Fancy new custom tank

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Anejodave

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My son and I have started building his leo a fancy new home to replace the miserable conditions she's stuck with right now. She's a fully grown leo living in a 10 gallon tank with a tri-level hide that I built about 8 months ago.

The new tank will be a custom 28" wide, 16" deep and 16" high. The picture attached shows our early layout. Under the waterfall is the humid hide with a small portion of the pool extending back into there. The entire waterfall assembly is designed to be removed in it's entirely to allow for upkeep and ease of cleaning underneath.

This coming weekend our plan is to get everything assembled and get the expanding foam laid on to make everything look right.

Eventually it will all be grouted, sealed, etc. We're using a dark brown grout and sand painting to make everything look as close to real as our limited skill allows.

More pictures will be forthcoming as each stage is completed.
 
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little98dime

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St. Augustine, Florida
Only thing I see that might be a problem is that humid hide and water fall setup. It might result in the humidity of the enclosure getting too high. Also, I would be surprised if your Leo would go into the pool area for any extended time. I know all of my females HATE water. Otherwise you're off to a great start. I like it a lot.
 
goReptiles

goReptiles

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Not sure if the waterfall would also cause a rise in humidity. They really don't like water, so I'm not sure that a waterfall would benefit the gecko.
 
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Anejodave

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The 50W thermal bulb that will be placed over the top ledge on the left will be more than enough to keep the humidity down. The waterfall itself will be similar to the small tabletop zen waterfalls you typically see sold at malls to the yuppies.

As for the leo getting in the pool, that too isn't a problem. As it is the critter stands in her waterdish all the time. She'll run into her humid hide as it's getting misted. She loves water for some reason. It must be a family trait
 
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Anejodave

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The expanding foam has been added now. There is still much work to be done cleaning everything up but it is coming along.

The bottom for the waterfall pool is a vinyl tile. That whole area will eventually be sealed with copious amounts of aquarium safe silicone with a fine dusting of sand for aesthetics. The picture of the pool is a top down view so you can get an idea as to the interior cave's layout. The dimensions inside are a nominal 7" wide x 6" deep and 3" high. I've already taken some measurements of the critter and she'll fit just fine.

I figure it will take us roughly 40 hours total to have the entire thing complete.
 
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Anejodave

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I"m making time because the critter is my son's pet. He lives with his mom most of the time so anything I can do with him is something worth doing
 
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Anejodave

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Here is our first practice run for the top removable section of the waterfall. The grout was mixed to the consistency of thin pancake batter and mostly drizzled over the foam.

The result was good but the application process was more difficult than I liked. The next layer we place will use grout that's quite a bit thicker so it can be trowled on and the texture controlled.

This is why we we're doing a three layered practice run. Both the rugrat and I are rank amateurs. So we practice and will practice until we are confident that we can do a job we can be proud of.
 
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Anejodave

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I could use some advice. I'm about to purchase the pump for the waterfall and want some opinions on flow rates and manufactures. Since the pool is so small and I intend to only have half a gallon of water in the undertank resevior I don't need anything large.

I've thought about getting a used desktop zen waterfall and canabalizing the pump out of that. Any advice would be appreciated. I'll need to have the pump shipped to me sometime in the next 2 weeks so I'm in no great hurry either.
 
prettyinpink

prettyinpink

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1,838
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Austin, Texas
I just wanted to say I can't WAIT to see the finished product!

I agree with your thinking about a desktop waterfall. I'm not sure if there's anything better than that.

Please keep us updated :)
 
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Anejodave

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prettyinpink said:
I just wanted to say I can't WAIT to see the finished product!

I agree with your thinking about a desktop waterfall. I'm not sure if there's anything better than that.

Please keep us updated :)
Click to expand...

The rugrat has been out of town for the past few weeks visiting his grandparents so no work has been done. It's a project that's for both of us to do together. We'll get back working in a little over a week
 
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Anejodave

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Update time. We have laid down the majority of the first coat over the larger of the two sections. It's still not quite covered but we're getting there. It's a slow process.

The scale of this piece is 20" wide, 14" deep and 11" tall.
 
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