55 gallon journal

[markbudde]

After being out of the hobby for 5 years, early this year my fiancee rejuvenated my interest in terrariums. We decided that we could fit exactly one terrarium in our tiny one bedroom apartment. 55 gallons (48"x13"x18") was the maximum that would fit in our living room, so I decided on that.

The ultimate goal of this terrarium is to be self sustaining. I have read extensively on this, and written on this goal here.
general-discussion/topic35619.html
I doubt the tank will be able to be completely self sustaining, but I hope to only have to add leaves and occasional kitchen scraps.

The overall design of the terrarium needs can only have the short end facing the wall covered in substrate, but must be transparent along the long axis. Initially I was going to add a water feature, but in reality that would eat up precious floorspace, which will be used to grow microfauna. Besides, I made a tank with a waterfall in it six years ago. The soil will be several experimental soils with different properties. Most of my plants will be grown epiphytically allowing an understory to develop, and they will be watered by an automated misting system. There will also be internal air movement, provided by a computer fan. This will all be sealed up, and hopefully only opened to prune plants and add leaves (any maybe remove offspring, if I'm lucky).

I scoured craigslist for a few weeks, and eventually found someone giving away a free 55 gallon. It came full of old aquarium stones and assorted crap, which I discarded, and wasn't in perfect condition. I washed it and washed it, but there was permanent (and I tried everything) hard water stains at the top, and various scratches, and the frame was warped/melted. So I sterilized it with bleach.



Next I drilled the holes. Having never drilled glass before, this was quite nerve racking. This was also a major reason why I didn't want to buy a new tank, as I feared impending doom. Luckily, there was no catastrophe and everything ended up working out. I drilled: one 1/2" hole in the bottom for drainage, two 1_3/8" holes for ventilation and two 1/2" holes ate the top for the misting system and temp probe. One word of advice when drilling with a hole saw. Use lots of water!





The next step was to smear black silicone across the back of the terrarium, to hide the Great Stuff that I would be adding later. I also used the silicone to seal up the tubes sticking out the back for drainage and misting.



I ended up using two layers of GE black silicone II. It took one entire tube to cover the background and the false bottom. I didn't use gloves, and my fingernails looked pretty nasty for a couple of days.

Next step was to position the wood. I purchased a tree stump off of eBay, in part because of this pic of Shawn's colon tank.
member-s-frogs-vivariums/topic35018.html

The piece came to big for my small tank, so I had to cut it down to size. Here is a pic before I cut it.


I used a hacksaw to trim it up, and I don't will that pain on anyone, ever again. Do NOT use a hacksaw for this job unless you want an extended workout.

As I trimmed the piece of wood, pieces kept breaking off (not surprisingly). This was because I didn't have a vice, so had to hold onto stump as I cut it. Some good advice, USE A VICE!

Thats all for now :wink:

[markbudde]

Next step was to make the background and false bottom. I first glued the pvc spacers in place, so that they would not fall when the tank was moved vertical to make the background (after learning the hard way that this was necessary). This show was from directly above the tank.



I next installed the false bottom, and taped it into place, then added the PVC for my air flow system. This was somewhat difficult, because the pvc was sticking out the bottom that the tank needed to rest on. I solved this by putting some old text books to use as stilts for the tank. I should note here that I had previously covered the PVC end in the plastic mesh used to make the false bottom.



Next I covered the back in GS, then placed my wood into the foam in a predecided position. It was a good thing that I took a picture of how I wanted them, because otherwise the position of the wood would never have been remembered correctly. I also used a cut up empty paper towel roll to keep the wood in position and to prevent my vent from being obscured by GS.



A word of warning for anyone who hasn't yet used Great Stuff... Cover all of your wood in plastic and tape before GSing, otherwise you will end up with a huge mess (like I did). And its a pain.

A few hours later, the GS felt like it was setting well, so I started trimming it up. Perhaps I was a tad impatient. I quickly cut into a huge air pocket, and the background started deflating :shock:. When I woke up the next morning, I found that the hole a found had refilled with foam, which had then extruded out of the hole and onto my background (like one of the "snakes" at the forth of july). This was easily cut off. Another note. I used 2 bottles of GS for a relatively small area. Overnight, the GS got into my false bottom and would have occluded my drain had I not put a foot long tube inside my false bottom. So be careful with that.

