[d-prime]

Hey everyone!

I recently set up a hexagonal vivarium for a trio of leucs. The tank didnt come with a lid, so I went to a local hardware store and had plexiglass cut. Unfortunately, the dimensions were off and the lid left significant gaps through which ff's and frogs could potentially escape from. Additionally, I noticed that the plexiglass lid has already began to warp under my two coralife 6700k lights, which is a problem.

I would like to rebuild a suitable lid, that provides ventilation so the glass does not fog up, as well as humidity retention. Because this is a hexagon without any doors, all access will be through this lid, so it has to be easily removed.

All suggestions welcome!

 

[jrgobble]

To prevent warping under heat, you will need to go with a thicker material and even a different kind. There is a gentleman on ebay(his call name is popdisplays) that has many different kinds of material and thicknesses. He has been very helpful with my past projects. He may can even cut it to fit the plexiglass. I usually have it cut into two pieces and just remove the fron half from my tank when I need to do feedings and such. I remove the entire piece for more thourough access. I simple leave mine sitting on the lip of the tank and the wieght keeps it down. I do not use vents because the humidity will tend to drop too low. You can get a foggy tank, but unless the room is used to control the heat, that is simply part of keeping dart frogs. I hope this helps. Johnny

 

[d-prime]

Does anyone have any suggestions? Its a shame not to be able to view a vivarium through the glass...

 

[xsputnikx]

Pick the tank up, set a piece of paper up under the tank if its small enough. Take a fine pen/pencil and carefully trace the outer shape of the trim on the tank. should be close to same as the lid.

Now that you have you measure the from the outer edge of the tank to the inside lip to give you a idea of how far inside of that measurement you need to be for the lid to fit properly inside the lip of the tank trim.

Take your traced out piece and measure a couple of dots out on each side. take a ruler and carefully draw a inside dimension to represent the lid.

Next cut it out of a thin/rigid material such as cardboard/ insulation foam.

If all is well you have a template you can take and have cut for you out of glass. or lexan. Lexan tends to not warp as bad as plexi

 

[d-prime]

The template is an awesome idea, but i doubt one solid piece of glass will give the proper ventilation, most likely fogging up the glass...

 

[patm]

Have you looked into the standard aquarium glass lids sold for the hex tanks? Granted their not cheap, but by the time you get the specialized shapes cut out, I bet you'll be spending even more money. If I remember correctly, the pre-fab glass lids have a strip of plastic to allow for filters, cords, etc, whick you could remove and fit a screen in instead.

Pat

 

[xsputnikx]

If its a standard tank they make. Lid for that will be the way to go

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[d-prime]

Its a standard Hagen hexagon. I searched online and i found nothing. The glass store quoted me in the $ 50 ballpark which is fine. It would have been ideal to have rectangular templates cut out along each of the 6 sides where mesh could have been used. I dont know much about glass cutting but supposedly templates with corners weaken the structural integrity of the glass, so they can only do holes.

 

[Adven2er]

I used the cardboard template method. I had the glass shop cut the top into pieces. The gap has screen siliconed in for ventilation. Cost was around $25.

 

[xsputnikx]

glad you got it sorted out

 

[B-NICE]

If your viv isnt to heavy take it to the shop. If you dont want the condesation you can install a fan.

 

[Pumilo]

I used the cardboard template method. I had the glass shop cut the top into pieces. The gap has screen siliconed in for ventilation. Cost was around $25.

I cut one out of glass for a friend. It was similar to this. Difference was that the viv was made to lay on it's side for terrestrial frogs. They bottom piece of glass is siliconed in place. Instead of using two pieces of glass, thus forming a screen-able slot, we used a series of about 8 one inch holes drilled along where the surface of the substrate lies. This has NoSeeUm screen mesh siliconed over it. We additionally drilled a series of holes at the top, back of the viv for a cross flow.
I like the slot idea, though. It would have been easier and allows more flow.