# My new Rack Setup - update 5-28



## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Here are some pictures of my new rack that I am starting to put together . It’s a Sams 
club 48” wide chrome rack . I only needed three of the five shelfs that came with it , and
I didn’t use the wheels . I have one dual 55 watt AHS CF lights hung under each shelf . so
far I have 3 20 Highs done. The other20 H I’m using a temp tank for some Pumilios 
they will go into two of these tanks when they are finished being planted and settled in . 
then I’ll do that tank up too . I have a bunch of plants and broms ordered that hopefully get here soon . 










Since four tanks will not fit on each shelf ( its a few inches short because of the framing on the tanks and the shalf uprights ) , I think I'll put two on each shelf , that will leave just enough space for two 20 H's and one 18x18x24 on each . In the future maybe a couple exo terras who knows ?










The lights , I bolted the reflectors and lights to a piece of wood and hung them up witha
couple screw eyes . and bolted the ballasts to the back



















a quick and easy shade , I drilled a couple holes , threaded a small piece of chainthrough and crimped the ends together for a hinge .










The top vents , I just drilled a few holes in the top glass and siliconed some stainless screen
over the holes .



















The bottom is plexi glass , and vents are made the same way but weldbonded instead of
silicone .










Heres a couple pictures of the back grounds . Handi-foam ,cocoa fiber ,cork and tree fern
fiber , nothing exciting just simple easy backgrounds . I wasn't going to use coco huts but the one Pum in the temp tank uses it alot , he just stands on top of it and surveys the tank waiting for food . so I thought I would give it a try in a couple others .




























Here's a pic with the glass in place on one , I don’t know if I’m going with glass or plexi 
? I'm going to try the plexiglass while they are growing in without the frogs in them and
see if they warp bad or not then decide . glass - plexi .










For those wondering whats in the little plastic containers Heres a couple pictures of the
new inhabitants , Cristobals from Marcus and Valentina at SNDF . The others didn’t want their pictures taken so I didn’t want to bother
them . I’ll post them when I get em .























































I really hope this guy is a male to match my female !!



















Antone here’s the N. "Guinea" you asked about and Reins pride . They are some Awesome broms man . The pums have just started to explore the N.Guinea latley hopefully they "put it to use " soon .

Check out how fast the green-purple plant ( it was marked purple jew when I bought it )
on the left has grown in the below two pictures . Almost a half foot in three weeks . The one in the lower right didn't make it though .




























heres a couple new jewel orchids I got 
Anoectochilus roxburghii










Anoectochilus formosanus










Macodes lowii










This guy clamed this tank allready ! 










More when I get them planted . Thanks for looking .


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## Frank H (Nov 3, 2005)

Your doing quite a nice job on that rack!


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Everything looks great.


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## nburns (May 3, 2005)

Great job. It is always nice to see what others are doing. Thanks for sharing the pictures.


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## schegini14 (May 17, 2006)

where did you get those nice jewel orchids.


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## Jordan B (Oct 8, 2004)

Awesome! What is the brom in the lower lefthand side of this pic, it's fantastic!












Jordan


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

That looks like one of Antone's Rien's pride. I am also curious about all those sweet jewel orchids. If you don't want to post it, could you PM me about it?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Which jewl orchids ? There are about 8 or 9 different ones in there . The ones in the planters I just got on ebay , just do a search . The others in the tanks are from different venders give me a pm some are not registered venders . Yes the orange colored brom is the Reins pride from Antone . It does kinda pop out at you .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I started planting the vivs on my rack , and finished the ventilation system to keep the
glass clear ( and it works great so far ) I made a small plexi glass box for each tank that fit over my vent
holes and holesawed a hole in the middle of each and glued a fan in them and soldered all three 
fans in parallel to a 12 volt transformer . Then siliconed them to the top of the tanks . I haven’t yet but I will probably plug it into the
repeat cycle timer connected to my other tanks so the fans don't have to run all the time .




























I got some nice broms from Antone as always 

































































It looks like one of my E-bay orchids is going to bloom soon ??? This one is a Masdevallia floribunda and for the longest time it didn't look like it was going to do any thing , it looked healthy though , then the last couple weeks it grew a new leaf then this spike shot out . When I bought it I thaught it was a seedling and had a long way to grow before flowering .










