Construction Journal 44 Gal Pentagon

[charga]

My Rio 600 is what I was using for the waterfalls but once I got it running to test the falls the pump turned out to be real noisy and got worse as I adjusted the water flow to less. So out comes the Rio and will be replaced with a Mini Jet 404. The Eheim is working great during a test last night. Biggest problem....getting it primed. If it continues to be a pain in the butt then I have a few other canisters I can swap out.

I've been out to a few greenhouses and picked up a few plants. Nothing special yet. I'm on the hunt for a Staghorn Fern and I'd like to find a small Rabbits Foot Fern. Still looking over some Broms.

[charga]

So far the results of coco peat applied to the background. It's starting to look like a viv. Won't be long. When I look at the images it reminds me of a cavern rather than a jungle

3 Differnt views, front, left and right sides

[charga]

Install mist system

I'm installing the 6 mist heads inside the tank. The heads are adjustable to spray up or down. They are up high enough and won't be seen when the canopy is on. I think all the area down below will get sufficient misting. The mist heads and hoses are not top of the line compared to what I've seen in other tanks. It was an Ebay item if found and is used in back yards for cookouts to keep the guest cool. I figured if it's good enough for the guests it'll be good enough for frogs and plants. All that's needed to complete it is 3/8 quick connect fittings thru the acrylic cover, a Shurflo or Flojet pump, inline filter and a clean container to hold the water. I will be using RODI water for the misting.
I made a few acrylic brackets to hold the mist heads, acrylic glue to the inside trim of the tank and a few tyraps to hold the mist heads on the brackets. Searching for the pump next.

Acrylic bracket for mist heads. I made 6 of them.


Attached internally mist heads.


6 mist heads to cover the entire tank.


Temporary Ghettofied Mist

This is a tempoary mist until I get a pump to run on a timer. For now it'll work. All fittings and 1/2 gallon spray container are from HD. View the video below to see how it works. It's no 100 psi powered but I figured it would be better than hand sprayer.



Quick disconnects attached to cover.


Plumbing runs thu the canopy to back of tank to the pump below.


A wet bottom after a minute of mist.


Video of the misting.

[charga]

Deleted, duped post

[charga]

Hooking up a Retrofit Lighting, Power Compact

If you've followed the build I was working on setting up my lighting system using power compact with white lights, 2 x 55 watt. The ballast I removed from an old beat up home made 75 gal hood. I cleaned up all the wiring on it from the previous owner and took a picture, below, of what I am about to work with. Four red wires and one yellow wire on one end of the ballast and the AC cord on the other end. The schematic on the ballast shows the yellow wire connecting to one end of both lights, like it was daisy chained. The 4 red wires, 2 to each light. I identically rewired the wiring to both power compact lights, each light 1 black wire and 1 white wire. The black wires connected to where you see the juction box/splice wires off the red and the white wires to the yellow wires juction box/splice. I soldered and used heat shrink on all the wires. Plugged the ballast in and my lights worked like a champ. The ballast did not heat up but I may need to run a fan for the lights themselves. Although I don't want the fan on the front of the canopy because the lights inside will show thru. I may opt for one of the backsides since the tank will be in a corner so I have 2 backsides. Next is to buy new flouresent lights which will cost about $20- each. Wood stain match up as the stand for the canopy is on the list too.













I'm getting there, step by step, it's coming along.

[40zDicTator]

This is a great thread! Thanks for all the great info and well written posts.

[charga]

Thank you, I'm hoping that all enjoy and with enough pictures and an explanation that it would benefit all in the hobby to learn a few things involved in the build. I wanted to take out any quess work about going about it. I realize that not everyone has a workshop and all the tools to build on a large scale but some of the basics are there even for a 10 gallon tank. There's a lot of talented people on the forum that a future PDF hobbyist can get lots of information reading the posts. Believe me when I say it's my 1st vivarium. I read the posts and made notes. I'm a firm believer if you want to do achieve something the desire and drive has to be there. Also having a degree from MMU helps (Mickey Mouse University). I'll have a few more to add to the build then I'll be close to finishing. Then sit back and enjoy a rain forest under glass.

