# new tank build



## Billy 5ek (May 1, 2014)

Hello 

I started building a new tank and I just wanted to share.A friend gave me his old tank and I decided to make my juvie A.versi a new permanent enclosure. Build is still in progress. I am not sure how the lower part will look like yet,I have a few ideas,nothing breathtaking tho,so I'll just keep on brainstorming xD. Background is made of styrofoam and foam. I took a few pics of what I made so far;

Reactions: Like 1


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## ARACHNO-SMACK48 (May 1, 2014)

Is that coco fiber?


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## just1moreT (May 1, 2014)

Looking good like how you got the skull made into the back ground post some pics when versi moves in


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## Billy 5ek (May 1, 2014)

ghidaji17 said:


> Is that coco fiber?


It is  Exo terras brick moss and brick plantation soil mix

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just1moreT said:


> Looking good like how you got the skull made into the back ground post some pics when versi moves in


Skull was foamed in,its actually a plastic ashtray. I took some pics while i was building it,I'll post them later =).


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## MarkmD (May 1, 2014)

Pretty cool build.


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## Billy 5ek (May 1, 2014)

Thanks,I am glad to see others like it too. I made a cave for KK aswell,for the giggles :biggrin:


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## Billy 5ek (May 3, 2014)

Hello

I managed to finish my little KKs cave,here it is;







I hope you like it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Vinegaroonie (May 3, 2014)

Exactly how do you "foam in" something. Id like to learn how to make decorations like that it looks awesome!


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## Ocho (May 3, 2014)

Yeah. I'd love to hear a little more about your technique as well. Amazing work, man. Really digging the cave... Has to be the nicest looking KK for T's on the planet :clap:


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## Billy 5ek (May 3, 2014)

Vinegaroonie said:


> Exactly how do you "foam in" something. Id like to learn how to make decorations like that it looks awesome!


Heya,build itself is pretty easy but it makes one hell of a mess =)

I made a background from styrofoam and positioned the pieces how i wanted them;




After positioning is done,apply the foam;




I hope this helps =)


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## Billy 5ek (May 3, 2014)

Ocho said:


> Yeah. I'd love to hear a little more about your technique as well. Amazing work, man. Really digging the cave... Has to be the nicest looking KK for T's on the planet :clap:


Thanks,it turned out better then I expected xD

I have put the cardboard on sides of the KK and glued it up a bit. So basically,when cardboard is taken out,you get a KK shaped cardboard.
After that,apply the foam,wait until it dries,rip down the cardboard and start cutting of the excess untill desired shape of the cave.




There is probably an easier way to do it,just make a pile from foam and trim it until you get the desired shape.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Ocho (May 4, 2014)

Very cool technique! I would think that would give a more polished result than just trimming with trial and error.... I hope to give it a shot soon! Thanks for posting the extra pics too. Helps a lot


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## viper69 (May 4, 2014)

That's the best looking KK I've seen.

So you put cardboard inside KK and foamed within the KK??


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## Billy 5ek (May 4, 2014)

viper69 said:


> That's the best looking KK I've seen.
> 
> So you put cardboard inside KK and foamed within the KK??


Thanks,I'm glad you like it. I foamed it outside,the cardboard was firmly hot glued. I wouldn't risk foaming inside,if the foam touches the KK wall,I doubt that thing will come off easy, if at all. I wouldnt risk it.


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## viper69 (May 4, 2014)

Billy 5ek said:


> Thanks,I'm glad you like it. I foamed it outside,the cardboard was firmly hot glued. I wouldn't risk foaming inside,if the foam touches the KK wall,I doubt that thing will come off easy, if at all. I wouldnt risk it.


Exactly, it would. Sometimes people use garbage bags to line the tanks. How did you gets yours to be brown?


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## pannaking22 (May 4, 2014)

Very nice set ups! Seem like they would be pretty easy to make too!


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## iamthegame06 (May 4, 2014)

looks really nice! i really want to start building my own, but i dont have time for it with school and everything..hopefully i can make one during summer


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## Billy 5ek (May 5, 2014)

viper69 said:


> Exactly, it would. Sometimes people use garbage bags to line the tanks. How did you gets yours to be brown?


It's actually pretty easy,I bought some black aquarium silicone,smeared it over the foam and dumped some substrate over and let it cure over night.

Here is a video of something similar ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evEIk0A3W3s


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## Billy 5ek (May 9, 2014)

Heya

I finally got some plexiglass and I managed to finish front doors. I hope the ventilation is sufficient. 
I still need to finish the lock on it. Here is it; 






And with the extra plexiglass,I modified my Exoterras terrarium cover. I removed the mesh and installed plexiglass. No spider shall ever get stuck in this terrarium ever again xD


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## vespers (May 9, 2014)

Billy 5ek said:


> And with the extra plexiglass,I modified my Exoterras terrarium cover. I removed the mesh and installed plexiglass.]


I'm assuming you glued it to the bottom of the frame?


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## Billy 5ek (May 9, 2014)

vespers said:


> I'm assuming you glued it to the bottom of the frame?


