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Construction journal - big display tank

90K views 86 replies 50 participants last post by  Mohawk_reefer  
#1 ·
Hi all,

I have finished building a new big livingroom viv and would like to share some construction pictures here.

the dimensions of the viv are
211cm wide, 95 cm high, 72 cm deep. ( I don't understand anything about the imperial system :confused: so I let you guys do the conversion ;) )


the viv was constructed out of concrete form plywood. I have used this material before and liked it very much. Glass was not an option because of the size of the viv and me living on the 3th floor.

first a schematic of the inside of the viv:
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the raised part on the left is for a technical compartment that houses the misting installation and all the timers etc.
it is accessible from the side
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the smaler compartment on the front (whole length of the tank) is to create air circulation

the tank can hold a fairly large amount of water. most will be hidden beneath a false bottom with two compartments. one of the compartments will house the pump for the waterfall
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so this was the general plan:
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and this was the first step to realizing it:
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#2 ·
the plywood planks were glued together with polyurethane glue. Some screws were also put in for strength and to pull the planks together while the glue dried.

afterwards everything got several coats of epoxy to make sure everything was waterproof.

over the plywood skeleton a mdf "casing" was placed because the plywood is difficult to paint.

some pieces of wood were placed in the tank and 2-component pu-foam applied to keep everything in place and to get rid of all the straight edges

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the waterfall was constructed out of pvc-pipes, coverd and filled with the pu-foam

a pane of glass was glued in the side, a stainless steel mesh glued in place between the ventilation compartment and the tank, and some pvc E-profiles placed for the 2 sliding windows

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#4 ·
finally the panes of glass and stainless steel ventilation mesh were installed in the hood.
the misting system (14 nozzles) was installed
lights were installed (2 80Watt t5's + 3 36w PL's for the day, some led-lightning for dusk & dawn)
a lot of fans were installed
- 5 fans blowing air from the bottom into the tank
- 1 fan blowing warm air on to the side-window
- 3 fans blowing hot air out of the light hood. partly into the living room, partly into the bottom compartment to be recycled into the viv

on top of the eggcrate I put a fine plastic mesh. on top of that some treefern pannels so that water can run through to the false bottom.
on top of the treefern pannels I put a mix of peat, treefern fiber, spaghnum, charcoal, leaflitter, orchid bark and clay

planted it and voila:


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I love bromeliads so I put a lot of them in there. There are also a lot of little ferns and orchids.
The plants are already growing nicely.
I think I might have to add more lights but I haven't had time to measure the actual light-levels yet.

I will post some detailed pictures of the plants soon
 
#14 ·
the egg-crate is there to hide the lamps because they are fugly and you look straight into them from the couch.
It is done quite often over here. I have once seen a comparison of light levels with and without the egg-crate and the difference really wasn't that big.
the difference between lamps + reflectors and lamps without reflectors was much bigger. I will try to find the numbers
 
#19 ·
thanks for the tip on the eggcrate. ive been worrying about the light spill into my room from my new tank. finish carpentry is set for this week so i need to set the top of glass level and the eggcrate could help with that. just for kicks i will measure with and without it with my par meter. almost forgot, the tank looks great keep up with growth shots on it please.
 
#26 ·
some details of the plants. where possible I have added the names of the plants (please correct me if I am wrong)

marcgravia rektifolia with unknow neoregelia species and 2 unknow orchid species
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Vriesea hieroglyphica and Vriesea red chestnut
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Vriesea bituminosa
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unknown neoregelia and cryptanthus
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unknown orchid
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peperomia
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anubias nana
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some kind of dwarf iris?
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another unknow orchid and cryptanthus microglazioui
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masdevalia minuta and an unknown migrogramma (bottom)
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I think this is an anthurium because it had berries but I am not sure at all. behind it chirita tamiana and I think ficus villosa on the background
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Neoregelia amazon and ornithophora radicans
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Racinae crispa
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pyrrosia serpens
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Masdevalia, I don't know which one might be herradurae
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microgramma nitidia
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microgramma tecta
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2 more different species of neoregelia and a fern that hitch-hiked in with one of them. in the background microgramma nitidia and begonia schulzei. in the left corner another anthurium I think. it also had berries. it almost died but is making new leaves so I think it will do fine
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3 orchids aerangis articulata, haraella ordorata and an unknown one (very small, probably some kind of pleurothalis). pyrossia nummularifolia
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#29 ·
the tank is already inhabited by a pair of salt creeks and a pair of azureus.
I might add one or 2 more azureus if I find some males I like.

please don't turn this in a "don't mix" thread. I have had these specific frogs for years in separate tanks so I can compare their behaviour now and there behaviour when they were on their own and intervene when something is not right. I also have several other tanks with more than 1 species, including a pumilio/tinc mix without any issues. I catch out any froglets as soon as I see them, even when my pumilio's are alone in a tank.
so far they are blissfully ignorant of each other's existence.

The azureus have already started laying again and the salt creeks might have eggs somewhere too since they have been doing their little dance for days.

I tried to make a video of the tank but it isn't that good since the lights have already gone out and te viv is in "dusk" mode.
I will try to make a better video soon with a better camera and more lights