20 gallon vertical conversion project x2

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rhino43grr

New member
get all the construction stuff finished before you put the substrate in.

i put a nice crack in the one side with the stupid clamp trying to hold the hinges in place while they dried. awesome.
 
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rhino43grr

New member
got the slide locks attached.

i put them on so they slide vertically instead of horizontally. the slide sections are attached to the screen-frame above and below the door (the screen and substrate barrier parts of the front) and the "loops" are on the top and bottom of the door.

the reason i did them that way was that the "loop" sections were wider than the plastic frame and i didn't want the slide sections overhanging the glass on the door. i'll post some pictures after the weekend is over.

next project will be bookshelves, then i can get to the second 20 gallon conversion project.
 
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rhino43grr

New member
after some frustration, the slide locks are attached and working pretty well. humidity has been a little high (stays around 75% usually, up to 99% after misting) but opening the door for a little while drops it back down a bit. i might put a computer fan on the screen portion if the humidity won't stabilize better.

top latch:


SAM_0767 by rhino43grr, on Flickr

bottom latch:


SAM_0766 by rhino43grr, on Flickr
 
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rhino43grr

New member
daggekko said:
Can we get a zoomed out shot of the way the latches are working?
Click to expand...

i'll get one posted tomorrow.

so far they're working pretty well. when they're "open" the top one stays high enough and the bottom one stays low enough that they don't get in the way of the door opening, and when they're slid into the "locked" position the door stays shut pretty tightly.
 
daggekko

daggekko

New member
Your background looks really good! I (I know you've seen the pictures) like how the 10's I did have doors that go to the top and only the glass barrier at the bottom with the mini-frame. I don't know if you could try that on your next conversion but to me it makes a world of difference not having the barrier at the top.

Did you put both latches on before trying just one?
 
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rhino43grr

New member
the door on the second conversion will go to the top since i'm doing a screen top on that one. after the difficulties i had taking the glass out on that one i decided not to mess around with it on this one since it didn't need a uv light.

i just did both latches at once. it stays closed pretty tight with only one of them latched, though.

i have a few other projects i have to get finished before the second tank conversion, so it might be a while until the second part of this thread gets started.
 
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rhino43grr

New member
chelseagrin said:
how did you go about making the back ground so realistic?
Click to expand...

cork bark, great stuff foam, brown silicone and dried coco fiber.

the great stuff holds the cork bark in place and you press the dried coco fiber into the brown silicone that's spread over the great stuff.

should be a lot of search results on this forum for great stuff background or google results for great stuff terrarium background.
 
daggekko

daggekko

New member
Making a PDF vertical tank and 3D background - Dendroboard

10 gallon vertical dartfrog terrarium construction

Here are a couple good links for you! Go buy a 10 gallon and use it as a practice tank. If you can find one on craigslist.com you might only have to dish out $5 to get started!

the door on the second conversion will go to the top since i'm doing a screen top on that one. after the difficulties i had taking the glass out on that one i decided not to mess around with it on this one since it didn't need a uv light.

i just did both latches at once. it stays closed pretty tight with only one of them latched, though.

i have a few other projects i have to get finished before the second tank conversion, so it might be a while until the second part of this thread gets started.
Click to expand...

Try the screwdriver through the glass trick next time. Shatters the hell out of the glass and then the smaller the shards are(not tiny though) the easier they are to remove from the tank.

I still have to re-do 4 10 gallons and 1 20 gallon. I'm dragging my feet though. Ugh. I have a 40 and 60 gallon breeder I was debating on trying to make verticals as well. Did anyone take a look at this thread- http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/do-yourself-diy/59738-new-desert-terrarium.html ? I want to give that a shot:biggrin: I'm going to have to stop being lazy if I want to do that though!
 
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rhino43grr

New member
i'm going to be keeping my eyes out for a 40 breeder to turn into a front-opening horizontal dart frog tank with sliding doors. after i finish a bunch of other stuff and the second 20 vert conversion, of course.
 
daggekko

daggekko

New member
How do you attach the sliding door track to the aquarium? I tried silicone on a wood cage I made and the track came loose from the silicone.
 
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rhino43grr

New member
i'll use epoxy most likely. after that first 10 gal. vertical conversion i decided i wasn't going to use silicone for much of anything structural.
 
Yoshi'smom

Yoshi'smom

New member
Rhinogirl: I've done several custom background for several tanks. They just don't look as good as yours do! Thanks for the links!
 
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