# Arboreal Set Ups!! Robc Inspired w/ a little twist



## Ibzayalexander (May 29, 2013)

Ok everyone, so I'm trying to make my own enclosures now. .  As I feel that nice looking Ts deserve nice looking enclosures lol. So here goes. Enjoy!!
	

		
			
		

		
	






Not the best. But they work for me

Reactions: Like 4


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## Mello (May 29, 2013)

Those are fantastic! Great job!


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## tarantulagirl10 (May 29, 2013)

They look great!


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## MarkmD (May 29, 2013)

You've done a brilliant job theyr nice.


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## Introvertebrate (May 29, 2013)

Nice enclosures.  So what's the little twist?


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## Ibzayalexander (May 29, 2013)

Introvertebrate said:


> Nice enclosures.  So what's the little twist?


 Thanks! The little twists are as follows, no round vents to obstruct the view, acrylic hinges, 29-39 gal tank clips for locking, fake plants. I'm ballin on a budget unfortunately lol!!

---------- Post added 05-29-2013 at 10:18 AM ----------

Thanks!! 

---------- Post added 05-29-2013 at 10:19 AM ----------

Appreciate it!! I spent a decent amount of time and money tryna perfect it lol


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## Introvertebrate (May 29, 2013)

Ibzayalexander said:


> Thanks! The little twists are as follows, no round vents to obstruct the view, acrylic hinges, 29-39 gal tank clips for locking, fake plants. I'm ballin on a budget unfortunately lol!!
> 
> ---------- Post added 05-29-2013 at 10:18 AM ----------
> 
> ...


Cool.  The unobstructed view does make a difference.


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## Gilberator (May 29, 2013)

WOOHOO! Those are really nice looking! Kudos


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## josh_r (May 31, 2013)

I think an unobstructed view is very important in the asthetic value of a setup. Nicely done. I see far too often people making setups with vents or locks or a seam between 2 panes of glass obstructing the viewing area. I build all my own tanks now because of this very problem. Again, nicely done!


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## Introvertebrate (May 31, 2013)

Another alternative would be to make the vents on the side, but that would mean grinding holes in the glass.  That requires a fairly pricey diamond drill bit.  It also means that you can never again use the aquarium as an aquarium.


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## josh_r (May 31, 2013)

Introvertebrate said:


> Another alternative would be to make the vents on the side, but that would mean grinding holes in the glass.  That requires a fairly pricey diamond drill bit.  It also means that you can never again use the aquarium as an aquarium.


For the typical round air vents, you need diamond hole saws. these are even more expensive than the glass drill bits.


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## Ibzayalexander (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks again everyone!! I really appreciate it. It only cost me a totally of 10 bucks to make the lid  . . the back drop I just used a dremel to make 3D rocks in 3 inch foam baord from Lowes which was 20 bucks for the board itself (You can make 15+ backdrops with the size board i ended up getting). .  of course caulk & eco earth. Nothing fancy. The standard stuff. Anyone can do it! NO MORE EXPENSIVE EXO TERRAS FOR ME!! WOOT!!


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## Introvertebrate (Jun 1, 2013)

Nice work.  Would you mind telling me where you got the acrylic hinges?


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## Lycanax (Jun 1, 2013)

Very nice! Good job. I'm planning on doing the same thing for my more impressive
spiders. The use of clips looks like a good idea, I'll use your idea, it looks alot better then a latch
Congrats! It looks great
Cheers alex


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## Arachtion (Jun 4, 2013)

Fantastic, looks good with the lighting as well


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## Ibzayalexander (Jun 6, 2013)

THANKS!! A little store here in stockton,CA called taps plastics. They have an online site too u can also order from there..  they have everything u can possibly think of thats either acrylic or plastic.

---------- Post added 06-06-2013 at 01:43 PM ----------

Taps plastics, is a store thats only in a select few places, there might be one near you. If not there is always an online store of taps u can go to. They have eveverything!!!





Introvertebrate said:


> Nice work.  Would you mind telling me where you got the acrylic hinges?




