Exo Terra Vivarium/waterfall w/ Chameleon

[RcManChild]

Hi everyone,
I decided to go ahead and attempt something that others have but have yet to find someone who has attempted the way I want to incorporate it into a chameleon cage....

Three notes before I start getting bashed or someone else tries to follow in these footsteps....


1) I am well aware of the risk involved and if needed will ditch the system in its entirly.
2) Water fall will not run 24 hours
3) This is very expensive... without the foam, silicone, and all the extras just to make the tank the way I want. I suspect the waterfall system I am designing with filtration will be around $300 - $500 excluding tank... This is just to get water into the tank out of tank and filtered.

I have done a little bit of video to start recording this and will be posting the videos here... I have hours and hours and hours of research into this along with talking to both people online and at the LFS(local fish store).

Anyways here is a little teaser:

 

[RcManChild]

So I am terrible at taking video and jumped the gun today without taking video, however the design of the tank is almost complete, just need a pothos and I will be happy look here for a mix of videos and pictures of my progress... I have learnt alot from building this some things I would do differently and yadda yadda yadda... but I am really happy with the cage so far. For those who are curious I have everything I need unless I mess something up and I am at $1000 CAD..

This includes
Exo terra Small X-tall cage - $250
Sun ray fixture - $165
Sump - $190
Pump - $68
And all the accessories

I am still decidiin on a UV sterilizer which I think I going with the green killing machine...

If anyone wants a full product list I can put something together but will take a ton of time...

 

[Remkon]

I'm curious at your project, not that I would ever want to copy you, but I do like a good DIY step by step topic.

There's not much else to comment yet, good luck!

 

[RcManChild]

One thing in the Videos that i probably will not stress on is planning. Planning is the most important part of this before anything else. Draw out what you want to do, test fit everything.
This is very important because once you drill the glass, you either have to seal it back up to make another hole or live with what you have. I made mine up as I went once I found pieces that I liked. but some important things to note for before hand.

Step 1:
Where do you want your waterfall. Since the whole purpose of this setup is to incorporate a waterfall we want it visible and attractive.

Step 2:
Where do you want the water to go. Since I am using organic soil with a mix of carbon a hard water fall straight to the bottom would push all the dirt away. This is not what I want.

Step 3:
Flow rate: How much water do you want flowing through the water fall. Look at Step 2. A ton of water will splash and potentially cause problems.

Step 4:
Basking spot. Since we do not want the waterfall view obstructed putting the basking spot in front of the water fall is not ideal. This is why I put mine to the side of cage.

Step 5:
Functional water fall:
Meaning do you want the chameleon to have easy access to this water source..... Well why else would I be doing this. If you dont, a bigger cage such that you can place branches far enough away such that the cham cant reach the water.

 

[RcManChild]

Once you have your design my basic steps went like this

Step 1: Place background how you want.
Step 2: Decide where you want the water to enter and exit the cage.
Step 3: Drill holes - If you are not proficient with a drill get a aquarium place or someone who is proficient with a drill to do this for you.
Step 4: Silicone the wood for the background in place and allow to dry 24 hours
Step 5: Fill the gaps with expanding foam and start designing your water fall with the foam. - Once you start with a can you cannot stop to be ready to use one whole can at a time.
Step 6: Place some branches for climbing and ensure that you know where your basking spot is at this point. - Since I decided to go with a sunray fixture this was incredibly important as the height and temp is based on the bulb itself.

This is where I am now and will post what videos I have later this evening.... Future steps will be:

Step 7: place any plants where you want thom and silicone to glass - allow to dry 24 hours.
Step 8: spray foam sides of the vivarium
Step 9: drill out bottom of plant for drainage.
Step 10: add any decorative items. I.e. moss, more branches, fake plants with silicone.... allow to dry 24 hours.
Step 11: test the water fall.... This will also help wash away debris....
Step 12: Clean thoroughly
Step 13: Add hydro balls
Step 14: add Soil and carbon
Step 15 setup and run for a week... watch and see what temps and humidity are like.

 

[RcManChild]

So after reviewing the videos I took in the lighting is soooo terrible you can not see anything... Lesson learned.
So I will have to use the pictures the pictures I have and write in the rest,....

Sorry guys...

 

[RcManChild]

Step 1:
Place the background.

For the background I used Zoomed Cork found here:
http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=35&SearchID=5

I used two flat pieces and one half round piece to use for the water fall itself.


Step 2: Decide where you want the water to enter and exit.
I wanted the water to enter on the top left. The water is to exit the terrarium on the bottom of the cage. Originally I wanted it to exit to back of the cage. This would mean though that there would be standing water which I didn't want. This was later moved to the bottom of the cage. This is more preference than anything else.