Its glued on the same place as the mesh was,
I used hot glue gun, I can take a pic of underside if interested


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## trailblazin02 (May 9, 2014)

I love using the expanding foam for enclosures! You can easily make neat designs with it and carve it too. just watch the hot glue with plexi it dont adhere the best to it for some reason. i usually scuff mine up for a better seam or use acrylic cement if possible. i had a 5.5 gallon where the bottom dam just kinda fell off one day when opening the door with the hot glue so i used the cement insead and havent had any issues


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## Billy 5ek (May 9, 2014)

trailblazin02 said:


> I love using the expanding foam for enclosures! You can easily make neat designs with it and carve it too. just watch the hot glue with plexi it dont adhere the best to it for some reason. i usually scuff mine up for a better seam or use acrylic cement if possible. i had a 5.5 gallon where the bottom dam just kinda fell off one day when opening the door with the hot glue so i used the cement insead and havent had any issues


I like working with the foam aswell and it's also so forgiving,if you dont like some parts of your creation,you can carve that down and reapply the foam and it will look as nothing ever happened.

Hot glue doesnt last on glass probably due to moisture. Thanks for the tip. I sanded my lower part of the doors and siliconed it aswell,just to be safe.


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## viper69 (May 9, 2014)

Billy 5ek said:


> Its glued on the same place as the mesh was,
> I used hot glue gun, I can take a pic of underside if interested


I've wondered about doing that. Any problems in doing this? The only reason I haven't done this is I like to keep my ExoTerra as flexible as possible, never know if I will have an aboreal T or gecko etc in it the next time. Would be nice if you could buy the lids from them.

What's the THICKNESS of that plexi, and what size drill bit did you use??

It looks good.


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## Billy 5ek (May 10, 2014)

viper69 said:


> I've wondered about doing that. Any problems in doing this? The only reason I haven't done this is I like to keep my ExoTerra as flexible as possible, never know if I will have an aboreal T or gecko etc in it the next time. Would be nice if you could buy the lids from them.
> 
> What's the THICKNESS of that plexi, and what size drill bit did you use??
> 
> It looks good.



I had no problems,the most annoying thing is the drilling part. I used 3mm and 5 mm drills. You just need to be careful with the wider drills,you have a bigger chance of cracking the glass. So drill very slowly because you dont want to melt the plastic nor crack it. I used 4mm plexi thickness.

I will probably never use the tank for anything else than my spiders and just the thought of them beeing stuck on that mesh and me not beeing there to help was just stressful.

Here is the pic;

Reactions: Like 1


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## shebeen (May 10, 2014)

I don't understand why people are modifying their exo-terra tops instead of simply replacing them with a piece of Plexiglas or acrylic.


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## Billy 5ek (May 10, 2014)

shebeen said:


> I don't understand why people are modifying their exo-terra tops instead of simply replacing them with a piece of Plexiglas or acrylic.


It looks more professional and aesthetic. Not to mention that the locking system fits perfectly as it was made to


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## vespers (May 10, 2014)

Also, if you use the light hood, the pins on it fit into the inner rim of the plastic frame pictured above.


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## viper69 (May 10, 2014)

Thanks for the pics and info! I can see why someone used the lid for reasons mentioned above. Just using acrylic alone as mentioned above, would it be heavy enough to prevent a 5-7" from jacking it up over time with webbing? They will often find a space and continue to spin web over time until the gap is larger, and then escape.

If one puts just acrylic on top, how would you keep it on the tank so that it was easily removable in the future so the original lid could be used for a different pet? I certainly wouldn't put a brick on it, it would need to be something aesthetically pleasing. Gluing it down would defeat the purpose of having both top and front access, useful for T husbandry.


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## shebeen (May 12, 2014)

viper69 said:


> If one puts just acrylic on top, how would you keep it on the tank so that it was easily removable in the future so the original lid could be used for a different pet? I certainly wouldn't put a brick on it, it would need to be something aesthetically pleasing. Gluing it down would defeat the purpose of having both top and front access, useful for T husbandry.


Just use the existing latches on the exo-terra tank.  You can glue shims to the acrylic top to take up the space under the latches, or, you can adhere some weather stripping along (under) the edges of the acrylic to achieve the same effect.  I don't have a light hood so I'm not sure how it attaches to the exo-terra top, but I would certainly consider ways of making it work with a piece of acrylic before I tore apart a perfectly good top.


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## Billy 5ek (May 12, 2014)

Double post,my bad. Deleted


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## Billy 5ek (May 31, 2014)

Billy 5ek said:


> Double post,my bad. Deleted


That is really wierd,my tapatalk on phone is showing two posts.

All I  wanted to say,I tore up a perfectly good cover and made it perfect =P. In my opinion,it looks even better then the mesh.


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## Billy 5ek (May 31, 2014)

Tank is finished now,here is the final product; 





She made a retreat after the fourth day in the enclosure;




She has been in there for a month now,doing gr8,eating like a champ,here is a closer shot of her; 




Billy

Reactions: Like 2


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## viper69 (May 31, 2014)

This looks great. Would you explain how you removed the tank's plastic that covers the edges, usually w/fish tanks it's black. Or did you glue glass plates together? Also, would you explain what you used (Legos!) to affix the Lego onto the glass. The holes look great too.


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## Billy 5ek (May 31, 2014)

viper69 said:


> This looks great. Would you explain how you removed the tank's plastic that covers the edges, usually w/fish tanks it's black. Or did you glue glass plates together? Also, would you explain what you used (Legos!) to affix the Lego onto the glass. The holes look great too.


Thanks,I got it from a friend as it is,I doubt it had any edges on,I'll ask tho 
Those indeed are Legos =) My nephew gave them to me,I had to buy him a new box of Legos for those,he was very happy and so was I =)
I used a glue gun,holds very firmly,here is a pic;


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## viper69 (May 31, 2014)

Thanks that pic helped


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