10 gal. conversion project

[rhino43grr]

i started my 10 gallon tank conversion project (turning it into a vertically oriented setup for an arboreal species, probably lygodactylus williamsii).

the plan is to take out the glass on one side and replace it with a screen so i can put a uv/basking lamp on top of the cage, add a glass/plexi door to the new front (the old top) and insert a piece of glass/plexi inside the plastic tank frame to hold in the substrate.

i had originally planned to follow these directions for the front, but i think i've come up with an easier method. rather than using the screen frame to hold the glass/plexi and only a portion of the front opening, i'm just going to have the whole front of the cage open and have the substrate barrier inside the plastic lip.

the first step, after cleaning out the tank, was to remove one of the side panes to replace it with a screen top. this was trickier than i had expected, especially since i didn't remove the plastic frame.

i scraped away all the silicone around the edges with a single-side razor blade but couldn't get the glass to budge. when i tried putting a folded dishtowel on it and lightly hitting it with something to hopefully coax the glass loose it inevitably broke. three band-aids later, the glass is all removed an in the trash.

once that was finished, i used the razor to scrape away the silicone where the screen top and substrate barrier will go and called it a night since lowes was closed and the tank will need to be hosed out to get all the tiny glass shards and silicone shavings out.

i'll be picking up the screen kit and have glass/plexi cut to the dimensions i need tomorrow, as well as the hinges, door handle and latches.

any input or suggestions are welcome.

 

[rhino43grr]

i was able to pick up everything but the new glass today. waited in the glass-cutting area of lowes trying to figure out exactly what i needed for ~10 minutes without seeing a single employee so i just got the hinges, door handle, magnetic latches, screen and screen frame kit. i also got aquarium sealant at petsmart earlier in the day. i'll be away for the weekend, so the rest of the construction will have to wait until next week.

i will post some pictures once i progress beyond the point where it just looks like an aquarium with a missing side.

 

[rhino43grr]

the screen top is assembled and siliconed into place. the hinges i bought aren't big enough, so i'll be heading back to lowe's momentarily and posting a few pictures of my progress when i get back.

 

[rhino43grr]

three pictures from the screen top building process.


100_0190 by rhino43grr, on Flickr


100_0191 by rhino43grr, on Flickr


100_0192 by rhino43grr, on Flickr

 

[rhino43grr]

and three from tonight... i finished the screen top and siliconed it into place, siliconed the glass substrate barrier at the bottom and built the frame for the door (minus the glass, which will need to be cut to fit the inside of the screen frame now).


100_0198 by rhino43grr, on Flickr


100_0197 by rhino43grr, on Flickr


100_0199 by rhino43grr, on Flickr

as you can tell, i like to keep my work area nice and tidy.

 

[daggekko]

Wow that link was awesome!!! I have been making verticle 10's and have 5 right now and 2 verticle 20 longs. I really like your screen top!!!

When taking out the end of the tank(the one that is going to become the screen top) I have found it is easier to break the glass, use a razor to cut the silicone and then take it out piece by piece. I get a pair of gloves to avoid having glass in my hand.

I never thought to put a piece of glass inside the tank at the bottom. I wish I had. I get the bottom and top piece for my front 2" tall. The middle piece just fills the space and I get 2 metal hinges and a latch. I glue everything on with silicone ll. I have had issues with the small pieces of glass coming loose from the tank rim. I found that if you put silicone on the rim, put the glass on, then a bead on the outside it helps out a lot. I so far have not had any issue with the hinges coming off. When I get my glass from lowes I take the tank in with me so that they can measure it and get the cut right. I get wet sanding paper and sand the edges a little to help prevent cutting myself later. Helps out a lot!

I don't use very much substrate in the bottom of my enlcosures so the 2" height works very well. Give more room for bamboo and plants to be put in the enclosure through the door too!


As far as how I put my screen at the top, I just silicone it to the tank on the top/sides. I do one side at a time front, back, side, then side to try to avoid it being loose.

With the whole front being screen you might have some humidity problems(unless your keeping desert animals). That is really my only suggestion.

 

[MauricesExoticPets]

Do you have pictures of the process you used to remove the glass? I'm sure that was fun!

Maurice Pudlo

 

[rhino43grr]

Wow that link was awesome!!! I have been making verticle 10's and have 5 right now and 2 verticle 20 longs. I really like your screen top!!!

thanks, for the screen top i used a replacement window screen kit from lowes and got extra corners to do the door frame. that kit doesn't include the screen, so i bought that separately along with a spline roller to push the rubber spline down into the crease in the frame to hold the screen in place.

what do you keep in your 10 gal. vertical enclosures? i'm still trying to figure out all my options for what to keep in this one once it's finished.

With the whole front being screen you might have some humidity problems(unless your keeping desert animals). That is really my only suggestion.

i'm actually going to be putting glass in the screen frame that's going on the front instead of using screen, so i'm hoping that will keep the humidity up. the cheap analog hygrometer on my desk has been reading ~70-75% since i bought it, so either it's broken or my house stays pretty humid.

the front of the screen frame is indented around the inside edge, so i'll cut the glass i have (i had it cut to the size of the inside of the tank frame originally) to fit into the indentation and attach it to the screen frame.

 

[rhino43grr]

Do you have pictures of the process you used to remove the glass? I'm sure that was fun!