I also got new temp containers for my frogs (on sale at petco $8.00 ) . The deli containers were a pain when feeding and misting and getting them open freaked the frogs out . These new containers have a little hinged lids . They also have alot of vents that fruitflys could escape from so I covered all them with some clear duct tape and taped in a small piece of stainless screen for some ventilation . The frogs seem happier in these than the deli containers . they are "out " more now . 










I have an idea for the plexi glass doors to stiffen them up so they Don't warp , I'll let you know how it works out after they get some heat and humidity for a while .

I also have a few more plants coming for covering the background, so I'll post some pictures when I get them finished


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

It's time for a little update , I have two more 20H's up and started planted . I got a few plants and moss in them so far , I have a care package coming from Antone with more broms to help fill them out . I also added some more broms and rearanged some of the plants in the first three upper vivs .

I also put two of my cristolals in one of the first three vivs trying to sex them out ( The upper right viv ) . Maybe I'll get some more calling if they are in a better environment .

A couple little Woo Hoo's . While feeding my Intermedius this morning one of them was calling yee ha ! So I have at least one male in there and as it happens it's the only one I can tell apart from all the others , the two upper spots on his back are connected and look like a butterfly . The call is kinda quiet you can't hear it unless you have the door open . And while I was cleaning out all the temp containers for my other pums I heard one of them calling too. Now all I have to do is figure out which one it was one of six that usually stay hidden .

Here's some new pictures for you 





































Heres a few pictures of a couple of my cristobals 










Looks like someone was eating good in quarentine ( I've yet to see any of them actually eat yet )





































I found this blooming the other day also , Maxillaria uncata


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## Dartfrogfreak (Jun 22, 2005)

Those vivs are Beautiful!!!

So are the frogs.


They are all Christabols ??? Some of those last pics look alot like Rio Branco can you explain how they Differ from the Rios ???



Todd


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## c'est ma (Sep 11, 2004)

Great thread! I love your pics!

Can I hire you?


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## cubby23 (Jun 12, 2006)

Wow nice job on all those vivs. And the frogs look umm pleasantly plump


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Todd , They might be , I'm just going by what they were sold to me as , Cristos . I guess I should call them 2006 mystery Cristobal - Rio's we will probably never know ? I thought the Rio's had larger reticulations or spots ???


Diane , I just bought a new canon digital slr , its alot clearer than my old point and shoot , and alot more complicated ! The photoshop crop tool can make even a lousy picture look OK !! you should see the ones I don't post . yuck .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Look what I found while checking to see if the frogs like their new living space . I new I heard calling yesterday . Hopefully the other is female . When I first looked in the male had his one front foot on the back of the other one it didn't look like aggression or fighting just stroking with his foot . Does the male usually do the stroking or is it more the female ??
The fatter one pictured above was the one Not calling . Iguess I better keep an eye on these guys just to make sure .


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## Anoleo2 (Feb 1, 2006)

Stunning!!!!

Great frogs!!
Good luck on eggs!


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## KaseyL (Oct 19, 2006)

Gorgeous Pums, great setup! 

Does SNDF have an e-mail?


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## Paul E. Wog (Jan 2, 2005)

Dartfrogfreak said:


> Those vivs are Beautiful!!!
> 
> So are the frogs.
> 
> ...


I was thinking the same thing. However I have a Rio that is kind of in between looking to. Looks like it could be either a christo or a rio. But it was sold to me as a Rio so thats what I will keep it as.

Who knows? one of the problems with the new imports is that they look so similar. It seems though that because the frogs in question have a more reticulated, scrolling pattern that they may in fact be christos. I say call em what you bought them as.

Kasey i PM'ed you SNDF's email address.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I took my yellow pumilio's out of quarantine and put them in their permanent viv today and tought I'd post a few pictures . By looking at size they "look" like 1-2-0 but time will tell as there has been no calling from these yet . 









































































Here's is their viv 
top shelf middle









Here are some close ups of the others after growing in a little and some more plants and changing a few things around.
top right








top left









bottom shelf , they need some growing in time 
bottom left









bottom middle









I caught my male intermedius trying to coax one of the possible females ( I hope ) into a film cannister today he's the one up top the other is barely visable behind the black cannister under the branch . This is the first time I've seen any behavior like this Hopefully it eventully leads to someting !

I have a bunch of broms pupping too . I think there are about 7 or 8 popping out .





















