56 gal aquarium to terrarium conversion

[fallenangelfyre]

hey guys. so i scored this old 56 gallon aquarium with a cracked bottom from my neighbor. after a little brainstorming, i think i'm going to convert it into an 18" H x 36" W x 20" D front-opening terrarium for my leo. that's 3/8" glass! some pics:

only the bottom is scratched up like that. obviously i'm going to clean it up- get rid of the old algae/dirt, razor blade off the old silicone, etc. i already removed the top flange. i'm going to remove the bottom flange and cracked piece and replace it with 3/16" glass with three or four 3" holes drilled for air-flow. i'm going to get 1/8" glass doors that overlap, and put in plastic "E" channel so they slide. i was thinking i might rip off the lip on the top flange that the glass top is supposed to sit in with my table saw. sand and paint them black and silicone them back in for a more finished look. then do up a styrofoam/grout faux rock wall on the back and sides. what do you think? any ideas/critizisms are welcome. one thing though- would this be too large for only one male leo?

 

[fallenangelfyre]

one more question. when i do the faux rock wall i would like to use black silicone first so that you can't see the yucky underside of the rock wall. anybody have any experience with this? i know it works well for the greatstuff/coco-fiber type of wall, but if you hot glue styrofoam to silicone, will it stick?

 

[latshki]

yea the black silicone is great if you are doing the coco fibre style wall and you can get brown colored stuff too

 

[Keith N]

Yeah check this site to help set it up.

http://www.blackjungle.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=2108

 

[fallenangelfyre]

you guys aren't understanding me. i realize that the black silicone works with the GS foam/coco-fiber way. however, i've never scene it used with the styrofoam/grout type of faux ROCK wall. it would work just like the GS foam/coco-fiber walls, but you have to hot glue the styrofoam to the tank walls and i'm just not sure that styrofoam will stay hot glued to silicone.

 

[Tony C]

Hot glue will not stick to silicone. An easier alternative would be to use black, or whatever color you like, contact paper on the outside of the tank.

 

[Keith N]

Then your right hot glue will not stick to silicone but silicone can be used as a glue to stick to silicone as this is the method I use to secure the wood to the silicone painted back.