# 90 gal construction diary.



## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

Hi folks. I just wanted to start this thread, for now. I'm going to be posting a daily journal pretty much of the viv I'm working on. It's a 90gal with sliding doors. The camera is still down in the shop so pictures and the actual diary will start tomorrow on this thread.


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

Well, it had begun. Right off the bat, I ran into my first problem. The tank is a 90 gallon with sliding doors. The obsticle I came across was that the dam was only 3 inches tall... no where near tall enough for a false-bottom and a good amount of substrate. The solution; I cut a 7" tall piece of acrylic and siliconed it into place. Here are pictures of the operation:



















While the silicone was set to cure for the day, I started on what will be my creek or stream. I took a box that light tubes come in, I'd say about 7x7x48", and taped up both ends, then cut one entire side off. Next I filled it with Great Stuff to make a 4ft block of foam. Here are pictures:

Here is the box:










In case you ever wondered, here is how far ONE large can of Great Stuff will get you:










And here is the full box:












Well that's all for tonight. The silicone and foam will dry for the remainder of the day/night. I'll hopefully have more up tomorrow!


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

After a second day of work, I accomplished a good amount. I cut the egg crate to shape, built my ledges out of it, and got the entire egg crate structure screened in. Didn't do much with the foam stream though, just cut the block length-wise. Here are photos:


Here is the egg crate landscape:









And another view, this side you can see where the pond will be in the corner:









Finally, here she is all screened up and ready to go:









And the foam block, ready for sculpting:


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

nice!

are you working inside a store of some sort? Should make an awesome display


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## beeswaxx (Feb 17, 2005)

Very cool!
I'm looking forward to seeing more of this!


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## Curt61 (Jan 16, 2007)

Hey, looks like it is comming along great, just wondering but why did you put the pond in the back corner? don't people normally put them in the front corner? 
Fishmommy it sure looks like he is because those are some of the moonlight bulbs that I have on the shelf.


Curt.


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

Welp, day 3 has come and gone. I accomplished quite a bit I suppose, for being a short day. To answer your question Fishmommy; yes it is being built in a store. In fact, it is being built in my store which I just opened on the 3rd of this month. It's located in northeastern Pennsylvania and is called "Project: Reptile." It is a reptile specialty store and I'm really trying to push the vivs, which seem to slowly be catching on. Everyone who has come in so far has commented on the tanks. 
Anyways, back to the construction. As pictured above, I cut the foam black length-wise, and today I cut one of those halves in half width-wise so I too roughly equal pieces about 2 feet long, or so. I then carved out my "creek" on one of those smaller pieces. It was a long and messy process (as you would know if you have ever cut styrofoam up). The creek was essentally a canal and at the "starting point" there was a pool, which I cut a whole straight through the bottom of and siliconed in a 16oz delicup. I then did the same thing with the second 2ft piece of foam. Below are pictures.


Here is what my stream/creek pieces look like, with the cup set in place and one layer of black silicone on. You can also see the tubing running up through the bottom of the start point of the creek:









And a side view:










After letting the silicone try for about 8 hours, I put another layer of brown silicone over the black, then embedded some river rock and Exo-Terra Riverbed sand onto it. Also, on the pond corner, I put down a fat layer of brown silicone and embedded the same sand and stone. I also placed some extra stone and a barnicled shoot around the "shore line" to help prevent substrate landslides into the pool. Here are the pics of it while drying.

Here is the finished top half of the creek set in place:









And here is a different view where you can see the complete pond:











Well, that is enough for today. I might take a day off tomorrow so production will probably continue on Monday. Who knows though, I get hooked on these types of things. I might sneak down tomorrow and tinker around about. Also Curt, to answer you question about the pond in the back corner... there is no reason really. It just happened that way. However, it probably would have been easier to access and maintain if I had put it in the front corner by the doors. On the other hand, the side of the tank with the doors kind of hinders the view with all the assorted pieces of glass. With the pond in the back corner, at least customers can view the pond clearly thru the back wall which is one solid and clear sheet of glass.


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## RBroskie (Jan 21, 2007)

you are giving me lots of good ideas. :lol: great looking work ill look forward to seeing your progress!


