Exo Terra Drainage Help.

[austin1125]

Hello all,

I have an Exo Terra terrarium and for the last month have had to shop vac it twice a day everyday to act as “drainage”. This obviously wasn’t my permanent plan for drainage but I have not had the time to properly set up or figure what I’m going to do as my long term solution. I have the day off tomorrow and Monday so I was going to take the whole day and clean out the enclosure and set up the drainage system. The only problem I have is I have no idea what I’m going to do hahaha. I have looked on the forums obviously for pictures and ideas but all of the posts have been older and the photos are no longer visible... The internet isn’t being much help either. If anyone could recommend anything or give me some ideas that I haven’t thought of I would be forever grateful. The last thing I want to do is drill through the bottom which is non-tempered glass but that’s what it’s looking like is going to happen at this point. I bought a diamond- plated core drill bit and the rubber ring to keep the glass wet whilst drilling and have watched an unearthly amount of tutorial drilling videos but I would hate to shatter the thing as it was expensive. Thank you in advance!

 

[jamest0o0]

You could make a false bottom, but you'd still have to manually drain it however often.

 

[Goose502]

I have a drainage layer, but my Exo Terra is heavily planted using bioactive soil. I’ve never had to drain it, all the plants and soil soak it right up.

 

[Garythecinnamonroll]

For my terrarium on the very bottom I have hydro balls. They are little clay balls I bought at my local pet store. Then I have a layer of mesh. This separates the dirt from the water/clay ball so the water in the bottom does not get muddy. You don’t want the water to be muddy because if you have a water pump that circulates the water in the bottom to the top of the terrarium it will get clogged.
Then on top of the mesh I have 3 ish inches of dirt with plants. Then on top of the dirt I have several chameleon friendly mosses.

 

[Boygeorge27]

We left this corner free for our drainage and when it gets high we just get a syringe to suck the water out

 

[JapSolum]

if you're thinking about drilling I would practice on cheap glass first. I used to do it and it takes a few tries to get it down. key is to be steady and quick. dont ever stop drilling while the bit is still in the hole or it will almost certainly crack it.

 

[austin1125]

All of these ideas have been so helpful guys thank you so much. I just bought a 36qt bag of BioDude soil and a 36 qt bag of their drainage layer. I also bought drainage mesh from Exo Terra to separate the layers. I think I’m going to do a little experimenting with glass drilling too, definitely not on the tank yet but just to see if I can get the hang of it. I bought 1/4 inch bits so four holes would probably be sufficient. Ideally I would like to have a drainage layer and some small drainage holes as backup, my enclosure is elevated and there is space underneath to slide some bins underneath to collect the drainage water. I’ll just adhere some drainage mesh on top of the holes too to prevent anything that isn’t water from getting through.

 

[Curlytails]

Hello all,

I have an Exo Terra terrarium and for the last month have had to shop vac it twice a day everyday to act as “drainage”. This obviously wasn’t my permanent plan for drainage but I have not had the time to properly set up or figure what I’m going to do as my long term solution. I have the day off tomorrow and Monday so I was going to take the whole day and clean out the enclosure and set up the drainage system. The only problem I have is I have no idea what I’m going to do hahaha. I have looked on the forums obviously for pictures and ideas but all of the posts have been older and the photos are no longer visible... The internet isn’t being much help either. If anyone could recommend anything or give me some ideas that I haven’t thought of I would be forever grateful. The last thing I want to do is drill through the bottom which is non-tempered glass but that’s what it’s looking like is going to happen at this point. I bought a diamond- plated core drill bit and the rubber ring to keep the glass wet whilst drilling and have watched an unearthly amount of tutorial drilling videos but I would hate to shatter the thing as it was expensive. Thank you in advance!

a thick layer of large aquarium gravel or hydroton clay balls do well. you can also do a raised base with lighting egg crate and legs. the water will pour down and there will be a void of water at the bottom.

 

[jamest0o0]

Just some tips:

Biodude stuff isn't bad, but it's unnecessary and expensive. Some simple organic soil mix with sand and some coco fiber works wonders. Can use osmocote to fertilize if you'd like. I actually really like the reptisoil as a thin top layer because it's very fine soil and chams should be able to pass it no problem if they eat it. Mushroom manure could also work well for this.

Put a small submersible pump(on Amazon for like 8 bucks) as mentioned above, in the drainage layer. You can just turn it on and pump water out whenever you like. This also would allow you to keep some water in the drainage layer for the roots to grow down into and absorb the "mineral soup" as john courtney smith says. Kind of like a hydroponics system. Once you get a feel for how much the drainage layer fills up after a day's mistings, you could just set the pump on a timer to go off for like 10 seconds a day or so just so you don't accidentally forget to do it and flood your soil. One flooding can kill everything and turn the soil anaerobic, you can tell if this happens by a bad smell coming from it.

For the drainage layer divider, don't use the landscaping cloth most people recommend, use some vinyl screen. The holes are small enough to keep things separated, but large enough to allow the roots to go through and water to pass more freely allowing better drainage.

