First Vivarium Build (47g Tall)

thebluejackal · #1 09-22-2011, 10:46 PM

Here's the tank:

Kittehs like tank. Claire is the tortoiseshell DSH and Cicada is the F6 Savannah (both rescues, spayed females).

I plan on placing 2" of hydroballs, a screen divider, and then 2" of substrate in the bottom. I found an organic indoor plant place here in OKC that sells hydroballs. I'm going to draw up plans of an asian dragon-themed art piece that I want to carve out of foam and coat in grout to make up part of the background (probably a partial dragon), make a few ledges (with areas for removable cups for crested gecko food), and then fill in the rest with spray foam insulation, silicone, and coat it in cocofiber. I'm wanting to attach some peat plant holders to the background as well for falling plants.

I'm thinking of ordering some plants from NEHerp if our local reptile specialty shop (called Alligator Alley) doesn't have a good variety. I'm hoping they'll at least have some good driftwood and maybe dried bamboo.

I'm hoping to get it to look like an old, overgrown stone temple wall. Even though you can't see it in the picture, my living room is Asian themed and this is going to be one of the first things you see when you walk in the door. XD

I may scan and post a design after I draw it out to compare with how it actually turns out.

Due to a lack of room in the townhouse I share with my partner, this may be the only vivarium I get to build for a very, very long time, so I'm gonna go all out and make it count. XD

thebluejackal · #2 09-24-2011, 10:34 PM

Working on the foam piece for the background and a couple of ledges.

I'm going to get some acrylic polymer to mix with the grout so I can paint very thin layers and keep most of the detail.

In progress dragon head:

In progress dragon body:

Everything together, with bricks:

Two ledges to hold small, kidney-shaped bowls:

Ignore the stained carpet. >.> I've spilled so much crap on it. XD And it was so cheap and old to begin with that the stains won't come out.

daggekko · #3 09-25-2011, 01:28 PM

I didn't notice the stains on the carpet. I was more thinking "WOW he is going to have a lot of fun getting all of that foam shavings out of the carpet"

Thats pretty cool. You have too much time on your hands

I want to try some backgrounds, but I just don't feel like it! Besides my geckos would poop all over them and it would just be nasty.

thebluejackal · #4 09-25-2011, 06:16 PM

I have a fantastic vacuum, so the shavings are aaaaaaaaaaaaaall gone!

And it only took me around 3 hours to carve all of that out (a third of The Empire Strikes Back and all of Return of the Jedi). Stuff's really easy to work with! And I've used foam before to make sculptures that I later made molds of then cast in . . . I believe it was aluminum.

It was, in a word, fun!

ajb28221 · #5 10-04-2011, 01:47 PM

Looking good! Any more progress?

thebluejackal · #6 10-07-2011, 09:03 AM

Yes, I just need to post some more pics and take a few more. The grout's all cured and I just glued everything to the back of the tank with silicone yesterday. Great Stuff will be going down today!

thebluejackal · #7 10-07-2011, 10:11 AM

Okay, more photos!

Applying layers of grout over a few days:

I wound up carving just a few of the details back into the grout after this thick layer. I don't think I got a pic of that, though.

That black furry blob belongs to Muggle the cat.

thebluejackal · #8 10-07-2011, 10:18 AM

For the top, I found some canvas stretchers at Michael's that come in various dimensions. As I don't have access to any sort of electric saw (one day when I have a garage!), this was a great alternative to me. The footprint of my tank is 18"X20", so I picked up two 18" and two 20" stretchers. They hammered together perfectly and square up on their own. They cost less than 2USD each.

That face, once again, is Muggle the cat. She gets into EVERYTHING.

I found some trim at Michael's as well to put around the sides. I cut them to size with my lovely little balsa wood saw. I'm going to use these to hide the screen that I staple around the outside.

And now a couple of pics after stapling on the screen. I used regular window screen that I got in a roll (also pictured) at Home Depot. It will also make up the barrier between the hydroton and substrate.

And the underside:

thebluejackal · #9 10-07-2011, 10:22 AM

These next few photos are what the viv looks like after gluing in various bits and pieces. I am going to cover the exposed silicone (except the bottom few inches) with Great Stuff over the next few days, then cover that with more silicone and cocofiber.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...52797697_n.jpg

I got a little bit of silicone on the grout. Oh well. I'll probably smear a bit more on there just to balance it out a bit and make it look intentional. XD

thebluejackal · #10 10-10-2011, 11:15 PM

Onward with the Great Stuff!

I put that mass market paperback on there as a show of scale. For some reason.

And then the next day . . . carved some of it down, then smeared it over with black silicone and mushed in some coco fiber.

A view inside:

We're going to be gone the bulk of next week due to a trip to Alabama for my partner's cousin's wedding, but then after that I'll be ordering plants and getting some bamboo to add to the climbing surfaces. I'm hoping to get my crested geckos in December during one of OKC's little reptile expos. Can't wait!