[ddinox64]

You are a total craftsman.I wan't to move into that thing.

[carlos]

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ! This project is a piece of art and premeditated research and study ! Amazing step by step and video ! Very impressive ! I can greatly admire such determination and study that has gone into this project. Can't wait to see it planted. I assure you when it comes to plants,... it's very easy to run crazy with all the variety, color, texture, and shape of many of the viv plants that will do well in such a large and lighted space. keep posting ! love the progression

[charga]

Cooling fans for Power Compact Lighting

Installed is a pair of 12 volt fans after a quick trip to Radio Shack to cool the power compact retrofit lighting and the ballast that's mounted under the canopy above the tank. The purpose is to extend the life of the lighting and prevent unnecessary heat build up that may affect the temperature in the tank. I wanted to enclose the fans to create and area where air would be drawn directly from the back of the canopy thru a hole later covered with piece of scrap weed cloth to act as a dust filter. Top of canopy can be opened and closed with ease as fan enclosure sets in place. I'm satisfied with the outcome and the noise level is moderately low. The fans are equipped with a 3rd yellow wire for a heat sensor that I tucked off to the side and will investigate much later. A slight modification of moving a fan due to the fact it was obstructing the lid prop. Soon I'll stain the canopy to match the stand.

Fans mounted with L brackets I made.


Fan enclosure to draw air from back of canopy.


An upside down view with canopy flipped over.


Hole saw the back for air flow. (looking more like a bird house)


A couple of staples on the weed cloth for a dust filter, nothing fussy.


As I tested it with the lights on for a 1/2 hr both bulbs were very cool to the touch. Maybe later I'll do a quick white paint on the fan enclosure just for appearence sake as well as other small tasks to clean things up.

[charga]

Finally It's Planted

The plants are freshly rooted in the substrate of coco peat and organic soil mix with live sphagnum moss scattered here and there as well as a sphagnum moss at the base of the air plants against the background. Everything has worked out as planned.......(knock on wood), misting, soon to be upgraded to an AC pump, fogger does its fogging, fan exhaust and imput doing it's job and the lighting, low light and the power compacts shining it ever loving light on down. A few pics of it barren followed by a planted tank. You'll notice an African violet that was a gift I planted, you can't miss it along with a few bromeliads, a pothos, variegated ivy and a whole bunch of other neat stuff. Waterfall worked out ok and the filtered canister keeping up with cleaning the pooled area. I'll watch how the plants will take to its new environment. Next on the list.......timers which I'll research in the next couple of days. Enjoy and I hope this build has been of value and gives you ideas to chew on and stir the imagination for your next vivarium you have plans to work on.

No plants here yet


Needs some green here too


A few days later in low light


Turn on the power compact lights


Waterfall


Right side of tank


Left side of tank


Fog



Works under the tank


Above the tank


Afican Violet

[Cindy Dicken]

Your tank turned out very nice!
Keep an eye on the plants, you may need to relocate a couple of those.

[§lipperhead]

Haha nice tank, just dont blind your frogs in that fog! :wink:

[mr.gaboozlebag]

That looks awesome. How did you do the background?

[dartboy2]

Very nice viv! I'll be using that idea for the vine. Do you know what frogs your putting in it?

[Rich Conley]

antifreeze drilling

Why are you using antifreeze? Water is a much better coolant, and isn't toxic. Cars only use antifreeze as a coolant because of the lower freezing point, not coolant properties.



Very nice job on the tank.

[scream-aim-fire]

where did you get the little frogs i guess you are using for knobs?

[divingne1]

How is that purple and white flowered plant doing?
Candy

[kristy55303]

can u come to my house and do that for me??? lol super nice!

[RDDJ]

This is the most AWESOME project I have ever seen. Kudos to your imagination and a job well done!