---------- Post added 06-06-2013 at 01:45 PM ----------

Thanks! these are aqueon 10gals so if u decide to do something similar to this get the 29gal tank clips made by Zilla. .  they are the tightest and work the best 


Lycanax said:


> Very nice! Good job. I'm planning on doing the same thing for my more impressive
> spiders. The use of clips looks like a good idea, I'll use your idea, it looks alot better then a latch
> Congrats! It looks great
> Cheers alex

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mello (Jun 6, 2013)

This is a silly question but how do you open them? I can't see the locks you mentioned haha. Could you post a pic of the locks and possibly tell me where you got them? These tanks are gorgeous and I would like to make my own but all I have are those huge acrylic hasps that don't look nearly as nice!

Oh wait I see the black top locks now, but where can I get them still?


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## Storm76 (Jun 6, 2013)

Very nice enclosures...


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## Ibzayalexander (Jun 7, 2013)

They are 20 gallon tank clips made by Zilla, They fit the tanks perfectly. the tanks are 10gal aqueon tanks. I open them by stickting a cylinder like key in either of the vent holes, because i have a really curious daughter so i chose not to go with the regular handles .  my pokies wouldnt get along with her lol, you can get the tank clips from any pet store. .  petsmart or petco..  . 





Mello said:


> This is a silly question but how do you open them? I can't see the locks you mentioned haha. Could you post a pic of the locks and possibly tell me where you got them? These tanks are gorgeous and I would like to make my own but all I have are those huge acrylic hasps that don't look nearly as nice!
> 
> Oh wait I see the black top locks now, but where can I get them still?


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## josh_r (Jun 12, 2013)

Here is something you can easily build from just a few products from home depot... and of course sheets of glass. If anyone is interested, I can give out the details.


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## Munch (Jun 13, 2013)

Now all you need to make it look even better is to put a T in it


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## Introvertebrate (Jun 13, 2013)

josh_r said:


> Here is something you can easily build from just a few products from home depot... and of course sheets of glass. If anyone is interested, I can give out the details.


I'm interested.  How did you glue the glass sheets together?


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## josh_r (Jun 13, 2013)

Introvertebrate said:


> I'm interested.  How did you glue the glass sheets together?


the glass is put together will 100% silicone.

All you need to build one is:

- A good glass cutter (can get them cheap on ebay) 
- A straight edge
- Fine sand paper (360 or 400 grit. All you want to do is take the sharp edge off)
- 100% silicone (preferably acetic cure)
- rubber coated pliers or equivalent
- caulk gun
- 2 different types of aluminum extrusion
- mini hinges with screws
- drill with appropriate drill bit according to the size of your screws
- chop saw with fine toothed blade
- mesh screen
- some sort of clasp to shut the door with (i used a ball bearing clasp)
- very well calculated plans 

You need to decide on the size you want (pictured is a 30cm cube) and make proper calculations on glass sheet sizes to achieve desired size. some panes of glas, like the sides, will be sandwiched between other panes, like the top and bottom, front and back. You need to measure the width of 2 panes of glass and subtract that from your overall length of your cut to get the dimensions right. if you are using 4mm glass, you would subtract 8mm from your measurements on any piece that will be sandwiched between 2 other panes.

example using 4mm glass...
For a 30cm cube, you can cut all 6 pieces of glass required to make a box out of a sheet of glass that is 90cm x 60cm 
to start off, you will cut out your 6 sheets to these dimensions and from there, I will tell you how to efficiently use these sheets to create the above cube.

2 sheets - 30cm x 30cm
2 sheets - 29.2cm x 29.2 cm
2 sheets - 30cm x 29.2cm 

Here is a quick breakdown of how these sheets come together to form the cube pictured above. we will start with the base and sides...

base- 30cm wide x 30cm deep... the full dimensions of the cube.
back- 30cm wide x 29.2cm tall... 29.2 to fit between top and bottom panes. 29.2 + 8mm = 30cm
sides- 29.2cm wide x 29.2cm tall... 2 pieces. 29.2cm on all sides because all sides get sandwiched between other panes of glass. again... 29.2 + 8mm = 30cm

start by taping off your base piece with masking tape. Run the tape about 1cm away from the edge of your glass. Do this on all 4 sides on all 4 pieces. Don't do this to the top and front panes yet. then use a razor blade to trim the overlapping tape so all corners are 1cm from the edge. I wish I had pictures...  Now you want to put strips of tape underneath the base at each corner, 2 per side and make sure half of the piece of tape overlapps the glass like a tab. This will be used to secure the side glass in place when you silicone it together. 

