with the titebond and I was ignorant of how the conversion kit should be installed. 

I can't get the background out without breaking the tank, but I'm going to try to grind the titebond out with a dremel.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Tony83 (Nov 11, 2012)

Ahh ok. I assumed that it was the tank that cracked. Hopefully you can salvage the setup, it looks nice.


----------



## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

start misting the area you want out.. it will soften up once its absorbed a little moisuture, allowing you to grab a sharp razor blade to cut through the section you need. TB3 is a tough one, but I promise you its not over yet! you will find a way.. and with a 40 that stunning you better do it.. or box it up and sell it to me


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Nismo95 said:


> start misting the area you want out.. it will soften up once its absorbed a little moisuture, allowing you to grab a sharp razor blade to cut through the section you need. TB3 is a tough one, but I promise you its not over yet! you will find a way.. and with a 40 that stunning you better do it.. or box it up and sell it to me


LOL!!! Im glad you guys like it. I actually felt like it could have been better. In a mindless fit of rage I did rip out the ghost wood, but Im going to add them back with a bit more great stuff so I can have more brom mounts. 

I already went to work on it with a dremmel. It comes off like butter when I put the multimax to it. 

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Ok so crisis adverted. The lower glass pane is installed along with the vents and all is well (for now).

Now I'm debating if I should put the ghost wood back in or add more cork slabs and tubes in or maybe both. What do you guys think?
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## winsch1027 (Jul 1, 2008)

Great to hear that you got it all figured out. I would add the ghost wood in to take up some of the air space.


----------



## JayMillz (Jun 27, 2012)

Nice save *PHEW* What are you planning on having hop around in there when it's all established and up and running? I look forward to seeing the end result.


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

I was thinking a group of Varaderos as far as inhabitants go, but im kindof open to any "easy" aboreal species. I wasnt going to post any pics until it was completely done but I had to share this mishap.


----------



## Duff (Aug 4, 2011)

Love, love love the set up of the tank with the ghostwood - so that's my vote! Glad to hear you were able to sort out the issue!


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Thanks. I'm adding the ghost wood back but I'm arranging them so as to not block light and my viewing pleasure from the background plants when I mount the broms. 

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Arpeggio (Jan 15, 2011)

Wait wait wait, can' you just get a pieces of glass cut, (a top pieces, a door piece, and a bottom piece) and silicone them onto the rim? And make a silicone hinge (living hinge?) for the door? That's exactly what I did for my 29gallon vert and it's fine... Just make sure to measure from the inside of the rim.


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Yea I guess you could do that but I already got the vert kit from jungle box

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Ok this is the remake with ghostwood in place. I'm not going to post any more pics of this build on this tread but look out for the planted images in the Members Vivariums forum. Sorry for the sideways pic 


Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Azurel (Aug 5, 2010)

diggenem said:


> I was thinking a group of Varaderos as far as inhabitants go, but im kindof open to any "easy" aboreal species. I wasnt going to post any pics until it was completely done but I had to share this mishap.


Hard to beat varadeo....The contrast of the bright metallic orange and blue...I think they would be a good choice.

The hardscape looks great.

sent from my Galaxy S lll


----------



## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

James speaks the truth. I have my lovely pair of Varadero from him.  I am sure him or I will have froglets available for you in spring. He may even now lol. But I will for sure! James already has to much money though so come talk to me, ill hook it up haha


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

LOL. Too much money huh, well I want to be like James when I grow up! 

But seriously, spring will be perfect. Gives me time to work out the kinks and get the ff production down packed.

I should have this thing planted soon. I already have about 15 broms to choose from, and I'm stoping by the walley world and the blue home improvement store to see what they have.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

lol i figured james (azurel) would of loved my last comment. haha. But yeah man for sure. Spring will be great for everyone and hopefully should have some very well started froglets for you, possibly even old enough to weed out the males from the females. Just keep in touch!


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

I definitely will Nismo. I have a question for you though, on your Exo what type of ferns are those and do you have them mounted or in planters?

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Sticky Fingers (Sep 28, 2011)

Your viv looks great man! I'm glad everything worked out for you.


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Thanks Sticky.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Arpeggio (Jan 15, 2011)

diggenem said:


> Yea I guess you could do that but I already got the vert kit from jungle box
> 
> Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


Oh duh I didn't read the first post very well lol. Glad you get it worked out.


----------



## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

diggenem said:


> I definitely will Nismo. I have a question for you though, on your Exo what type of ferns are those and do you have them mounted or in planters?
> 
> Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


Names Brandon for future reference.  and they are E.T ferns. I got them from NEHerp and honestly.. kinda giving me issues in this viv. The way the grow is some really stiff rhyzomes so i just cut a few good sections and than threw some sheet moss where they were going and than tied them on top of the moss. They will root themselves down into it and than the rhyzomes remain above the "soil" and spread around growing as they please.. I am having troubles finding the right spot for them to be light/watering wise.. and not sure if they are going to make it yet. Not seeing much growth just a lot of slow death lol


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

I'm sorry about that Brandon. By the way my name is Tray. I hope they work out because that is one nice viv you got there. 

I just started planting mines and even though I like the verts...space is at a premium lol. 

I'm going to start another thread on this build in the members vivarium section, since this thread was just supposed to be about a mishap.


Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

i hear you about space issues. After christmas I am going to start another 40b vert for whichever pair of frogs dont go into our exo. And i am going to try copying the big viv in a smaller scale. Of course different plants and what not though.


----------



## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

Hey Digs, 
So sorry to hear of your frustration. Hopefully some will come along and have a great suggestion on how to salvage that beauty!

-Chris


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

kitcolebay said:


> Hey Digs,
> So sorry to hear of your frustration. Hopefully some will come along and have a great suggestion on how to salvage that beauty!
> 
> -Chris


Thanks Chris but she is already up and running lol. I used a dremel multimax with the scraper attachment and scraped off enough titebond so I could wedge the glass panel into place without breaking it. The multimax actually soften the titebond and made it rubbery and then it got stiff again when it cooled off

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------

