55 gallon Vivarium project

[deranged chipmunk]

For heating, with the false bottom, i would plumbed in an aquarium heater. It does 2 things, heats the water, which heats the air, and it also creates humidity. For lighting, you really only have 2 options, t5ho or led. The t5's are out since there are no 18" fixtures available. You could use led conversion bulbs if you already have the fixtures. Ne herp has what would work. Led lights with incandescent bases. But they are not cheap, about $40/bulb. The height and depth are what are going to be the killers of the light.

[deranged chipmunk]

I know somebody else who is building a 55 vert conversion. He went through light your reptiles, $275 for the lights. YIKES!
Check post #41. 55 Gal vert build! - Page 3

[deranged chipmunk]

It just dawned on me. Are you still going to run a sump? If so, heat the sump and you heating issue should be resolved.

[Eric and Stitch]

I fell off the wagon with this lately. I've been done and the frogs moved in since March. Ill upload pictures when I'm home. Lighting I use 2 x 18in t5 lights. One is a naturalistic plant light. The other an exoterra rainforest tube. Heating I put a beta tank heat pad in the false bottom and used aluminum tape to put a reptiheat heat cable on the back wall externally. I have no humidity problems. The waterfall creates plenty.
I've gone through 3 different forms of bottom so far. False bottom with soil to grow plants, the waterfall saturated that and any plants got root rot. Then I did a false bottom with aquarium pebbles and just had a potted peace Lilly. My current bottom is just aquarium pebbles with bamboo and standing water.

Pictures soon I promise.

[Eric and Stitch]

So here are pictures, most are self explanatory.

Under tank storage and Water feature pump

Here are details of my clock house, the side opens, the clock come out, and the top screen is removable for access to lights, heaters, climate controls, and my water feature manifold.My current pump is too small to run more than one item at a time but the manifold can accept up to 4 separate outputs. currently i only have the waterwall/waterfall or a bypass recirculate tube.
Upper half where the water flows down the wall to a 'tree branch' pond
Lower portion where water free falls with the guidance of a string from the Tree branch.
My current bottom consists of an aquarium like bottom with fake plants to prevent any fallen frogs from drowning.

for more pictures, they are in my album titled Grandfather Clock.

[RichardA]

Very cool build! Very creative!

[Heatheranne]

I love it! It's beautiful!

[Adam R]

amazing works, looks great!

[tinkgirl77]

Wow, it's gorgeous.

.:* Lisa *:.
laissez le bon temps roulet! :-)

[AquaticJess]

Such a beautiful display!!

[jpownall]

That is GORGEOUS! I absolutely love it! And from an environmentalists perspective, a great example of "upcycling"!

[redeyedtreefrog123451]

I hardly understand any of this :P except its a cool idea

[TextualDeath]

I didn't see what you used for a pump i used a canister filter for my stuff. Its a bio filter that incorporates good bacteria to keep the water fresh . it even pumps out most the water when you wish to change it out . i like submersible heaters as well for pond type situations as the one i have will not get too hot .You have done a work of art there man good job!Years ago i made on out of a 125 gallon tank .1980 to be exact.i even had spanish moss as a canopy covering the top with anoles that hung out there a tomato frog firebelly newts and frogs and ghost shrimp.( note the tomato frog didn't work out he was eating everything he could catch lol but that was a long time ago).On mine i did a rock waterfall i used slate to separate the land from the lake and covered it with sand then dirt and some Spanish moss . i even added a few palm trees to it . The rocks allowed the tomato frog to climb in and out of the water without drowning .note to others this is not advice just a comment .

[Eric and Stitch]

What I did is PETCO has power head aquarium pumps that can be used with in tank submerged for just circulation or externally and I plumbed it into my drainwith hose and hose barbs. In the terrarium I have a mesh bag of ceramic tubes used for Bio filtering in those canisters and buried it under the gravel. Essentially making my terrarium the canister filter, more or less.

I went through a couple head aches with my full height water feature but have the kinks worked out. Water used to soak the entire wall and drown my plants on the wall. A silicone sculpting job fixed that. Then the water that would free fall spattered and splashed everything, a couple rocks on either end of a string gave the water something to follow and broke the pond surface almost eliminating the splash.

Since my girlfriend is deciding to make this a Noah's Ark of RETF morphs with at least 2 of each, it will soon be crowded and so I'm starting to build a bigger one. Once that one is complete, I will be looking to sell this one.

Let me know if you're interested.

[Eric and Stitch]

I don't have two albinos, but I am starting to believe he isn't and albino though.

[Eric and Stitch]

I mentioned it before and here it is, Time to sell this tank!

I wanted to sell it with everything inside as a good start or base for someone else to work from as far as the 'jungle' inside the box is concerned, but I came home from work the other day find it cleaned and scrubbed by my girlfriend turned fiancé

Here are some pictures of it currently.


feel free to ask more about it.
PM me if your interested.

[Heatheranne]

I would love it, but you're too far for me to travel.

[Eric and Stitch]

I have family in PA that I might be visiting this fall....... And I might haul it to NARBC in Chicago in two weeks if anyone wants to meet there.

[Heatheranne]

Well, if you don't sell it by fall and you're close to Erie, I'd like it depending in the $ .

[Eric and Stitch]

I would love it, but you're too far for me to travel.

I may find myself traveling to PA this winter, I also have lots of experience packing things safely and shipping freight.

http://www.frogforum.net/sale-trade/...ing-going.html