Planted Crestie viv build

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by CWD

Very Nice !

Originally Posted by suey

Wow, looks really good well done!

Originally Posted by Jo Wand

This thread is amazing! I'm going to attempt something like this.

Cheers peeps,

Go for it Jo, just keep in mind that it doesn't have to be permenent, so if you don't like the look of it, just rip it all out and start again.

Jay

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by Kerry1968

Hi, is it essential to have fans for ventilation? I'm going to make a vertical viv out of an old 2 foot tank for my crestie, I'm going to have 1 third of the opening side fitted with mesh for ventilation, would this be OK?

Hi Kerry,

This should be ok, it just means you will be holding in more humidity, and the glass might mist up.

I built a viv with a fogger in it a while ago, I used an exo terra which has a mesh top, however to hold in the heat and humidity better, I covered the top mesh with thin plastic, however this then made the glass mist up

I got around this by leaving a gap around the edge of the mesh, though you have to keep in mind that exo terras have air vents at the front below the doors.

It's a case of suck it and see . You want it up and running for a while anyway. If you need to add a fan or two, then this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Jay

[Lee56]

Have to say this a fantastic idea and will be trying it out with my new tank. was wondering however with the exo terras they was cable holes at the back at the bottom of the tank can u suggest anything to keep these open

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by Lee56

Have to say this a fantastic idea and will be trying it out with my new tank. was wondering however with the exo terras they was cable holes at the back at the bottom of the tank can u suggest anything to keep these open

Hi Lee,

Not sure what you're on about here, do you mean the slots cut into the polystyrene back ground? The only other cable holes I can think of on exo terras are the ones in the top at the back, and these come with a sliding door.

Jay

[Ailurus]

that looks great!! this may sound like a stupid question but would that work with sand? if i wanted to cover the expanding foam with sand not coco fibre?

[Saedcantas]

Originally Posted by Ailurus

that looks great!! this may sound like a stupid question but would that work with sand? if i wanted to cover the expanding foam with sand not coco fibre?

Like this!?!

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by Ailurus

that looks great!! this may sound like a stupid question but would that work with sand? if i wanted to cover the expanding foam with sand not coco fibre?

It looks like lotte beat me to it.

As you can see in Charlotte's Sand Boa viv, you can indeed sprinkle sand onto the silicon.

Though there are other methods, I am going to use Epoxy for my next build (which I'm doing right now) and then sprinkle sand or a sand clay mix in it to get a rock effect, not sure how I'm going to do it just yet as I'm still experimenting.

But here is a pic of my first attempt, though it isn't finnished yet.




Jay

[Ailurus]

yeh thats what i meant, that looks great!! what kind of silicon and expanding foam do you use?

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by Ailurus

yeh thats what i meant, that looks great!! what kind of silicon and expanding foam do you use?

Dow Corning 781 Acetoxy silicon. We get the expanding foam from B&Q, I think it's polycell.

Jay

[Pendragon]

I never posted any pics of the viv with all the plants in and leaf litter down, so here it is;



It has changed a bit since this pic, I will get a more recent pic up later

But the reason for this update is to show the fitting of the 15" 2% Zoo med uv tube, so here it is.



I put this in for the benifit of the crestie, but I didn't know that it would be the broms that would appreciate it more, they had gone a dull green, but within a week of the light being in the colour is coming back.



You can see the pink in the centre of the plant has come back, this had all but gone. We had some more colourful broms in here befor, but they died, now I have this tube in I might get some more and try again

Jay