Here is an image of the tank after GS and with the supports removed.



And here it is from the top, before trimming.



Next it was time to trim up the background and remove the excess silicone from the glass. I started trimming with a razor blade, but it quickly became clear that would not due. MY fiancee got me a scalpel and some tweezers, which worked awesome for trimming. I used a razor to remove excess silicone from the background, which worked just fine, mostly. One major problem presented itself, which was silicone on the glass adjacent to the wood. My hands were just to big to get in there. I got most of it off with the scalpel blade, but it was an unpleasant experience. I attempted to create a plateau above the wood, and another below the wood. This turned out well, but the lower plateau would eventually become covered in dirt anyway. :?





Next up is substrate...

[markbudde]

With the background all trimmed up, it was time to cover up the GS. I had ordered some tree fern fiber, because I read that it was great for growing epiphytes. When it arrived, however, I realized that it looked like cross between twigs and pine needles. So at the last minute I scrapped the idea of coverign my background in it and just used black silicone and peat moss. This turned out nice, and I created a small spot with the tree fern fiber as well. The background ended up pretty nice.



These pictures also have LECA covering the false bottom.



I also had been experimentign with ventilation/ air flow systems. I bought a super quiet Silenx fan, but it didn't move enough air through my pipes. So I ran out na bought a 4" computer fan. I couldn't come up with a way to put this 4" fan inline with my pipes. I eventually ended cutting up two old spray bottles and using the cone portion to attach the fan to the PVC. Here is a pic of that monstrosity.



This ventilation system actually works fairly well at moving air, but I certainly dont get a breeze. It's fairly quiet, though.

Next I wanted to position the wood before adding dirt, and also figured it was as good a time as any to try out my lights. Here are some pre-dirt images.





Next up, DIRT!

[markbudde]

So read quite a bit on dirt. For the novice among you, here is a brief primer (well not brief).
general-discussion/topic31551.html
The IDEA is to add clay to the substrate, with the hopes that it will hold onto nutrients that would otherwise wash out of the soil. These nutrients can the be uptaken by microfauna and eventually eaten by the frogs. The problem with pure clay is that it will eventually turn to a solid clay mass, and then nothing will be able to penetrate it. So some pioneers here have come up with some ways (more like attempts) around this. One idea that intrigued me was developed by Brent Brock, which essentially involves introducing plastic into the clay particle to keep them from mushing together over time. He uses a mix of Redart clay (red potting clay) and soil, which is then infused with acrylic cement bonder, which becomes plastic when it dries. An important aspect of this voodoo (and I mean voodoo as a compliment) is to introduce calcium into the soil, as calcium deficiency is not unheard of in this hobby. This is especially important if you don't plan on dusting you food, which I don't plan on doing. So I went to the University bookstore and bought some redart clay, and mixed it with some soil and some sand in a five gallon bucket. Brent recommends adding water until it forms little aggregates, and then laying it out to dry. I'm not sure if his clay comes dry, or what, but this was impossible for my. I started with a brick of clay and it was hellish to try and mix it with dirt. So I kept adding water. This eventually turned into wet mud.



I then smeared this mud out into a 1/2" thick piece of dough on a sheet of plastic in my apartment and let it dry. After a couple of days when it was in its sexy dirt state, I crumbled it apart like bleu cheese and let it dry some more. Then I sprayed some quikrete bonder on it, and then some more. Eventually I had nice little plastic covered dirt nuggets. I sure hope that quikrete is safe for long term exposure!

