08-20-2008, 01:23 PM
Well here we go. A little background first....
My girlfriend and I have decided to construct a viv. She has a good amount of experience keeping a multitude of animals, namely different types of frogs, lizards, etc... I have a good amount of experience with constructing a reef tank and construction in general. Given our experience in these areas we think we'll do pretty good with this.
So on with the show....
Here you can see the base which is made out of notched 2x4's joined by pocket holes and held together with pocket hole screws and decking screws. I still have to skin it, which I will use 1/4" oak plywood that will be stained a very dark mahogany (almost black), cut the doors, add hardware, install a surge protector with a timer, some shelves, cut the crown moulding for the base, etc.
The tank itself is (outside dimensions) 36"Wx18"Dx22"H. I believe this makes it about a 55 gal. tank. We're hoping to incorporate two water falls, a drip wall, a good size pond and luckily we found an awesome center / driftwood piece, which will be held in place by a Great Stuff / coco fiber background and supplemented with areas of smaller driftwood, perhaps some stone and of course plants.
Next we have the tank on it's side to easily place and move items around. The false bottom is just over 3-1/4" high. and you'll see that there are two areas that don't have any egg crate. These areas will house the pumps. We're envisioning these areas having "doors" made from egg crate then covered with the same weed cloth as the rest of the false bottom. The purpose of these doors is for easy maintenance access to the pumps and filter. The pump cords will be routed up through the PVC in the back corners and hidden by the waterfalls.
Here you can see the majority of the false bottom covered with the weed cloth. Not much more to show right now but it's at least starting to take shape.
One more:
Any advice or critiques would be appreciated.
My girlfriend and I have decided to construct a viv. She has a good amount of experience keeping a multitude of animals, namely different types of frogs, lizards, etc... I have a good amount of experience with constructing a reef tank and construction in general. Given our experience in these areas we think we'll do pretty good with this.
So on with the show....
Here you can see the base which is made out of notched 2x4's joined by pocket holes and held together with pocket hole screws and decking screws. I still have to skin it, which I will use 1/4" oak plywood that will be stained a very dark mahogany (almost black), cut the doors, add hardware, install a surge protector with a timer, some shelves, cut the crown moulding for the base, etc.
The tank itself is (outside dimensions) 36"Wx18"Dx22"H. I believe this makes it about a 55 gal. tank. We're hoping to incorporate two water falls, a drip wall, a good size pond and luckily we found an awesome center / driftwood piece, which will be held in place by a Great Stuff / coco fiber background and supplemented with areas of smaller driftwood, perhaps some stone and of course plants.
Next we have the tank on it's side to easily place and move items around. The false bottom is just over 3-1/4" high. and you'll see that there are two areas that don't have any egg crate. These areas will house the pumps. We're envisioning these areas having "doors" made from egg crate then covered with the same weed cloth as the rest of the false bottom. The purpose of these doors is for easy maintenance access to the pumps and filter. The pump cords will be routed up through the PVC in the back corners and hidden by the waterfalls.
Here you can see the majority of the false bottom covered with the weed cloth. Not much more to show right now but it's at least starting to take shape.
One more:
Any advice or critiques would be appreciated.