Semi-aquatic project, island across the back

Here's a project that dropped into my lap. I was given two old 36-inch aquariums. One of the tanks included a 36-inch glass plate that had been used as part of a lid. It fit perfectly into the back of this tank, so I felt an irresistible desire to do something with it!

Step 1: I made a cardboard template to mark the same location on both ends of the tank. This line will be the location of the island.



Step 2: Turning the tank on end, I used silicone to place a small glass rod directly over the marked line. After it cured, I turned the tank onto the other end and did the same on the other side.



Step 3. I decided NOT to make a total separation of the island from the main water area. So I needed to leave a thin gap along the back edge of the glass plate. I taped 3 razor blades along the back of the tank to create a thin space, then siliconed the ends of the large glass plate in place on top of the glass rods.



Step 4: I siliconed two more small glass rods along the bottom edge of the glass plate, to prevent the glass from bowing under the weight of gravel. It's not very obvious in this photo, but there are two small rods supporting the plate in the back.



Step 5: I stuck small and large rocks across the front edge of the glass plate. Note that the tank was tipped forward so that this plate was level to the ground during this procedure.



Step 6: Turning the tank on its back, I stuck more pebbles along the front edge of the glass plate.



Finished product, top view. The island area is filled with hydroton (clay balls) and pebbles. You can see a couple of the juvenile Cynops cyanurus that live in the tank currently.



Finished product, front view.

I omitted a couple of aspects of this project, because I lost some of the photographs. After Step 6, I applied brown food-safe caulk to the bottom of the tank and dropped small rounded pebbles onto it. So the substrate you see on the bottom of the tank is caulk + pebbles.

In addition to what is shown, I also applied silicone to the corners of the tank itself, as it was quite old. Start to finish, this project took a couple of months. I tend to neglect projects when I'm busy with other things. Also, the cure time for the silicone was quite long, as I applied a lot of it.

Nice project! Have you been entertained! :lol: Are you giving great ideas to the people! What are the newts will you put there?

cheers

Turned out nice!

Turns out I have that exact tank! I Think I"ll try something similar to this with my own tank.
Thanks for the idea roud:

Jen,
Great project and pictures. It is a very efficient use of space and looks good?

That is so cool. I'm still trying to figure out where the extra glass rods are from step 4. Are they parallel to the original two, or are they up and down (vertical) holding up the back of the ledge, or are the horizontal along the gap behind the ledge? Also, where do you get glass rods? finally, how long do you mean that the silicone takes to cure? I just thought a day or so, but does it take weeks?
thanks

The tank is housing juvenile C. cyanurus. I'm not sure if this will continue, or if some others will move in. It would work well for a number of semi-aquatic species.

Dawn, here are two more photos that show the rods that support the plate in the back. In both of these photos, the tank is lying on its back, which may be a bit disorienting. I bought several long glass rods at an artists' supply shop; they use it for glass-blowing. Unfortunately, I don't have a good way to break it or smooth out the ends. I just break it by hand, wearing leather gloves, and cover the sharp ends thoroughly with silicone.

I'm going to try this. I'm going to get the parts next week.
One last (?) question: is the original tank glass or plastic? I have a tank shaped like that, and it's plastic. Just wondering how the glue and glass holds against the plastic, if it is indeed plastic.

It's a glass tank. Silicone sealant does not stick as well to plastic. If you did this with a plastic or acrylic tank, I would recommend putting a lighter substrate (not rocks) to fill the land area.

Dawn, Mark´s idea of a cork bark rim would be perfect for your project.

I"m going to try it on a glass tank...I was just wondering if that was a plastic tank.

My Version of Jen's Project

1. I started by glueing some dividers into two tanks I had, so they could be half-aquatic and half terrestrial. The original dividers I got were too thin (1/8 inch), so I decided to use them for this shelf project and get thicker dividers (1/4 inch), . That's what inspired me to do this, I had extra pieces.
2. I also wanted to try Jenn's idea of glueing rocks to the bottom of the tank. I have all these necklaces left over from my hippie days, and I don't wear them anymore. So I thought I'd use them in my project.
3. Here is where I glued some rocks to the bottom of the tank.
4. Also I glued the rocks from one necklace along the edge of the shelves.
5. The shelf intended for one tank. Unlike Jen, I thought I would glue the rocks to the shelves before I put them in place.
6. The shelf intended for the other tank
7. One false move! D***! Well, I bought another piece of glass and re-did it.

cont'd below

8. Here is the finished shelf #1, with clay balls on top. Underneath you can see the coil Xmas lights that I also use to illuminate my newt area (in addition to long fluorescent lights that hang from the ceiling and are attached along the walls).
9. View of that tank from the top, so you can see both the aquatic and terrestrial sides.
10. Here water has been added and it's up and running. See the T. grans?
11. View from the top. See the T. grans mating? "Hey, baby, let's break in the new tank."
12. This is the second tank, finished. You can see the divider, the rocks I glued to the bottom, the incline for the salamanders to climb from the terrestrial side (the wood of the ladder won't last long in the aquatic side, there I have decorations to climb over). Also I have, for their climbing ease, a bendable piece of fake branch. I cut it in half and covered the exposed end with aquarium glue so the inner metal wouldn't rust. I bent it like that and used it for a frame for a long piece of silk plant, so they can also move from one side to the other that way.
13. View from the top, of new shelf and rocks glued to the bottom.
14. View from the side. The left half will be aquatic (clay balls not yet in place on shelf) and the right will be terrestrial. I am actually not going to use the tank for a year at least, it's intended for my shanjing babies which are still only morphlings.

The Taricha tank has a deep water half (the piece is about 6 inches high) and the future shanjing tank is short (water will be 1-2 inches deep, can be up to 2 3/4 inches deep).

It may seem weird to have a ladder instead of making the terrestrial side 'drop off' into the water side. This way is much easier to set up, in my opinion. My T. verr have shown me that they will explore every inch of their tank that they can get to. In nature, it's not always a perfect drop. What if there is a large root or a branch that they have to crawl over to get to the water? It surely doesn't stop our newts from finding the water, considering their amazing homing abilities work to get them home from far distances! We sell our newts short, if we think they can't find a water body over a little ladder. Plus my experience with this has shown me that newts are indeed clever enough to be able to climb a ladder to find the water.

Nice work, Dawn. Love the beads