Once taping is done, run a bead of silicone down the side that will be the BACK of the cube and the right side. Before you put the back or side on, run a bead of silicone down the right side of the back pane (the 29.2cm side, NOT the 30cm side). Now, you can put your back pane on the base right on your silicone line. Those flaps of tape we just talked about... pull those up and secure them to the back pane. You can use a box or something to prop up against the back pane to hold it upright (otherwise it will just fall over and break). Now put your right side pane in place and secure the tape tabs onto it. then line the pane up with the bead of silicone running up the right side of the back pane. Secure them together tightly and then tape that corner just like you taped the bottom corners. then do this same thing to the left side. You can now run a small bead of silicone along each corner and smoothen it out with your finger or a silicone squeejie if you have one... How do you spell squeejie??? once your silicone lines are pretty, you can pull the tape off right away, or let it cure, then use a razor blade to cut along the tape line then pull the tape off.

Once you have gotten this far, let it cure for 15 or 20 minutes. While you are waiting, you can start cutting the top and front panes.

Start with the front. Decide how large you want the front opening door to be. In this example, we will use 30cm wide x 25cm tall. Before you cut any glass, you must calculate the width of the hinge and the locking mechanism. If you don't your glass cuts will be off. That is why we wait to cut any more glass.

The hinge and lock seem complicated, but they are actually very easy. I will not go into that just yet though... If there is more interest in this, I can make a detailed post on this entire build, including the hinge.

For now, we will use a random number for the hinge and lock width... Lets say 1.5cm for the hinge and .5 for the lock. a total of 2cm. 

Out of your 30cm x 30cm front pane, cut 5.5cm off of the top. This will leave you with the dimensions 30x24.5cm. SAVE this 5.5cm tall x 30cm wide piece! we use it later.

So you have your front door which is 30cm wide x 24.5cm tall
the extra that is 30cm wide x 5.5cm tall
and your top which is still 30cm x 30cm... We are going to cut the base of the door with the top piece of glass and that extra piece from the door now gets used elsewhere. does that make sense?

From the top pane of glass (30x30), we would cut a piece that is 30cm wide x 3.5cm tall for our front base. This 3.5cm tall piece becomes our front door base.
You can now cut the remainder of the top pane of glass in half. You will silicone one half to the back end of the cube and the other half at the front of the cube with a 4mm overlap at the front. this will leave you with a 3.5cm wide ventilation strip at the top and 4mm of glass sticking out the front past the side panes. You will notice when everything is done, the door will meet the overlap perfectly, making it flush. 

With the 30cm wide x 5.5cm tall piece, You need to cut an 8mm strip off the end to make it 29.2cm x 5.5cm. This can be a little tricky, but if your score line is good, it is very easy. You will need the rubber tipped pliers to grab this tiny piece and break it off. This 29.2 x 5.5 piece now goes INSIDE the cube and is siliconed in place after your hinge is installed. This piece of glass is your soil dam that prevents dirt and water from getting into your hinge.

Once the hinge is in place, you butt the soil dam glass up to the hinge and prop it off the bottom glass about .5cm then silicone it in place. the gap underneath allows water drainage back into the soil if water ever gets in there. 

You now tape off the air vent all the way around about .5 to .7cm from the edge of the vent. You then run a thin bead of silicone around the entire vent on the exposed glass. cut out a piece of screen that is a bit bigger than the vent hole. lay it over the top of the vent and press the screen into the silicone, pulling the screen tight at the same time. Once you have it how you like it, run aother very light bead of silicone over the same bead you originally ran. Then smooth it out with your finger until it looks nice. Let it cure and then use a ruler or something straight to line up with your tape mark and cut along the ruler with a razor blade all the way around. simply pull the tape off and you have a perfectly trimmed, screened vent. 