Good luck, keep us posted. Always happy to see people going the substrate route. It's the future!

 

[Goose502]

I just amended my soil with biodude’s Terra Flora, it’s good stuff. My plants new and old went crazy with growth. For the large extra tall you could use 2 36 quart bags at least. I originally used the Exo Terra drainage cloth, it’s absolute garbage. Poor material, very low quality. I recommend either high quality weed guard, or window screening to allow some roots to penetrate. Doesn’t really seem to matter which “nature finds a way” anyhow. I’ve got roots in the drainage layer regardless. Drilling a hole is an option, but you could simply put a small piece of PVC in(down to the glass bottom) with holes drilled in it near the bottom, and use a wet/dry vacuum to suck any water out. Then just cap it and cover it with a rock. Prevents any drilling mistakes.

 

[Angelwolf]

I'm loving all the great information in thos thread! I want to buy the large xtall enclosure that someone else mentioned, and do a bio-active set-up. I have seen some people simply run a piece of tubing down behind the background and into the drainage layer, then just attach a large syringe to suck out the water each day.

 

[Alexander1]

I have a bio active set up for my uroplatus, make sure when you are adding the drainage layer you put a piece of some sort of pipe on one of the corners with a hole drilled into it towards the bottom, this will act like a sump pit allowing the water to enter the pipe so you can easily suck it out with a wet vac or syringe, you can disguise it by placing a leaf or stone over it when it’s not in use, I recommend going on dendraboard or other gecko or dart frog forums for the best info

 

[Curlytails]

I'm loving all the great information in thos thread! I want to buy the large xtall enclosure that someone else mentioned, and do a bio-active set-up. I have seen some people simply run a piece of tubing down behind the background and into the drainage layer, then just attach a large syringe to suck out the water each day.

x tall large ok for a veiled i asked around but got mixed opinions. they would be the best for bioactive.

 

[Alexander1]

x tall large ok for a veiled i asked around but got mixed opinions. they would be the best for bioactive.

Depends where you live and the climate there, I know from experience that veileds like space but if you plan out your enclosure with proper gradients, hiding spots and basking spots it can work out for you.

 

[Curlytails]

Depends where you live and the climate there, I know from experience that veileds like space but if you plan out your enclosure with proper gradients, hiding spots and basking spots it can work out for you.

uk like a fridge and we have a week to 2 weeks of mild to high heat then its back to frost and rain.

 

[Alexander1]

uk like a fridge and we have a week to 2 weeks of mild to high heat then its back to frost and rain.

Yeah sounds like you could use the extra help of keeping in a glass enclosure, if not think about a custom vivarium, you guys seem to have more options when it comes to that. The issue is the size, large chams like veileds like to have space to roam, especially as teens, glass enclosures are very heavy and are usually not big enough. If you only have the exoterra available I would get the biggest one they make, I think it’s 36x36x24. You definitely have to modify the wattage of the bulbs, the soil that would be used , the amount of misting time, maybe even a small fan on a timer to help keep air moving, you’ll be fine if your careful and plan for the pitfalls in having a glass enclosure, heat radiation (trapped heat) air stagnation (lack of air movement) lack of drainage (must manually drill glass or suck water out), hope that helps !

 

[Curlytails]

Yeah sounds like you could use the extra help of keeping in a glass enclosure, if not think about a custom vivarium, you guys seem to have more options when it comes to that. The issue is the size, large chams like veileds like to have space to roam, especially as teens, glass enclosures are very heavy and are usually not big enough. If you only have the exoterra available I would get the biggest one they make, I think it’s 36x36x24. You definitely have to modify the wattage of the bulbs, the soil that would be used , the amount of misting time, maybe even a small fan on a timer to help keep air moving, you’ll be fine if your careful and plan for the pitfalls in having a glass enclosure, heat radiation (trapped heat) air stagnation (lack of air movement) lack of drainage (must manually drill glass or suck water out), hope that helps !

i can always get a wooden setup.

 

[leedragon]

have a glazier drill a hole for drainage

 

[Boygeorge27]

Yeah sounds like you could use the extra help of keeping in a glass enclosure, if not think about a custom vivarium, you guys seem to have more options when it comes to that. The issue is the size, large chams like veileds like to have space to roam, especially as teens, glass enclosures are very heavy and are usually not big enough. If you only have the exoterra available I would get the biggest one they make, I think it’s 36x36x24. You definitely have to modify the wattage of the bulbs, the soil that would be used , the amount of misting time, maybe even a small fan on a timer to help keep air moving, you’ll be fine if your careful and plan for the pitfalls in having a glass enclosure, heat radiation (trapped heat) air stagnation (lack of air movement) lack of drainage (must manually drill glass or suck water out), hope that helps !

Hi are those measurements cm? As we have our chameleons in 90×45×90cm? Exo terra. Thank you

 

[Curlytails]

Hi are those measurements cm? As we have our chameleons in 90×45×90cm? Exo terra. Thank you

inches bud. the uk cm measurements are 90x90x45