Vivarium project Step:3 & 4 Ventilation & Great Stuf

[Jason]

I am in the process of making a new vivarium. I have never made one from scratch, but it is time I give it a shot. It will sit in the corner of a room like a diamond, with 2 sides facing the room and 2 against the wall.

The 2 sides facing the room will be euro style with sliding doors. It will have a sump in the stand underneath, so I can heat the vivarium with warmed water from the sump. The water will pass the air vents infront of the tank like a stream/pond. I may even include some fish. I am doing this because the temperature in the room stays in the low 60's almost year round and I would like to control the temperature of the tank a little better and have a water feature as well.



My main concern is that there will not be enough support for the glass top, light and hood with having both front sides sliding doors. I decided to add a few peices of glass highth-wise for added support, but am still a little concerned. Any sugestions before I go and get the glass cut?

The viv will be 24w x 24L x 36H making it about 90 gallons.




Ignore the person in the scetch, it is not to size. :lol: I only wish.

Any other sugestions and ideas would be helpfull. Many of my ideas for this viv are from all the posts on this forum so keep them coming they are really appreciated.

[Smogre]

I'm not going to say your off on your idea but there has to be a better way to heat that tank. The best place for heat is your lights.
Let those fans pump heat in at the top and vent out at the bottom. This way you only pull in warmer air from your lights.

[Jason]

True, but at night the temp falls below 62, so heat from the lights would not work 24 hours a day. I had the same thoughts as well. I also would like to put in a few tetras in there so the temp is needed.

[Smogre]

Gotcha. Turn that heater up in the sump.

[wishIwereAnExpert]

I highly reccommend going with "reverse" euro venting--drawing air in from the top and pulling it out the bottom.

With your method, all of the hot air from the lights is going to stay at the top of the tank. The warm air will be pulled into the top of the tank and immediately sucked right back out the top. If you do it my way, the hot air more efficiently heats the bottom of the viv as well.

As for your concerns about night-heating, don't worry. A viv this large holds in its heat well. My 120 gallon has no heating at night, and despite the room being in the high 50's at night, it is still warm in the morning. As long as you turn off the fans at night, the tank's warmth isn't going anywhere.

I don't have any info on the glass strength, but if you're worried, you might want to think about supporting the light hood from the ceiling, pendant-style.

-Solly

[wishIwereAnExpert]

Oh and BTW, how do you export .png's from Sketchup? I tried to do that and it gave me a black screen.

-Solly

[Jason]

Well I have had the glass cut for almost 2 months now and since it has been nice outside I decided to put my vivarium project in to full swing.

I used a garden hose and a glass drill bit to drill the ventalation holes. Some will house fans, some will just be open. I will be able to play around with them to see what works best.






A good tip to keep the drill bit from wandering around the glass when trying to get it started is to hold it at an angle.




Here it is together for the 1st time.







The aprox sixe is 21w x 21d x 36 h.

Step 3: Vents

[defaced]

Very nice. That is exactly how I drill holes in glass. I've not found the need for anything such as a press or guide - just a good drill and a source of water.

[RGB]

Nice, i'm starting a custom tank that's almost exactly that size. What thickness is your glass, i got mine in 1/4" for strength and its FREAKIN HEAVY!

[Jason]

1/4" Yea, very heavy, but I too did it for the strength. I plan to have a decent water section in there.