My explanation here makes it sound WAAAAY harder than it actually is.... but I don't have pictures to show you, so I tried to explain things as best I could in detail.. If there is more interest in this, I can make a detailed post with pictures in the future with very detailed plans and measurements... but only if there is interest...

Josh

Reactions: Like 2


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## Introvertebrate (Jun 13, 2013)

Wow.  Thanks.


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## Hawk (Jun 13, 2013)

So I have a question, I'm not sure if you stated it already as I am just skimming through the forum, but where did you place the vents at? Just curious. Thanks.


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## Introvertebrate (Jun 13, 2013)

If you're talking about the OP's enclosures, they're little holes running down the sides of the front panel.


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## shebeen (Jun 14, 2013)

An inexpensive alternative to store bought clips can be made from split rings of PVC pipe.  Heat the rings for 15 seconds in boiling water then bend them into any shape you need using pliers or even your fingers (they don't get very hot).  Once cool, they remain rigid.

Reactions: Like 5


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## Ibzayalexander (Jun 30, 2013)

shebeen said:


> An inexpensive alternative to store bought clips can be made from split rings of PVC pipe.  Heat the rings for 15 seconds in boiling water then bend them into any shape you need using pliers or even your fingers (they don't get very hot).  Once cool, they remain rigid.



This is a pretty darn good idea! I will definitely try this. Thanks!


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## Ibzayalexander (Jun 30, 2013)

*Updated Pictures!!*

I received a lot of messages to my inbox in regards if wether or not i could do robc styled vents. . 
	

		
			
		

		
	





There's the answer. Btw..  I cracked like 3 sheets of plexi doing this ritual. This is not a preference for me. I just thought I would show everyone that anyone could do this. .  and that spending money online for acrylic tanks isn't really worth it. .  making these tanks only cost me 8.00 each minus buying the tank itself.


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## Introvertebrate (Jun 30, 2013)

Nice work.  I don't see the cracks.  How did you cut out the holes?


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## Kodi (Jun 30, 2013)

He didn't use the cracked plexi on his tanks. I'm pretty sure you cut holes like that with a dremel.


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## Introvertebrate (Jun 30, 2013)

Yeah, a 2" hole saw would work.  I don't own one, but $11 ain't bad.


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## Ibzayalexander (Aug 2, 2013)

Introvertebrate said:


> Nice work.  I don't see the cracks.  How did you cut out the holes?


i used a 2"Whole saw with my drill to cut the holes in.  had a small crack in one. .  not really that visible though. i now have about 20 of these lined all along the wall in my room. i did a racking system and will be filing them in as i start to collect.


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## RLNU23 (Aug 2, 2013)

iron pipe works for me..heat it on one end,it'll be able to cut a hole through acrylic the "cheaper" way.


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## ClosetCollector (Jan 2, 2014)

Love these!! We converted a ten gallon by watching rob's videos online. After seeing how easy and cheap I agree I would not go any other way!!


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## persistent (Jan 5, 2014)

I find it odd that no one has mentioned this. But those are VERY FEW airholes for such big tanks. 
Very nice looking enclosures none the less. But I would seriously consider increasing ventilation.


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## lucarelli78 (Jan 14, 2014)

Ibzayalexander said:


> Ok everyone, so I'm trying to make my own enclosures now. .  As I feel that nice looking Ts deserve nice looking enclosures lol. So here goes. Enjoy!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


They are fantastic in my opinion, consider me impressed.  I would also like to start making my own enclosures and was hoping you might answer a few questions please?
1. What material did you use for the frame?
2. What kind of adhesive to bond the acrylic/plastic sheeting to the frame, and is it water tight?
3. How thick is the acrylic/plastic sheeting, and what tool did you use to cut it?


