55 Gal. Aquarium to Custom Leo Viv Conversion (PIC HEAVY)

[fallenangelfyre]

Hello everyone. I recently finished my custom leo terrarium build and thought i'd share the process with you all. it was alot of fun, though challenging at times. this is the condensed form. to see every thought, problem encountered, frustration, and what-not, here is the original build journal: 55 gal aquarium to terrestrial terrarium conversion

Started with a salvalged 55 gal. aquarium with cracked bottom.

Cut all the old silicone and removed the aquarium trim and the cracked piece of glass.

Sanded & spray-painted the old aquarium trim for an updated modern look. Will re-install later.

Ordered a new piece of glass to replace the cracked piece. This one with holes drilled; the three larger ones for ventilation, the smaller lower one for wiring/etc.

Siliconed in new backpiece glass.

Siliconed in screen over ventilation holes.

Started carving styrofoam for the faux rock wall.

Also included a removable built-in hide cave. i glued dowels into it so it wouldn't fall over on the leo accidentally.

Started the grouting process. this took a few weeks in total. it ended up being i believe 5 coats of grout with at least a few days curing time in between coats.

 

[fallenangelfyre]

Then painted the rock wall with several browns, reds, yellows, oranges with non-toxic accrylic paints. this took a while as well as it took several layers to get the natural sandstone look i was going for.

After i was satisfied with the painting i sealed with a couple layers of water-based mod podge and threw quite a bit of natural sand at it while it was still wet & tacky for some more color-variation, to cut down on the shine of sealant, as well as give my leo some good traction while climbing.

Masked off & painted the outside of the tank black to hide the styrofoam innards of the rock wall.

Re-installed the aquarium trim as well as installed the "E" chanel for the bypass doors in front.
(also played around with decor arrangement)

Sadly i don't have pics of the process, but i built this lightbox. it's basically just a wooden box with four porcelain bulb sockets wired into toggle switches. Painted the outside black to match everything, inside flat white for the best reflectiveness.

Built the stand. 2 x 4 frame sheathed in 1x4 pine.

Built-in dimmer switch for the UTH.

Built-in risers for excess heat ventilation from the UTH.

Painted black like everything else.

I don't have pics of this, but after the sealing of the walls i basically just smeared a good amount of grout onto the floor of the viv. i was initially going to do a large custom tile, but i wanted something natural looking while not subjecting her to the risk of impaction as she likes to hunt. it's hard to see in the pics, but it really just looks like a slightly compacted natural loose sand substrate.

Then just threw the doors on the front, decorated, gave it a week's dry-run to test the temps, humidity, etc. and here she is all done!

My gecko loves it! i highly recomend anyone to doing this. it's a lot of fun, very rewarding to see your pet enjoying it.

 

[Hannibal]

That is a totally awesome set-up!

 

[yourmanjh]

hi i was just wondering isn't that Styrofoam poisonous to reptiles? I'm planning to do the same too and it is a brilliant idea ....

 

[Metal_Gecko]

DUUUUUDE...... :shock:
Totally aWESome! :king:

-Wes

 

[fallenangelfyre]

Elvis surveying her domain:
(it's actually her toilet. she poo's off the cliff)

Sleeping:

& for size comparison, her old 10 gal. sitting on top:

 

[LzzrdBoy]

Thanks for the inspiration OP! Your thread was one of those I found while searching for ideas for my project. I do however have a couple of questions for you.

1) Do you by chance have plans or details on how you build the light box. I'm no electrician and am clueless when it comes to this sort of thing. My bow front aquarium is 24" wide and I've found it difficult to locate a stock fixture that'll fit the way I want it to. Building my own may just be what I need to do.

2) As for the stand, do you by chance have plans for this? Or at the very least the dimensions of the wood you used?

Lovely job on the Viv! Hopefully mine will make my Leo just as happy as yours!

 

[fallenangelfyre]

Thanks for the inspiration OP! Your thread was one of those I found while searching for ideas for my project. I do however have a couple of questions for you.

1) Do you by chance have plans or details on how you build the light box. I'm no electrician and am clueless when it comes to this sort of thing. My bow front aquarium is 24" wide and I've found it difficult to locate a stock fixture that'll fit the way I want it to. Building my own may just be what I need to do.

2) As for the stand, do you by chance have plans for this? Or at the very least the dimensions of the wood you used?

Lovely job on the Viv! Hopefully mine will make my Leo just as happy as yours!

1) alright, basically just build a wooden box. i used some 3/4" sheets of pine i had in the garage. mine ended up being about 3" x 3" x 36". i then screwed in 4 porcelain bulb sockets (from home depot) spaced out evenly. the bulb sockets were kinda like so:

i then got two cheap extension cords like so:

cut the female ends off. strip the wires & wired them to the light bulb sockets. i also put in toggle switches, but that's a little bit harder to explain. actually it's all kinda hard to explain.


2) if you can't tell how i built it from the pictures in the posts above, i don't think i can explain it any clearer.

 

[Palor]

That is very cool.

 

[LzzrdBoy]

1) alright, basically just build a wooden box.

2) if you can't tell how i built it from the pictures in the posts above, i don't think i can explain it any clearer.

Perfect. I was mainly curious how you wired it all up. I thought there would be more to it. Now that I see how simple it is I may end up going that route down the road. For now, I've got one of these mounted above the warm side of the new enclosure (pics to come) which should work just fine for the time being.

Thanks again for the elaboration.

 

[krazykoleen]

WOW... that is some AWESOME setup! I love it and I'm sure your gecko does too! :biggrin:

 

[panthergecko]

amazing looks fun but sounds complicated i might try it with my future 20 gallon long.

 

[KS Geico]

WOW, that was really cool. I love the way you put the ten gallon up to show diff. Also, so much more was added by being able to use up so much empty space. My kids just came home from grandparents with an AFT and a rosy rat snake and I was saying that I need much bigger for AFT b/c snake can go vertical. I hope to be able to help AFT go vertical one day as well:idea:

 

[JIGSAW818]

Amazing.. Great job you are very talented

 

[LedgysLizards]

One of the coolest set ups i have seen

 

[Yoshi'smom]

WOW! That makes my DIY setup look like crap! I'm totally impressed!

 

[ajb28221]

Very very sweet, I plan on doing something like this for my leos, you did a great job and I really like the custom light box, how much did the supplies for the light box cost you?

 

[amramonfernandez]

Pretty good stuff. You can do this for a living. I'm sure when people see what you've done, they will become instant clients. Are you an artist or something? You really did a good job on the terrain.

 

[evilkarot]

That is absolutely perfect! I hope to be able to do this in my 125 gal soon! Though I'm sure it would ne easier to do it while the tank is on it's side, I'm gonna try to do it while the tank sits normally. Thank you for the inspiration!

 

[daggekko]

Very nice! Question about your door tracks. Did you end up putting those right inside the trim?(For some reason a lot of the pictures didn't show up) Also, what did you use to hold the track to the tank?