Since my rack is not big enough for 4 20high's per shelf there is a little space left on each shelf and it looks funny to me . I had some glass left over from building my big vivs and I had some time to kill so I put this space filler together to take up the space . Its 22"x17 1/2"x 8" I guess somewere around 10 Gal ? 



















What do you think out there , will this be big enough to hold a pair of Imi's or other thumbs ??? I was thinking of making the background a 3 tier effect to make up for the lack of width . 










What would you put in it ? 
Do you thinks retics would do ok in there? I know they like to hang around on the bottom leaf litter alot but they climb some also ? Or do you think there's not enough bottom space ? 

I have all winter to think about it though since I don't have any more cash for more any frogs at the moment . 
Maybe I should get a second job !


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## Guest (Oct 29, 2006)

WOW, will the pictures never end! Those are all just amazing!


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## c'est ma (Sep 11, 2004)

More great pics! I love those yellow pums--sure hope you've got at least one male and get some breeding.

I really like the way you use wood & broms to fill up the middle "air space" in your vivs. It's not only attractive but it really increases the usable habibtat for the frogs.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Since I've filled my rack up and everybody seems to be doing fine I started on the next project , a new rack .

This one I made from two sams club 48" wide racks , the left side is made from the stock 48" shelves and the right side are 48" shelves that I cut in half and welded back together at 25" . The left side shelves and four posts are from one rack kit and the right side shelves and two posts are from the second kit . With enough parts left over to make a nice little table , for future use .

Since you can not fit four 20 H's on a shelf because of the plastic frame , I'm building them from scratch . I have my glass guy cutting me glass for eight 11"w x 17"d x 24"h vivs that will go on the left side . Eight vertically orientated tanks for pums and thumbs. The right side will be for three 24"w x 17"d x 24"h vivs for some bigger frogs some terribilis , tincs , or some other more terrestrial orientated frogs , I'll build these three when I get the first ones built .

It's not much to look at right now , with just my froglet tank but my glass should be ready soon and then We'el be getting somewere. 










I'll put some sides and a back on it to keep the heat and light in before the tanks go on on it this time , I did it after on the other rack what a pain in the A that was . Then some lighting and plumbing and tanks It will start looking like something .


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## lessthantito (Nov 6, 2006)

what is the black part of the shelf where the tanks will sit?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

The black is thin plastic sheeting they give with the rack . Since the tanks I'm going to be building will not have any plastic framing on them I will be putting a thin 1/4" piece of plywood under the plastic for extra protection from the metal . I'll probably use the same material for the back , sides and front flaps like the other rack . I'll do this before I put the tanks on so it should look nicer than the old rack .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

My glass hasen't been delivered yet but I've been a little busy . 

First off I don't know where my measuring went wrong , someone must have changed the numbers on my tape measure ! :evil: But after looking at the right side extension on the rack , I am planning on putting 3 shelves of 24" high vivs on this side . Here's were my my measurements and my brain went different ways , it didn't look like they would fit ! The left side barely fits 2 rows of 24" high tanks so I had to modify the right side again to make my plans work out . Here's how it looks now . 










I just put some extensions on the four right side posts and adjusted the shelves .

Now , I was thinking how to get a little more light over the tanks without adding more light wattage and adding more heat . I thought that maybe adding a full length reflector might work . The lights on my other rack are just hung from the top shelf over the tank and just have a black plastic mat under the tanks that dosen't reflect any light . So I bought some white colored aluminum flashing and cut and bent it to shape to fit under the shelves , then I can hang my lights under these and hopefully refect more light into the tanks . It looks promising so far , we will see when I have it put up and have the lights on it . 

Before ( old rack )










without reflector 










With reflector 










The front part of the reflector will be on an angle to reflect the light better and the back one will be fastened flat against the shelf .

As the shelf is in this picture the shelf is upside down and this reflector side will face the top of the tanks and the lights will hang off the center rail part of the shelf as in the above picture . Just the reflection of the flash in the pictures makes me think that it should work moving more light into the tanks . 

Since I have no glass yet I spent some time putting the vents together for all the tanks 

These are for the front vents and top vents .



















I was thinking of adding a fan that will just circulate the inside air , for better air circulation for the plants and to help keep the temps more consistant from top to bottom . I was thinking of putting a vent like this in the top twards the back above the background .



















