370 gal. Viv/Indoor Greenhouse (Const Jrnl)

[rmelancon]

So I've been trying to figure out how to build this for several years. Several years ago I sectioned off a corner of my basement and built a "basin" for growing plants for the terrariums. The basin is made from 2x6's and pond liner.



Here's a close up of a side. The pond liner is stapled to the outside of the 2x6's.



I've been wanting to enclose the entire thing and put frogs in it but couldn't ever come up with a good plan. The first material I always think of is 2x4's for building something large. The obvious problem with any wood is exposure to moisure. There are many methods of sealing but they are either really expensive (epoxies) or possibly toxic (paints, wood sealers, etc). So I thought of using ChoiceDek or some other composite board used to build decks, but again they are pretty expensive and a lot of them have anti-fungals or UV resistant chemicals and who knows what else in them. So I finally settled on something I found at Lowes the other day: 100% PVC Trim Board. Basically boards made from 100% PVC, like the pipe. The ones I'm using are 1x3. And they are actually 1x3, unlike lumber which is quoted bigger than it actually is.

So the basic idea is to frame windows for the sides and for the doors. Hard to explain how it will attach etc. and to be honest I'm not exactly sure how it will come together. But I'm sure I'll figure something out and it will make sense once it's done and I post pictures. So here's a pic of how the frames will come out. Each board has a one inch deep by eight inch wide channel cut that will frame a piece of eight inch plexi.




I know the plexi will warp but it is seated an inch deep on all sides so it doesn't have anywhere to go. I am pretty sure it won't be able to warp itself out of the frame and that's all I'm worried about. Once put together it will be up and running for a while before I put anything in it. I'll post more pix as the work progresses. Comments welcomed.

[tkromer]

That should look fantastic when it's finished! Keep us posted I think you should be careful acclimating the plants to the high humidity too quickly though, leave the windows partially open for a while after you finish just so the don't go from ambient of 50 or less to 90%+ overnight.

[bgmike64]

I can't wait to see your progress as it goes along. Keep us posted

[nburns]

Rob, should be an interesting project to watch, thanks for sharing! Keep us updated.

Nate

[rmelancon]

So I made some more progress today. Got the back left side done and one of the small panels on the left installed. For the back panels I used this "cracked glass" plastic sheeting that I believe is used over flourescent lighting in commercial use. It was cheaper than the acrlyic and since it is up against the wall, no need to see through it. I also decided for the remaining panels I will attach the top most piece of the frame with a bracket instead of glue. This way if I need to replace the acrlyic for some reason or decide to go with glass I can just undo the top and replace it pretty easily. To attach the panels to the basin I used construction strapping. Basically heavy duty steel. I wanted something that wasn't going to easily bend. The sides are just clamped together for now but I'll probably use some sort of L bracket to hold the corners.




I thought I would have a lot of gaps to seal where the panels meet the basin but by the looks of it, the rubber smashed down pretty evenly. I'm pretty pleased with the way this is working so far.

[frogparty]

LOOKS AWESOME! Takes me back to my days of large lizard breeding where you had to build your own tanks. I bet since it is in your basement keeping the temps you want should be easy

[Julio]

looks like a great project!!, what kind of material are you using in the first pic that looks like reflective alunminum?

[rmelancon]

Originally Posted by Julio

looks like a great project!!, what kind of material are you using in the first pic that looks like reflective alunminum?

Got it at a local hydroponics store, very thin, they sell it in big rolls. I believe it is called "Sunfilm Mylar Reflective Film".

[Corpus Callosum]

Are you going to leave the mylar on the walls and keep the enclosure as greenhouse, or make a background and have it be more like a viv? Great project, thanks for the pics.

[rmelancon]

I'm probably just going to leave the mylar up. If I tried to do a background it would never get done. I may try mounting some things on the back walls attached to the studs. Thinking about making some kind of shelf in the back corner. We'll see.