# Horizontal Conversion Kits?



## poimandres (Mar 28, 2009)

I am getting a couple 20 gallons and want to keep them horizontally laid out but on their sides so I can have front access. Originally, I was going to build the fronts myself, but figured I would ask here if anyone has seen any conversion kits for a front opening horizontal setup.

thanks in advance


----------



## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Dane at Jungle Box does conversions for verts and horizontals. You may want to check with him.

CD


----------



## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Horizontal front opening tanks usually don't give you much room to work with when it comes to a door. Even if you only use a 4" tall lower panel, and a 2" tall vent, your door will have to be sized down to under 6" tall, which means you will have a viewing area of about 6" x 30. If you are able to drill the top for your vents, you could potentially put together a sliding door configuration that would give you a reasonable amount of viewing space.


----------



## poimandres (Mar 28, 2009)

Thanks for the replies.

Good point on the door size. I think I will end up drilling a series of 1/2" holes on the "top" for vents and look into a sliding door configuration. We will see how this goes. The tank will be going on my bottom shelf and I only have about 14" of height to work with, and I really prefer the ease of front opening enclosures....so I am willing to sacrifice viewing area provided that the viv meets my needs.


----------



## poimandres (Mar 28, 2009)

Found a great price on a used 20 gallon long terrarium with a sliding screen top at my local reptile store and decided to jump on it and try this out.

I had 3 pieces of glass cut for this.

1. 4" x 30" glass for the front lower panel
2. 8 3/8" x 30" glass for the top (leaving room for ventilation)
3. 8" x 30" glass for the front upper panel

I reused the aluminum screen frame from the old top. Replaced the screen with a finer mesh and cut the aluminum to size (~ 3"x 30").


An ever so delicate removal of one of the glass panes:









Beyond the mess, you can see that the bottom pane is in place. I cut a piece of black airline tubing down the center and siliconed it to the exposed edge of the glass in order to form a better seal with the sliding front pane(and protect both pieces from chipping).




A shot of the tank assembled (still need to clean it up, i.e. remove tape, trim silicone, etc.):










front upward sliding door:










Overall, it was quite cheap to throw this together and I am satisfied with results. Not too sure about the upward sliding door and I am may replace it with two horizontal sliding panes once I find some appropriate sized "E" channels.


----------



## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Great job! If you didn't switch to 2 horizontally sliding doors, what would you do to keep the 1 vertically sliding door up? Some sort of latch, or, would you need to hold with one hand?


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

I gave this thread a 5 star rating.....I eagerly await the completed build.


----------



## D3monic (Feb 8, 2010)

what tool did you use to so delicately remove the pane of glass?


----------



## yumpster (May 22, 2009)

I wish I was confident enough in my own abilities to just smash out half the glass on one of my tanks and build something so aesthetically pleasing....but I am not.


----------



## poimandres (Mar 28, 2009)

Hey thanks all!

lol...I wish I could say the smashing of the glass was planned 

I was originally planning to drill a series of holes along the top for ventilation. Well, I screwed that plan up last night when I cracked the side by accidentally dropping the entire drill onto the glass. 

As of right now I am not thinking about latches or a rail system to catch the door. It is only 1/8" thick glass and is very light so it is easy to hold up with one hand. Plus, the tank will house my rogue tinc who is extremely "tame" and I don't have any issues removing the front entirely (if necessary) to tend to the viv and feed. 

I am not planning anything too fancy with this: Hydroton, Coir Mix, Leaf litter, large broad leaved plants and some hides (basically things that I have left over from other builds). I just need to move that tinc into a larger space and would like to free up the 12x18 exo he is in to use as a future grow tank for froglets.


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Philsuma said:


> I gave this thread a 5 star rating.....I eagerly await the completed build.


No pressure....

Can we get a few more close up pics? 

This looks cool.


----------



## poimandres (Mar 28, 2009)

Philsuma said:


> No pressure....
> 
> Can we get a few more close up pics?
> 
> This looks cool.


Lol...I'm feeling the pressure, bring it!

I had to set the project aside yesterday after I posted, I will get some more shots for you tonight.


----------



## poimandres (Mar 28, 2009)

Some more pics

Close up of door closed:








Corner after removing holding tape. It did not turn out too aesthetically pleasing. I really should have purchased a new aluminum screen frame instead of re-using the one that came with the terrarium. Oh well...live and learn.









Tried to clean it up a bit with electric tape:









The airline tubing:









tank where it will eventually live:









I quickly threw in some hydraton, coir, gravel, dried moss and some dried leaves - nothing to write home about. Later on this week I am going to remove the tinc from his current enclosure and re-use some of the plants and cork bark from there. Will take a full viv shot once frog has moved in and when i borrow my friends SLR again.


----------



## beav9900 (May 23, 2010)

A few months old but hopefully its nice and established now. I'm looking to do this with a 29 gallon. Could you take a few more pics? From the front and side? Thanks


----------