The center of the vent is siliconed closed and the fan will suck or push the air in one hole and out the other, circulating the air . This vent will be enclosed in a clear plexiglass housing so it just moves the inside viv air through the vent and dosen't lower the humidity . Hopefully . Moving the warmer air from the top downward should stabilize the temps throughout the tank . In some of my other tanks the temperature is almost 10 degrees different top to bottom . I don't know how it's going to work , I'm going to try it in a couple of the first tanks and see . 

More updates when they happen , thanks for looking .


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

how often do you mist your tanks?


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

I've been wondering how you do those types of vents instead of the other kind where you cut the window frame and use the corners to connect them. What kind of window frame do you use and is there a ridge where you can splice the mesh?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

raimeiken , I've been trying to get my misting back on schedule . When these pictures were taken I was misting for one minute twice a day every day and was working out pretty good . But the mistking pump that came with my setup was made for a max of 8-9 nozzles and I was running 14 so the mist was degrading and not spraying properly . So I bought his high pressure pump and added two more nozzles to my two 90 gal tanks , but this pump puts a very fine mist so it was better than the other pump but it also puts out so much more water ! I didn't realize this till it was a little too late for a few of my plants . I lost a jewel orchid and a few dischidia's . The old pump would go through about a gallon of water a week on the same time schedule the new pump goes through 3 gallons ! So now I'm down to misting once a day for about 45 seconds every day and every Wednesday I mist once in the afternoon also . It still uses a little more water than before , but the plants like it alot better and are not dying . With the other pump in the first four months I never had any water come out of my drains , now I get about a gallon every couple of weeks !

spydrmn12285, These are basicly the same corners as the other ones seen on tanks on this board except the corners are internal and you cant see them . The frames are just miter cut and then covered with the frame when you push them together . Thank goodness for a band saw or I would still be cutting frame ! I went through 100 corners so far .










I bought this kind mainly because they were cheaper because I had to buy so many of them . Its just regular home depot window frame and you cannot see the grove or the spline becaues I run a bead of silicone over them to keep it from coming apart and cover the sharp edges of the stainless screen . You can see the screen groove in the right side frame piece .

And my glass was delivered to day so I should have enough work for the next bunch of weekends in the foreseeable future .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

First a bit about the screen I used on the vents above , its the S.S. 40 x 40 size mesh size from mcmaster carr . I used the 60 x 60 on my other vivs and find that the 40 x 40 has a slightly larger opening , though it still should be fruit fly proof . It is also made of finer wire and is Much easier to work with than the 60 x 60 size mesh and a little cheaper in price . I still have Ten more to make . :? 

I'm not going to bore you with a complete construction journal just post a few in process pictures here and there .

I went through all my glass checked it out and cleaned it up and found that two of the sides were cut wrong one was too short the other looked like a diamond :evil: . Luckily I found it now than after I put the silicone on it and started tapeing it together .

I got a bit of otherwork done this weekend . I Cut some glass for the tops . Drilled all my holes for the drains and misters , and got four vivs 85% completed .










Tops & vent setup .



















Four down eight more to go :shock: 
These are 11" x 17" x 24" . Six more of these and one 20" x24" x 17" and one 24" x 24" x 17"










I used a smaller bulkhead fitting on these , since I don't have much fluid coming from my over flows , and mounted it twards the side so its less conspicous . I don't think I would need a 1/2" bulkhead unless the misting timer malfunctions and keeps spraying . And if that happens water will come out the doors before it floods the tank .

A better view of the vents .



















More later .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

A little update , I got some work done on the rack . I put the back and sides on and put in the reflectors . 



















I put the front reflectors on a angle to hopefully reflect the most light .










They move up out of the way if I need access to the lights or misters .










I ordered all my lights this weekend and that will be the next installation . I still have to run my mister tubeing and and build something so I will not have to have multiple powerstrips and extension cords running all over the place .

I also got four more tanks mostly built . Two shelves worth so far.










Only four more to go :roll: 

These are my two temp froglet tanks .


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

Good job! I'd like to see a pic of the other tank you have in the far right corner.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Here ya go .