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## ksquared (Jan 21, 2007)

do you know what you want to put in the tank yet as far as frogs go?


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

Alright, here's a quick update, since I missed yesterdays. I finished both halves of the creek. I have them both in place and wired up, now it's pretty much just a matter of filling in the eco-earth and planting the thing. That and getting my wood and other decorations in there. Here are some pics.

Here is one view of the stream feature in place. It starts on one end, runs down to a small waterfall, falls into another pool, then continues down the stream to a pond in the corner. Here you can see the dirt starting to be put in place:










And here is a wider angle view, you can see the entire stream system and the pond it emptys into:










Hopefully, the next pictures will be the finished product. I have alot of wood the place in there and a bunch of plants and moss. Also, I'm going to add a fogger to the top pool where the stream starts. The last step will be putting the misting system in place... then I'm all set.


Also, to answer you question ksquared about the frogs. The plan is to put some baby tincs into the viv for now. I have 6 of them waiting to get in there.


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## sean33 (Oct 11, 2006)

Great looking stream!!! Any update on the progress?


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## andy83 (May 31, 2006)

Wow, that looks really good so far. That is a good sized tank as well. I like what you can do with that egg crate.


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## rickmcdole (Oct 1, 2006)

*Egg crate*

Hey, I've been impressed with the structures some of you build with egg crate. My question is: what do you use to glue the egg crate sections together?


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## titan501x (Dec 7, 2006)

*Re: Egg crate*



rickmcdole said:


> My question is: what do you use to glue the egg crate sections together?


I've heard people use hot melt glue, i've never tried it myself, but i don't see why it wouldn't work.


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## Hassan347 (Jan 8, 2006)

I use Zipp ties and a small torch for some of the more intricate areas.


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## dracotaz (May 15, 2007)

I always use Hot glue. 
Ive checked MSDS on them and they are perfectly fine... the only issue comes up after time. Generally the glue will hold for a month or so, sometimes longer, but by then, I have so much silicone and screening and cork or whatever holding it together, the hot glue could completely disintigrate and it would all hold just fine.


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## meatslim (Jun 6, 2007)

what i do that works really well is.. i use the spare pieces of eggcrate and melt it to the joints with a soldering iron.. be sure to clean the tip often as to not ruin the soldering tip


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

Wow, I've done a terrible job at updating this thread. Then I saw someone else bump it from March and I felt really guilty that there was still interest in it and I have lacked an update. So here it is:

The tank is now completed and planted up. The stream turned out alot better than I was expecting. It runs about half the tank's legnth, then drops down via about a 4" waterfall, then pools at the bottom of the fall and continues down to the far corner of the tank where it emptys into a little "pond". 

To answer some of your questions about how I built with the egg crate... I connected to crate using little legnths of flourist wire. It hasn't rusted yet, but even if it down, it's so minute that I'm not really worried about it. Below are some pictures of the finished product. Some are with the fogger running, and some with out. Enjoy!


Here is an over-all pic of the tank:










Here is a pic of the stream (at least I tried to get it):










Here is a misc. view from inside:










...And another....










Here is a close-up of the stream emptying into the pond:










And lastly, one of the happy home-owners. Here is one of my sips:


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## dracotaz (May 15, 2007)

excellent work! 

I was wondering about using pitcher plants... looks like they work nicely


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## bstorm83 (Jul 16, 2007)

qucik question becuae i am new. Do you just fil the substrate up to the level of the egg crate and i noticed the eggcrate was bent for the pond, does this make the pond by blowin through at the bent level?


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## Laxman (Aug 26, 2005)

wow that is an amazing tank
ive never really liked having a view from both sides (like without the backing)
but you pulled it off nicely


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## nelcadiz (Jun 27, 2007)

WOOOW!! :shock: , mamamia ragatso!! it´s amazing, his appearance is very natural!! :wink:


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

Thanks for the comments! To answer a few questions:

Bstorm: The egg crate is used as a flase bottom. So actually, you fill water up to the level of the egg crate (actually about an inch below to be safe). Then the substrate goes ontop of the false bottom, in this case, the crate. Now any excess water will drip down through the dirt into the water resivour below, to provide drainage. The crate dips down into the water below in the corner, which makes the appearance of the pond.

