# New project in the works..



## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

I hate the stand for my 30Gallon.

Period.

Its buiilt well enough but poorly designed. For instance the access door on the front is only 14" square. Not nearly enough access for a 36" wide stand!

SO...

i've been kicking around a couple of idea on what to do about building a new stand.

1. Build a 4ft long 2 teir stand to hold upto a 75G on top and a 29 on the bottom. This would leave enough space for a 16" wide cabinet off to on side on the bottom tank. Tanks plumbed together as one system


2. Same as above but forfeit the bottom tank and cabinet space and make the whole inside on the stand into a vivarium. I REALLY like this idea. Some land mass and a water feature about 12" deep with a waterfall thats fed from the overflow of the tank above it. Nutirent rich water would be cirulated through both systems to fed a LARGE variety of plants and the high humity and 12" deep water feature would make for excellent place to get some killer emersed growth going. Double glass doors on the front, with one solid 13" pane going all the way across the bottom for easy viewing of the water area.

Maybe a couple african butterfies to snap up any bugs that make it into the water from feeding the frogs and the like.,.. 

Shouldnt be very expensive to build. even with all the glass and making a wood structure water safe. With the water only being 12" deep the glass doesnt have to be incredibly thick (around 100pds of pressure for 8" and about 140pds for 12" if I figured right and assuming the pane spans the entire 48") and ...hmm.. I probably have most of the wood on hand. And I have enough pumps, fans and gagets to recreate 4 seasons in there for god sakes!! LOL

I figure fiberglass is probably the way to go for the inside and probably I can get enough from a fiend to do it twice. Even enough to sculpt a nice fake rock facing for the water fall.

For doors.. sometimes along the lines of what you see in a Stereo cabinet or Home entertainment center - Magnetic door latches as to keep from having to use handles. Nothing I'll be keeping will be strong enough to knock 'em open.. If it were snakes or larger lizzards and the like I'd worry. Couple of frogs wont budge them. 

For light... I have options  I have either a 2x55 or 2x36 watt PC ballast that can go in there. Or I could use the 2x55 to light both setups (atleast in my current config) ...replacing the 2 30watt NO tubes over my 30G with 1 55 watt PC bulb. I figure the 2x55 over the vivarium is probably the way to go.

Anyone see anything that I'm missing? Any thoughts or suggestions? 


The rough process as I see it now:

1. Build the whole stand using treated wood. Glued and screwed.
2. Plumb everything in.
4. Install glass pane.
3. Waterproof the whole inside using fiberglass (or atleast resin) and sculpt the background.
4. Mask off glass pane and finish the stand (Paint it black)
5. Install front doors.

Ofcoarse about 6 or 8 inches of the top will be screened off and will house lighting and anything else I can/need to cram up there. I have a 4ft long comercial grade GFCI power strip that would get mounted to the back.


This is going to be FUN!

Alternatively I may just make it big enough to hold my 30Gallon and covert the entire setup to a native display once I get a bigger "main tank" sometime down the road. Native fish in the tank, Native widelife and plants in the Viv. This would rid me of problems I've had keeping things like sunfish... being related to cichlids they wreak havov on your plants  Then using 1 2x55watt to light both the tank and the vivarium is more reasonable.


Thanks for any help 
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Wow! Holy cow, Justin! That would be one hell of a setup. I can't wait to see it's evolution

-ricardo


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Wow, what an awesome idea.

My only suggestion would be to use Epoxy resin in your fiberglass instead of the polyester resin that most fiberglass is made with. The Epoxy has better adhesion characteristics to wood that polyester does.

Keep us posted


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## swannee54 (May 24, 2006)

That sounds like fun :whoo: When are you gonna start ?


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

Hopefully as soon as possible!!  Although I'll be taking my time on this one as I want it to turn out well 

Started gathering supplies this weekend. And looking at as many pics of Viv's as I can find so I can get a better Idea of what I want it to look like.

bpimm might can answer: Any idea on a supplier for the hinges and magnetic latches? I've never done anything like this but I'm assuming the hinges will be attached with some sort of epoxy or adhesive.

Anyone have a suggestion for for glass thickness? 1/8th inch probably would be ok since I'm leaning more towards about 8" deep on the water area and probably about 2 inches of that will be wood from the front facing. In every way I've started to draw it up I just cant see another way to do it and it be secure and look nice.

1/4" might be better... surely 1/2" is overkill.

Should I go with Plexi?


Sheesh - this is quickly going to turn into more of a DIY thread but I plan on journaling everything from construction to seting up the end product so I sort of still fits here  .. It will be setup on El Natural pricipals ofcoarse 

Id really like to get some feedback on this project and kind of let you guys bring it to shape 

Take Care,
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Justin, 
The types of hinges I have used either clamp the glass in a U channel or drill the glass for the hardware. as for suppliers I just go to a good hardware store, if you don't have a good hardware store (and I don't mean Home Depot) do a Google search for glass door hinges and you will have plenty to choose from. The magnetic latches have a small steel U channel that slips over the glass for the striker, you can also get self closing hinges so you don't need a latch which IMHO is a cleaner look, it would depend on how strong your inhabitants are and how much force the door took to open to determine if they would work safely.

On the glass thickness I would go with 1/4" minimum for the tank part and on the doors, your glass shop can polish the edges of the doors and the top of the sump panel which would improve the appearance. 

I would stay away from plexi unless everything in the sump is going to be plexi Glass will seal to fiberglass with silicone well, but plexi and silicone don't like each other very well. there are a lot of articles on building fiberglass tanks on the web for directions on building the sump portion, and I would consider fiber glassing the entire inside to protect against moisture and add strength.


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

"....... but plexi and silicone don't like each other very well......."

Oh Yeah!.. forgot about that  


Probably just afew Green Tre frogs.... or PDF's .. nothing stout by any mean will be in there - I'll check on those Self closing hinges  Thanks

Yeah, I was already thinking that fiberglassing the whole inside would be the way to go  ... I did kick around the idea of using JUST the epoxy resin to waterproof the inside but I just dont trust it .... I've read about it being done... but..

Thanks for the help 
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

Something else to consider besides fish in the water portion would be Clawed Frogs. Those things will shove anything into there mouths


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

Any progress?


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