My DIY viv (second edition)

[Franklinj480]

Classes are out for a few more days until the summer semester starts, and with time on my hands and some experience with the polystyrene/grout technique under my belt I have produced this:

 

[Tico]

Nice did you make the hide too?

 

[Franklinj480]

yeah! I made everything except the water dish. Right hide is warm hide, left is the humid hide (it has a tupperware container in it) and the center hide I carved from a volcanic cinder

 

[andrew5859]

Looks pretty good! Whats the floor made of?

 

[Franklinj480]

ceramic tile with sand filling the small gaps in between pieces

 

[Rolltide30]

That's pretty awesome. How did you make the wall?

 

[Franklinj480]

I really should have taken pictures as did each step, I just get so sucked up into my projects : P but here's the barely adequate word version

I started with some measured rectangles of polystyrene sheets, then cut out little pieces that I formed into "rocks". Those rocks were then glued to the background to break up the flatness of the sheets. Grouted the entire thing with "sahara tan" colored grout. I got the color and texture from the red sand we have in our backyard, using the mod podge sealer I just painted it on with the sand. I didn't use any actual paint

 

[theCREECH]

Looks really cool! Can I ask what your temps are on the hot side? Did you have problems getting them high enough?

I looks like the ceramic tiles cover the bottom. What kind of heater do you have under there? What size tank is that?

Sorry for all the questions. It looks really awesome though

 

[Franklinj480]

I appreciate all the questions! Its nice to have people who are actually interested! (girlfriend couldn't be more apathetic)

I do have ceramic tiles and they're wonderful at heat conduction. I had an issue with temps getting too high inside my hides so I had to add about 7 layers of paper towel under the tile. Right now my temps fluctuate from 90-95 on the warmest spot. I've got an 8''x12'' zoomed UTH for my 20 gallon.

Thanks for the replies : ]

 

[Teranyx]

How did you get the background in the tank? Was it one big piece or did you have to break it up into parts? I want to do one for my tank but I cant seem to figure out how to get it past the lip of the tank.

 

[Franklinj480]

The background is two pieces, they fit together like a puzzle. I also have the vegetation to obscure the divide. I ran into the same issue when I was planning the measurements out, that dang lip sure is annoying.

 

[Rolltide30]

That's a really awesome job! I am still working on my first two projects.

 

[houseb]

Wow that looks awesome, love the center hide. I don't suppose you have any pics of the carving process?

 

[Franklinj480]

Do you mean the carving process of the center hide? I went to a local volcanic cinder cone in our area and found the rock piece. Its very porous and easy to chisel away with a hammer. It pretty much came in the shape it is, I just chiseled out the underside so it could be a little cave.

 

[LeoMerlin]

That's truly an awesome tank set up! I wish I could get mine to look like that! Do your critters try to climb the wall? Merlin's just started climbing the tank for some reason today. He's done it once before but it was brief. He's just randomly decided to do this today for whatever reason o.o

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

thats cool i wish i had talent like that lol