But that wasn't even half of it. I wanted to have four varieties of soil in my aquarium. So I decided that a great idea would be to mix portland cement with clay based soil! The cement would act to "cement" the particles together, and also gives off calcium as it cures! So when I made the soil as above, I actually split ti into two buckets, and to the second bucket I added a little portland cement. I should note here that I did do a trial and confirmed that I could make a product with the properties that I wanted. So all was going well, and I couldn't get over how smart I was, when I tested the pH. Woops. pH was almost 10, which almost uninhabitable, and in which many invertebrates cannot live. So I started spraying some vinegar on it. Then more. Then a whole bottle. Retest the pH... No change :cry: . So then I decided to try a little harder and procured some HCl. Added some of this... No change. The I added a bunch of HCl and noticed that my dirt was effervescing. This acid was acting on the calcium carbonate and giving off CO2 bubbles. I did somemore sleuthing online and found that by neutralizing the pH I would essentially by removing the cementing property of the cement. So I then gave up. Here is a picture of both kinds of dirt in my apartment. (dirt with plastic in it on the left, dirt with cement in it on the right). This is before I broke it all up.



And this is with it about ready to use.


My fiancee was incredibly nice during this period of a couple weeks, when we had a pile of dirt on our livingroom floor. She couldn't help but pointing out all the dirt everywhere that I could steal for free, and yet I had to make my own.

So anyway, the 4 kinds of dirt I ended up using were.

1) Dirt with plastic fortifier as described above.
2) Tree fern fiber, red mulch, peat moss and sphagnum moss.
3) Miracle grow organic garden soil, with a little red mulch and tree fern fiber for aeration
4) dirt with cement mixed in with red mulch, tree fern fiber and peat.

Hopefully these will provide some different micro habitats for a variety of microfauna as well as the frogs.

[markbudde]

Next step was to create a lid for the terrarium. Because it has to be self sustaining, I must be able to provide UV light to the frogs and microfauna, so that they can produce vitamin D3. The means that I have to build a custom top out of UV transparent plastic (ie solacryl or OP-4). Here is a thread I posted in preparation of constructing the lids.
parts-construction/topic36186.html#p267794

I searched long and hard for UV transparent plastic. All of the plastic shops in Seattle (such as TAP plastics) were of no help. All of them informed me that al acrylic was UV transparent, which is not true. They even gave me some literature, a section of which touts the UV blocking capacity of acrylic. I eventually found that tanning repair shops are the way to got, and got 2 sheets of plastic for about $35 each (shipped). I thus constructed my own lids for the terrarium, using a design recommended by Brian (dancing frogs). This method involves creating a five-sided box and placing it in the lip of the black aquarium top. I had TAP plastics cut me the strips for the sides of the box, and Kelsun Distributers get me the solacryl, cut to spec. I then solvent welded the strips together, as if I was makign a picture frame.



Here is the solvent I used. It actually dissolved the plastic and then when it dries the two sheets have become unified into one sheet.



Here are two half completed lids, which were then glued together.



Here are the completed lids, they still ahve the protective tape on them, and thus appear opaque.



You can also see on that last photo, that I put rubber weatherseal around the lip of the tank (it appears as an orange strip). This is to create a seal and prevent insect escapes from the tank.

Here is a close-up.

[markbudde]

And here are some shots of the terrarium with dirt and lights on it.



In this one, you can see the return vent for air flow on the far right side.



Here is a shot of the opposite side from the wall.



And here is a shot from the other side.



And lastly, here is a full tank shot



I still have a decent amount of work to do. I have ordered a herpmist misting system, and am in the process of ordering some bromeliads and some orchids. I also hope to plant an african violet in the soil, to add some consistent color. Also, I need to build a stand for my lights, which will require some ingenuity. I hope to raise the lights a few inches off of the plastic to prevent warping and prevent overheating.

And then, after the tank grows in a bit and I feel comfortable that I have a sustainable microfauna population, I can add some frogs. I was thinking about a pair of Intermedius.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with advice on this project, you know who you are. And thanks to anyone who was able to read this entire (read: overly lengthly) post. Lat me know what you think.

-mark

[tzen]

Nice work.
The problem with good, long and descriptive build journals is that they don't leave much to ask about.

Re cutting wood with a hacksaw: the tool you want is a thin-kerf pull saw, like this: https://www.hardwareworld.com/16-12i...w-pIRUAJ8.aspx

After curing long enough, wouldn't the concrete pH go back to neutral?

[calvinyhob]

Looking forward to updates!!!

[topherlove]

looks great so far

[jdogfunk99]

Great choice of wood, the whole thing looks great. Your analysis of the dirt may be true, but it seems like you're over-analyzing it.