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## viper69 (Jan 15, 2014)

What I don't know is how the lids stay up? I havent managed to learn that one

In one of Robcs vids he just hot glues the bottom substrate dam if I recall


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## trailblazin02 (Jan 16, 2014)

He uses clips that you can buy for holding down screen lids to hold the door shut. If you zoom on the pictures you will see them at the top. I've also seen people cut a slit in pvc pipe and heat it so u can open it and have a make shift clip to hold the door too. 

Sent from my SCH-R530U


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## viper69 (Jan 16, 2014)

trailblazin02 said:


> He uses clips that you can buy for holding down screen lids to hold the door shut. If you zoom on the pictures you will see them at the top. I've also seen people cut a slit in pvc pipe and heat it so u can open it and have a make shift clip to hold the door too.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-R530U



Thanks man! I've seen his lid videos, and the only thing he doesn't show from my recollection was the most important part, keeping that lid up hahaha  I thought maybe he was adapting wall mirror holders perhaps. I could see those working provided you can screw them on properly.


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## shebeen (Jan 17, 2014)

Here's a RobC video showing his homemade vents and lid latches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNOvNYJ_56c

And another one showing lid installation and lid clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ELrKdDQX8

Rings cut from various diameter PVC pipe can be easily shaped into clips.  Just submerse the ring for 15 seconds in boiling water and it will become pliable but not so hot it can't be handled.  Use pliers to make sharp bends.  It cools and stiffens quickly.

Another place to get ideas and see what clips and latches are commercially available is swisco.com.

Reactions: Like 1


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## viper69 (Jan 18, 2014)

shebeen said:


> Here's a RobC video showing his homemade vents and lid latches:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNOvNYJ_56c
> 
> And another one showing lid installation and lid clips:
> ...


Thanks a lot for those specific links, never heard of swisco, looks quite good. I appreciate all the tips!


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## Ibzayalexander (Jan 22, 2014)

lucarelli78 said:


> They are fantastic in my opinion, consider me impressed.  I would also like to start making my own enclosures and was hoping you might answer a few questions please?
> 1. What material did you use for the frame?
> 2. What kind of adhesive to bond the acrylic/plastic sheeting to the frame, and is it water tight?
> 3. How thick is the acrylic/plastic sheeting, and what tool did you use to cut it?


Hey there. I'm glad you like them. . I've done quite a bit of remodeling since posting these pictures however. To answer your questions, (1) The frame is merely hard plastic that comes already attached to the tank. These tanks are basic aqueon tanks from Petco. (2) I use a special black color adhesive called E6000.The stuff is absolutely amazing. Its water tight & the bond/dry time are very fast. (3) The acrylic sheets are 1/8thin thick to prevent horrible warping. I don't cut my sheets. Fortunately for me I live around the corner from taps plastics. . I get all of my sheets cut to size there. I hope this covers everything


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## viper69 (Jan 22, 2014)

Ibzayalexander said:


> Hey there. I'm glad you like them. . I've done quite a bit of remodeling since posting these pictures however. To answer your questions, (1) The frame is merely hard plastic that comes already attached to the tank. These tanks are basic aqueon tanks from Petco. (2) I use a special black color adhesive called E6000.The stuff is absolutely amazing. Its water tight & the bond/dry time are very fast. (3) The acrylic sheets are 1/8thin thick to prevent horrible warping. I don't cut my sheets. Fortunately for me I live around the corner from taps plastics. . I get all of my sheets cut to size there. I hope this covers everything


Live next to TAPs dude that MUST be nice!! Im envious hah I need to order some of their plasti bits for acrylic drilling.


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## sbullet (Jan 28, 2014)

what species are you holding, at what size? very nice aesthetics!


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## Ibzayalexander (Oct 26, 2014)

sbullet said:


> what species are you holding, at what size? very nice aesthetics!


I'm holding some giant pokies in all of these enclosures. 6.5" to 10" monster females. I have some updated pictures of how I've modified them over time.

Reactions: Like 2


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## MagicalLobster (Oct 26, 2014)

Wow. Those look amazing.


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## Ibzayalexander (Nov 7, 2014)

MagicalLobster said:


> Wow. Those look amazing.


Thanks! I have plenty for sale.


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