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

Awesome, Thanks! How are the E tracks working for you for the sliding glass doors? What tracks did you use for the sides?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

So far they are working out good no signs of any corrosion yet . check my construction journal for the parts and links to where I got them . 

http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewt ... highlight=


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

So for your current rack project and ones in the past, how much room do you leave on the rack when you construct a custom viv? I'm tryin to build a 24"w by 18" h by 18" deep viv. So basically you would essentially be having 2 vivs to a shelf, with 8 vivs in total for the rack. Would I need to change my dimensions to 24wx18hx17deep?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

The main reason I'm building all the tanks for this new rack is I cannot fit four 20 h's on a shelf . If they would it would save me alot of time and money . (The glass alone was more than I could have bought 12 20 H's for ! ) That and I enjoy building things . 
I sized these tanks so that there should be at least 1/4 " between each tank and any part of the rack . That should give the tanks enough clearance that nothing should touch anything that it shouldn't . And give the frogs the most space possible . 

For your tanks , I don't know what size your rack is , so I would just size them so they fit the shelves without touching anything that could damage them , so that they are easily moveable if you have to , provide easy access to the door , drains , misters or lights ect .

I was just sitting here thinking that instead of shortening the shelves for the right side of the rack like I did , I should have legnthened the shelves to fit the 20 h's . DUH :shock: But then again I wouldn't have the space for a couple of the larger tanks .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I got alot more work done this weekend .
I got my lights this week ( much faster than expected ! ) and put them up . I dont think I'll ever need the room lights now with these all on ! 










All my tanks that I built passed a leak test so far  now I can get to spraying some foam and silicone . I ordered 2 cases each of handi foam and silicone . That should take up some time !

I made a drainage system out of pvc for this rack , and its much neater and better looking than the drainage on my other rack . I think I'm going to have to redo the other racks drains now ! 
Now all I have to do is get the tanks on the shelves and make the light covering flaps and get the fans up .










And last I am tired of looking at a mass of wires and power strips or power squids and thought I would try to make something that looks a little neater . This looks better than the wires on the other rack set up . And it has a switch in case you have to change a bulb it can wasily be turned off . All it needs is a little sanding and varnish .


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## Skibadee (Mar 22, 2007)

looks really good! I am very impressed
I hope someday I'll get to the point where I build a shelving unit for frogs


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## the_noobinator (Jan 14, 2007)

where did you get the lights from? did they cost you a small fortune?


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

I really like this thread. Thanks for sharing. 

Could you go into detail how you're going to do your drainage system and what you've already accomplished?


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## sammycai (Oct 13, 2006)

Love your boots!


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## Android1313 (Dec 15, 2006)

sammycai said:


> Love your boots!


LOL those are sweeet!


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I bought the snake skins before I knew better . But then they were so cool , I had to have them ! They are over 20 years old and still fit !


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## Jason DeSantis (Feb 2, 2006)

That switch box doesnt look UL listed :wink: . I cant wait to see the racks full of tanks and frogs.
Jason


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Jason , I've sent them the blueprints and I'm waiting for a sticker from them . :lol: 
I'm going to try to get a couple backgrounds done this weekend . 
I'll get in touch with you when I start to plant them .

I need to start getting a couple of the tanks done since I got a package in the mail today and got a couple of these . It's a start !










Two Variabilis from Sean Stewert . Man , the camera dosen't do any justice to the metallic colors on these. Wow !

By the time I get their tank done and grown in some they should be ready to come out of quarentine.

I only took the one pic as I didn't want to stress them too much .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

My latest update has been delayed a little due to my own stupidity . 

1. Never use power tools when your tired . ( Cutting that last piece of driftwood at 11:00 pm wasn't a good idea ! )
2. Never try to shave an eighth inch off of a small odddly shaped piece of wood .

And 3. This should be # 1 , keep your finger out of the band saw blade ! 

Unfortunatly I forgot about 1,2and3 . OUCHHHHHHH . I know better :evil: 
Well four hours in the emergency waiting room and a few stitches later its as good as new , well almost . 

Scroll past this next picture if your squeemish !

Now how does that song go , Oh ya . To the bone !

Six stitches later ....  










Luckily I need a new blade on the saw or it could have been worse . The bone kept it from going all the way through .  


But I've managed to get some work done anyways . I got the vents and circulation fans installed on the tanks . 

This is the air circulation fan setup , I don't know how its going to work or if it will help or not but this will circulate the in tank air only , not drawing any outside air in the tank so it shouldn't effect the humidity . Having the front glass vent fan on too much lowers my humidity too much . I usually only run the vent fans long enough to keeep the glass mostly clear but it doesn't circulate the in tank air much . So now I should be able to mist a little more to keep the humidity up and hopefully not kill all the plants . 









the fan is easily removeable if the fan goes bad .



