Lax: I feel the same way about double visable sides. I much prefer the background/wall method, but I knew this tanks was going to be in the middle of my shop, so it had to be visable from all sides. To be honest, at first I really didn't like this tank at all and thought about re-doing it. Now that some time has gone by and its fully planted, my opinion has changed.


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## nelcadiz (Jun 27, 2007)

what type of vine you used??, more pics please


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## smoyer (Jul 9, 2007)

If you people thinks this tank is nice in these pics, you should see it in his shop, its pretty sweet. Nice tank man


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

nelcadiz said:


> what type of vine you used??, more pics please



Sorry to take a while to reply. The vines used are Surreal vine, Pigtail vine, and piece of Frankenstien vine from the company Eco-Terrarium Supply, which I recently became a dealer of at my shop. If any of you guys are around the Northeast Pennsylvania area, you should stop by!


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## nelcadiz (Jun 27, 2007)

Can you to list the kinds of plants used? At the future I would like to build a seemed vivarium... :roll: I would like to see it in real, but it´s difficult, I live in spain  :roll:


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## ian (Dec 25, 2006)

Yes I second a plant list. I want to know what that tall spiky leafed plant is on the right hand side under the vine is.


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## MRI_GUY (Jul 31, 2006)

Whera re you located in NE PA. I'd love to see your place and a local outlet for crac... er ah reptile supplies is always preferred.


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

MRI_GUY said:


> Whera re you located in NE PA. I'd love to see your place and a local outlet for crac... er ah reptile supplies is always preferred.


MRI, I honesly can say I don't get the "crac..." comment. I know jokes aren't as funny when you have to explain it to someone, but I think you might have to in this case. The only thing I can come up with is "crack" and if that's the case, then I'm REALLY lost. :shock:


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## the_noobinator (Jan 14, 2007)

yeah i just took it as a reference to most cities in NEPA having a problem with the nose candy.


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## MRI_GUY (Jul 31, 2006)

Yes it was a crack reference. A poor correlation to an addicting hobby that did not translate well to written form. Sorry for the confusion. I still would like to know where your shop is locatd though as I prefer to buy supplies in person.


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

MRI_GUY said:


> Yes it was a crack reference. A poor correlation to an addicting hobby that did not translate well to written form. Sorry for the confusion. I still would like to know where your shop is locatd though as I prefer to buy supplies in person.



Ohhhhhhhhhhhh okay! Hah, now I see where you're coming from. At first I was wondering if somehow my store is getting a reputation that I sell narcotics out of a "back room"! Whew, I'm glad that's not the case. Anyway, the store is located about 10 - 15 minutes outside of Wilkes-Barre. I'm not sure how much of a nose-candy problem there is as The_noob mentioned because I tend to stay out of the cities unless I absolutely have to. My store is located in what I'd almost call are rural area, so fear not of wondering crackheads and pushers.  As far as supplies, I'm just starting to broaden my selection of viv products. I set up and account with Eco-Terrarium supplies, and I'm starting to collect alot of misc. items like Kent blackwater extract (which I was reading a thread on some people having a hard time finding the stuff anymore). Well, speaking of "pushers" I dont want to sound like one with my store, so I'll leave it at that and add that I'll just put up a link to the website when it's complete and I'll upload some pictures in the near future. Oh, and I promise the plant list is coming!


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## MRI_GUY (Jul 31, 2006)

Sounds like a plan to me. I look forward to seeing the site and visiting your store.


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## ian (Dec 25, 2006)

Could you tell me what that palm tree looking plant is on the right fand side is and where you got it? I love the look of it and I want one for my 90g.


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## Okapi (Oct 12, 2007)

That tank is awsome!


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## ProjectReptile (Mar 9, 2007)

Thanks for the compliment Okapi and everyone else. These photos were from when the tank was still a young pup. It's been around 8 months now and it's really coming into it's own. Some of the moss is spreading and covering some of a Java wood, it's looking pretty neat. I'll snap a few pictures in the next few days and try to get them up on here for everyone. I'm also expanding my store, so you know what that means..... More display vivs!!! I'll be back with a few more construction diarys.


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