My diy Rockwalled vivarium

S

stipe

Guest
After countless hours of work i've finally finished. Here are some pics showing the construction up to the finished think. With a video at the end showing what it looks like. Also the final video/pics isn't the finished product i still want some more plants and decorations.

First let me give you some specs. It is a 3 foot aquarium that i modified to support fake rock walls, 2 waterfalls and a river. The most eye catching thing in the tank is the river. I set up a shallow stream where a [ump pumps water from a fake rock hidden in the water (which you will see later) through a pipe hidden under the dirt the the start of the river. This then makes a flowing river back into the water section. Im not sure what frogs i will get yet but i bet some would love to bask in that river area. The tank also contains two water falls. One up high and one down below powered by two different pumps. The soil mixture is my own mixture (which you can see in my other thread) and it has a false bottom where two bulkheads are drilled and fitted to supply drainage. In the water to get the nitrogen cycle started are white clouds ( a type of fish). You will all see this later one. Have fun. Hope you like it.

First i marked out and silicone all the glass where i wanted the water and river system. Then glue silicon and pebbles to the glass plates to make it look more natural. finally i started to glue the fake rock walls on. Have a look.
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After that was done i had my tank all ready for my bidding.
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I dint like hwo you could see the glass on the side of the tank so i sprayed that black.

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After that i started on the false floor.

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Then filled her up

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Now i started work on my water falls (dont worry the pipes will be hidden later on.

Since the pump running the river was pritty big i couldn't hide it easy so i created this using a fake rock from work ( i work at an aquarium/pet shop)

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After that was done i started workign on my waterfalls

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And now the river system. The piping is hidden through the hollow logs then buried under the gravel and comes out at the start of the river.

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Now i need a good lid for the enclosure one that lets UV and light in and keeps from in as well. I got to admit this was the easiest part.

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Now to add some plants and just make it look abit better.

Ok its not done yet but it looks half decent for now.

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that is a very nice tank. You could try planting epiphytes on the back wall, or geting creepers to grow up it. Hopefully you will get moss growing on the rocks around the waterfalls.

nice one!

let us know what you put in it in the end

Chris
 
Stipe, in the Photo sections of the Forum, we prefer to have photos posted directly here (not just links to the pictures on Photobucket). Could you please post some of your pictures directly here for us?

Use the "Upload Attachment" button, or type in the correct code, it's given in the Help/Instructions file. Thanks!

(Message edited by jennewt on January 26, 2007)
 
Impressive indeed! Do frogs like the strong flowing water though?
 
beautiful! I love building new tanks, are ou satisfied with the finished result?
 
Amazing, remember to tell us what will occupy this new home.
 
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