The front fan is for clearing the glass and the rear one is the circulation fan . It will pull air in from the one side of the tank and push it out the other side .










And I got most of the backgrounds finished also . 



















Let the silicone smell go away , throw in some substrate and some plants . They'll be almost ready for some Darts . 

Be carefull with your power tools !!!


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## SLEDDER23 (Mar 17, 2005)

Man, ouch is right! That's scary, and you were lucky! My 6 year old son and I have mirror image scars (he's a lefty, me right) on our index fingers from similar choices with sharp objects. Nice looking set up BTW.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Wow Mark. You always do such a great job even despite almost being 9 finger Willy. :lol: 

Excellent work.


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

It's amazing how you were able to type all that out!

Great job, thanks a bunch for sharing despite your injury.


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## jaysnakes (Jul 5, 2006)

> It's amazing how you were able to type all that out!


LOL that was good!

Vivs look great Mark. Hope that finger heals up quick.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Ouch is right!

Which kind of frogs are going in with the bass? Id be concerned about mixing.


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## Paul E. Wog (Jan 2, 2005)

man alive! I leave the forum for a couple months and Mark tries to cut his finger off. SHEESH!

Okay, okay I'll try to peel myself away from my second job err.. I mean homework and be a little more active around here.

In all seriousness Mark, the new tanks are gonna look great as usual. looks like the DF bug has got you bad. pretty soon you'll have a thousand tanks! Just try not to lose your head, you already almost lost a finger.

Well that was a fun 5 minutes. off I go back to my animating.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Yes be very careful! I took a year off college and made Solid Oak furniture and cut my finger one time on a dado blade. Made it look like hamburger. It was not something that I thought could be stitched back so I pulled out some bone, fingernail, taped it up, and went back to work. It still hurts to this day when I hit it on something just right and a small part of my nail grows in a odd place. All in all I am lucky to have not lost the end of my finger and or feeling and etc. Unless you know how to use power tools don't. I could tell a nasty belt sander story as well but ill leave that for another day.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

First off I "type" , er peck with one finger , luckily it's the one on the other hand .
Zach , Whichever one quits wiggling long enough to get the treble hook in it ! :wink: 
Paul , I have nine more ! And take it easy with the homework , it leads to brain damage .

The funny thing is the finger really hasn't really hurt even when I cut it , except the couple times at work I banged it off of something . My hands get pounded at work , luckily I heal pretty fast .

Well I'm sitting in the basement here taking a needed rest from silicone , foam and coco fibre and watching the hockey game , ( GO Pens ! ) and hear a loud snap that didn't sink in for a minute , well I get up and look and the side of one tank cracked ! One of the first ones I foamed a few days ago , the foam hadn't finished cureing yet ! And it was not even on real thick . Needless to say I'm PO'ed . But I was able to remove all the broken pieces without breaking any other piece of glass in the tank , Hopefully I can sneak a new side piece of glass in it without disassembling the whole thing , and hopefully it will not leak . 

It seems lately like I take one step forward and have to take two back !


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

That sucks on the tank... Have to watch to not put it on very thick and it does expand with some pressure.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

The foam wasn't put on thick , just a thin coat on the side . I tried to do the back and both sides on this tank to get a three sided look . This is the first tank I had crack and I've put the foam on ALOT thicker on other tanks , with the same brand of foam .

But I gently cut , pried and sliced through the silicone and removed all the broken pieces without damaging or cracking anything else . Went to the hardware store and had a piece of glass cut .Thy couldnt have cut it more perfect if they had too ! 

Before 





















After










So Just because you have a tank witha broken pane of glass dosen't mean its junk . All it takes is a little paitence , glass , silicone and tape !


Hopefully no leaks . I don't think I'm going to foam the side again ! . Once is enough .


4-18-07 , YEA , No leaks .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Well no more didgits cut off this update  A little bloodshed but nothing that needed sewn up .

Things are shaping up , I got most of the the doors on and sealed . 