Maurice Pudlo

i didn't take pictures of that part. i'll try to get some when i start on the 20 gal. tanks and post them.

i just used a razor blade to get the silicone away from the glass (i also used it on the bigger tanks to scrape off the paint) then i ended up breaking the glass and pulling the pieces out. i had planned to try to preserve the glass i was removing, but it was still stuck to the tank frame too tightly and it broke accidentally.

 

[daggekko]

Yeah I didn't take any photos of the broken end either. Didn't figure there was much of a point. I found if you don't really break the hell out of the glass you can crack the sides and break the rim trying to get larger pieces out. I actually don't like breaking the glass though because I end up getting slivers of glass in my feet days later. I actually found one on accident last night, 2 weeks after, at my desk. I do the breaking outside the back door!

I am raising baby Phelsuma in the 10's. The older 2 babies are just over 6 months. Other than that I might put some Gargoyles in tanks temporarily until I can figure what my end goal is. I like to keep the Phelsuma adults in larger enclosures. The larger the better I find!

The analog gauges are crap. I won't buy them at all anymore. I've seen temp and humidity ones go bad.

 

[rhino43grr]

i wish there were a "humidity gun" so i could just have one for multiple tanks. the digital gauges are so expensive to have to put one in each tank. it's like burying a $20 in the substrate.

i took the door frame to lowes and had them cut a piece of glass to (almost) fit. they went through two sheets of glass before they got one that was close enough. the corner pieces on the frame make things tricky, so there's about 1/16" gap at the top/bottom, but i figure the silicone will cover it easily. i also got appropriately sized hinges and a nice handle. rather than painting all the screen frame material black i just got the hinges and handle to match the aluminum.

 

[rhino43grr]

I am raising baby Phelsuma in the 10's. The older 2 babies are just over 6 months. Other than that I might put some Gargoyles in tanks temporarily until I can figure what my end goal is. I like to keep the Phelsuma adults in larger enclosures. The larger the better I find!

are there any readily available phelsuma species small enough for a single adult or pair to be housed in a tank this size? i figure i'll lose about 3-4" of useable height for the substrate and about an inch from the back of the tank for a background. i'd like to keep the 20 gal. tanks i have for cresteds and/or gargoyles if possible.

 

[daggekko]

In theory you could house a single adult of many species in a 10 gallon. Realistically you want to go bigger though. It really isn't enough space. Any of the smaller species-P robertmertensi, P laticauda, P pasteuri, P klemmeri, P quadroicellata, P dubia, P lineata all stay fairly small.

I would never say a pair would go well in a 10 gallon. Phelsuma have a tendency not to get along well, and if you don't give them enough space this will only make the problem worse.

 

[rhino43grr]

doing a water test on the tank now to make sure the substrate barrier glass isn't leaky.


100_0202 by rhino43grr, on Flickr

i siliconed the glass into the door frame, so i'm waiting for that to cure before putting more silicone around the edges of the glass.


100_0201 by rhino43grr, on Flickr

after the silicone for the door is done i'll be attaching the door hardware (handle, hinges and magnetic latch) and that should wrap up the construction part of the project.


100_0205 by rhino43grr, on Flickr

i'm thinking about screwing the handle on through the aluminum of the door frame and covering the screw heads with silicone on the inside of the door so it has a little more strength, but i might just silicone it on. i just hope everything still fits right when i go to attach the door.

 

[Yoshi'smom]

Looking good so far!

 

[rhino43grr]

thanks. i tried to use silicone to hold the handle onto the door frame, but it was too flimsy so i had to screw it on. of course the screws that came with the handle were too long so i had to use my dremel tool to cut them off at the right length. the silicone seems to be holding up pretty well on the hinges, so all that's left is siliconing the other side of the hinges to the side of the tank frame. i might not even bother with the magnetic latch since the door is already a pretty tight fit inside the tank frame.

 

[rhino43grr]

handle and hinges are attached.

of course i decided to try to use the magnetic latch and made things harder than they had to be. since the door was already a tight fit inside the tank frame i tried using my dremel tool to grind away some of the plastic and just made things look uglier than if i had left it alone.

next time i'm either making the door frame slightly smaller or using an exterior latch system instead of the magnetic one. maybe both. pics eventually.

 

[rhino43grr]

ok. pictures of the (semi) finished product.


100_0206 by rhino43grr, on Flickr


100_0207 by rhino43grr, on Flickr

next step will be giving it a good cleaning to get all the little plastic boogers out of the inside and get the glass looking better. then i'll be making a background out of cork bark and great stuff (once i order/find some cork bark) and getting substrate in there so i can put live plants in.

i hope to have this tank, two vertical 20 gal. tanks and my 20 gal. long leopard gecko tank on the built-in cabinets i'm finishing in my office (where it is for these last two pictures) so they'll get regular attention. i just have to finish the tops for the other two sections of the desk/cabinets and build the bookshelves before that can happen, but the wife's got me on a strict 6 month deadline for the office project anyway.

 

[daggekko]

WOW that looks awesome! I might have to try one of these with one of the 10's I have sitting around!

 

[daggekko]

Oh, question for you on this build. Since you have the piece of glass on the inside to make the tank water tight, does the piece of glass on the door actually butt up against it to prevent things like poop, crickets and geckos from getting inbetween the 2 pieces?