In the process of gluing the glass and vents togather things move around and all the doors fit different and seal different . To keep the fruitflys in I have to make silicone seals around the edges of the glass or vents depending on the tank . I do this by running a bead of silicone down the edge and then laying a piece of glad wrap overtop of it and then closing the door . When it drys cut it along the edge with a razor blade , instant gasket and no fruitfly escapes . 






































I did the wireing for the vent and circulatiun fans , I made the tanks easily removeable if needed by putting a plug at each fan and I " keyed " the front fans from the rear fans by reversing the plugs on each wire harness so they dont get plugged in wrong .( all that soldering , What a pain in the a!! ) so they can be disconnected for removing or if when a fan goes bad .






































I also drilled a few holes to help heat escape and I will be installing a couple of fans in here also .

Now all I'm just waiting for is my fans and mister nozzles . So I can get that wired and plumbed in my next update , then I can put the rest of the tanks in fit the drain tubing and start planting .


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

the_noobinator .... The lights are from AHS , 55 watt kits . A little $$$ , the bulbs are kinda pricy . They put out the light though , and heat .

http://www.ahsupply.com/


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Well it's taken alot of work , time and blood to get here but it's almost time to plant ! 
I got my fans installed in the rack , I plumbed the misters and finally got the tanks all up on the rack . 
All I have to do I think is plumb the drains and a little cosmetics here and there and a couple more pieces of trim when the varnish dries . 

I put three fans on the bottom level , one on the left pulling cooler air in from the outside and the other two pushing the hot air out . And I drilled some extra ventilation holes also . 
I put only two fans on the top in the same configuration , one in one out . I figured I would put the thumbs that like temps a little cooler than pumilio on the bottom shelf were it should be a little cooler and the warmer species like pumilio on the top shelf . 

Bottom shelf fans










Ventilation and mister plumbing 










I don't know if I wasted my time on the extra ventilation fans or not , only time will tell . I'll just have to see how the plants like it . ( And also I've been wondering if lack of air circulation has an effect on weather alot of eggs go bad in our vivs more often or not too ?? )










I have inhabitants for four of them already either here in waiting or coming soon , I'm going to have to hit the lottery or hope the Escudos pump out a few more froglets to pay for what I want to put in the others !

When I get some more extra cash :twisted: the right of the rack side will house a couple 24"x20"x17" tanks for some Tincs or bigger frogs



Top shelf 










Bottom shelf










For the drain plumbing , in the above picture you can see where the bulkheads come out , all I have to do is make a piece of tubing bend it 90 deg. then drill a hole in the pvc tubeing and put one end in the bulkhead and the other in the hole in the pvc .










Time for some green in here !


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

wonderful! You've provided some great insipration here. Can't wait to see it planted and with frogs. What species are you planning on keeping in each one?


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## VanillaGorilla (Mar 11, 2007)

pigface said:


> Time for some green in here !


I will celebrate with ya! :mrgreen: 


Nice Rack! (i have said that before)

keep us updated on the ventilation, and are those Dc or AC fans? It looks like that cab can take off and land wherever you want it too with all those fans... noisy?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

.


> Nice Rack! (i have said that before)


VanillaGorilla ... Yea , But you probally got slapped in the face for saying it . :shock:  :? 
I might be a little out of shape but I don't need a man bra yet !!! But I'll let it slide just this once .

They are all 12 volt dc. fans . You cant even hear the small 50mm ones running , they are quiet . And they are going to be on a RC timer so they will not run all the time . The bigger 120mm. ones I haven't had running yet , I'm waiting for a couple 120v-12v converters to come in . But the other ones I have on my other tanks are not that loud . You can't hear them with the room AC on .
I might not even need all the fans . I will have to get it up and running and keep a check on temps and go from there . It's easier to remove a fan later than having to drill a big hole and install one after its up and running , if the temps are too high and another one needed !

spydrmn12285 ... I have a group of Variabilis going in one , and I'm waiting on some Amizonicus and Standard Lamasi shortly . And I have a trio of Escudos that I'm going to move from were they are now into one . And then start looking for some rarer pumilio , Darklands , Colons , Cayo's , Nancy's ??? for a couple of the others . And some retics for in my 29G . Who know's I might see something totally different that I would like !


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I got some plants in finally and planted the tanks with them and some pups and plants I had . I'm not finished yet they still need a few smaller broms , cuttings , orchids , ECT ... but they look alot better with some plants in them . Some of the plants are still a little wilted from being shipped . Hopefuly they will perk up in a few days . Now to wait and see which will take :? and which will have to be moved around some . 
I had this big box of broms , and said to myself why the heck did I buy so many broms ? I thought I would have a bunch left over . Wrong ! They didn't go as far as I thought . 



















I did the bottom shelf first and need to finish putting more in the top shelf


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## VanillaGorilla (Mar 11, 2007)

WOW

looks great with all that color...


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## schegini14 (May 17, 2006)

I love the simplicity of your tanks. The different colors of broms in each tank makes everything come togeather.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

A "little" update today ,

I did alot of tidying up , wires , hoses , cleaning up substrate off of the floor Ect . It dosen't sound like much but It wasted a whole day :lol: . 

And I finally got all the fans wired in and running . Instead of having all of the fans working off of individual 12 v power supplys , I bought a few larger ones and wired all my fans into these , and I have alot less electrical clutter lying around . I have one each ,one for the vents one for the lights and one for the circulation fans .Alot better than a dozen or more small ones ! 




















I got a few more broms and cuttings from Antone . I finally found a home depot and lowes that had a few plants in . And I have a few orchids coming too . So my tanks are pretty much done being planted unless something wilts on me . So here are some individual tank shots .









































































a couple orchids 

Dendrobium unicum , I like its prehistoric looks . 









Phalaenopsis mark holm 









Now it's time to just sit back and let them grow in a bit . And Enjoy .

And I recieved some new Inhabitants last week for one of the bottom row vivs , 2 new Variabilis froglets from Oz .



































I also finally changed the drainage system on the old rack and got rid of the ugly hoses that used to be my drains and put in some pvc . It looks alot cleaner . 


















And in what could have been a disaster this evening , After finishing getting the last plants in I decided to clean the glass on all the other tanks as they were getting kinda nasty . So I get a call to dinner , hurry and finish up , So I Eat and go back up to check on everything and walk in the room to see one of my intermedius hopping across the floor :shock: :shock: . I don't know how it got out ,the door was not left open and they are never out by the front glass and I didn't see it jump out when I was cleaning ? I'm just lucky I found it before it was too late . He looked in good shape still and not dehydrated yet . That was a close one , I,ve had more problems and cloes calls with my intermedius than all my other tanks put together . :?

Thanks for looking .


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## bpetty13 (Mar 17, 2007)

WOW! thats all i can say. every single one of those tanks looks AWESOME! im sure whatever frogs are going in those vivs will love them. also the variabilis look great as well!


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

Very cool. I'm going to have to re-read this whole threat whenever I get started on my rack set up. What was you budget for this project, and did you go over? :lol:


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I figured I would put my 0.0.4 variabilis in their tank today , so here are some pictures of a couple exploring their new digs . They are shot through the glass so they are not that clear . I got two each from two different breeders and two of them seem shy and the other two were out checking everything out . I'm not sure of the sexes of them yet as they are young still .


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

Great looking tanks Mark.

The Varis look like they settled right in...


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Very nice, and I like the drain setup. Very similar to mine.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Kyle , It works out good and looks alot nicer than my old set up ! 

I had a little problem with the fans for the rack cooling , they worked so great at keeping the temps down I had to remove one fan from the top and one from the bottom . They worked too good . But the airflow from the fans pulled too much air through the tank vents and lowered the humidity a little too much so I built a couple deflectors to route th air away from the vents twards the lights . 










And one across the front to keep the fans from pulling air through the vents. I made them from plexi so as not to hinder the light from getting to the tanks .










I'll see how this works .


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Someone remind me to revisit this thread, after I finally get high speed internet service (this coming wed., woohoo!)...viewing it with a 47K speed is like a bad peep show!
Looking good from what I can see!


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

What are the details on those power supplies? Price, where you got them, all that good sutff?


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Mike , I'm no electronic wizard , and can't remember the exact specs , and I tossed all the literature because I have enough crap laying around . 
But I bought them all from ebay ( just do a search for 12 v power supply ) . They were all different prices from $10.50 to $22.00 . NIB . The Astron RS-4A 's are 4 amp models see http://www.astroncorp.com/linear.shtml . I don't have any info on the other , except it's a 7 amp power supply .
I figured these would be better than having a dozen individual ones for each fan . Alot less wires to get tangled too . I was going to buy them at radio shack but they wanted $49.00 for a 3 amp model . 
I remember using one of these when I was a kid to run car radio in my room for a stereo  .


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