Step 3: Drill the holes.
I highly recommenced you get a professional to do this.
However if you are insistent on doing this yourself you will require a couple of things:
1. A drill, I used a Makita at the highest speed setting.
2. The drill bit. I got mine at the local home depot. MAKE SURE THE BIT IS FOR GLASS.
3. The part to enter the cage. I went to my LFS (Local fish store) to get this. This will determine the size of bit you need.

Now for the drilling, a few things to worry about:
1. Placement. Even if you want the water to enter at a certain spot drilling to close to any edge can cause damage. My bit came with a guide. If yours did not come with one basically drill 1 inch from the edge of the glass to the edge of the bit.

2. Pressure. Let the drill do the work. Do not apply pressure. Let the weight of the drill do the work.

3. Movement. I did a slight rocking motion in the shape of the circle. This seemed to make things go slightly faster.

4. Backing. I did this wrong the first time and learnt my lesson. Make sure that there is a piece of wood behind the glass to support it. This means that the glass is touch and support the glass. If this is not done when you get close to drilling all the way through the glass will crack.

5. I also stopped every 2-3 minutes to vacuum out the leftovers.

So with all the warnings above I must insist you protect yourself.... USE GLOVES to ensure you don't glass gets in you skin. USE SAFETY glasses to prevent glass entering your eyes.

If you still are insistent on doing this, starting the hole is the hardest part. I started the drill and began the groove at a angle. Once there was a ridge I was able to slowly make the rest of the circle. Once that is completed I slowly rocked the drill in the groove. Only allowing the weight of the drill to make press on the glass.

Once drilled through, clean the tank. I used a vacuum and once that was done used a ton of rubbing alcohol and wiped down just about everything.

 

[RcManChild]

Step 4: Silicone.
So I used a marine safe silicone.
a. Place the pieces where you want them.
b. Either mark or remember where the wood touches the glass.
c. Clean the glass with rubbing alcohol and allow to dry.
d. put silicone on the glass - Dont need much.
e. Put a ton of silicone on the cork. Because silicone doesn't stick to wood as well you want a good surface area to attach too. So a ton of silicone on the cork covering a large surface area.
f. allow to dry for 24 hours.

This is also when I silicone the drain and the part where I want the water to enter. For this I did a couple of things.
a. Test fit.
b. clean the glass with rubbing alcohol and allow to dry.
c. I put a bead of the silicone around the inside of the hole that drilled. I then also put a bead of silicone on the inside of the tank around the hole.
d. Insert the "plug." Insert the plug to that the attachment to the hose or the pipe is facing the outside of the tank. I put the rubber stopper on the outside of the tank followed by the plastic lock nut. I then hand tighten the nut.

These parts can be found at marinedepot.com
Here is what I used:
1x
http://www.marinedepot.com/Reverse_...heads-Plumbing_Parts-FT11203-FIFTBHSB-vi.html

This was used for the drain, not threaded.

1x
http://www.marinedepot.com/Double_T...kheads-Plumbing_Parts-FT1131-FIFTBHDT-vi.html

This was used for water to enter the terrarium. This was threaded.


1x
http://www.marinedepot.com/Overflow...ainers-Plumbing_Parts-FT8344-FIFTSTSP-vi.html

This will prevent the hydro balls from entering the drain.



I then used a variety of asseccories here to get the water to where I want it in the tank.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Loc_Line_Fittings-FIFTLL-ct.html

I used the threaded ball socket to screw into the threaded bulk head. Then used Loc-Line to get the water where I wanted. Followed by a flare nozzle.

 

[RcManChild]

Once completed this is what it looks like:
Water entering the terrarium



The Drain:

 

[RcManChild]

Step 5. Spray foam.

This stuff stinks and expands rapidly. USE GLOVES.
Anyways Once you start a can you cannot stop. I did the background first. I sprayed a ton of foam underneath the background to help keep everything in place. More importantly prevent bacteria growth and a place for crickets to hide. Allow this to dry for 48 hours. If you layer the foam to heavily the foam will also not dry properly. To deal with this I drilled some holes in the cork to the back of the glass after the 48 hours. This can be later filled with silicone to prevent any water or bacteria growth.

I used some from my LFS but most people use this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/GREAT-STUFF-12-oz-Pond-and-Stone-Insulating-Foam-Sealant-283064/202522224

I will end up using a total of four cans.

 

[RcManChild]

This is now what the tank looks like after a week of allowing the foam to dry.

 

[RcManChild]

To create the waterfall I used a second can of foam once the bottom layer dried. I then also used some silicone to place some branches in place.

I used 1x Exo terra grape vine
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/forest_branch.php

I also used 1x Exo terra Jungle vine
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/jungle_vines.php

I cut the jungle vine to the length I wanted.

This is very important. I highly suggest you test the lamp fixture you want to use to determine the height of the basking spot. Once you decide the height you can then silicone the branch to glass and to the spray foam.

This is the end result:

 

[RcManChild]

The fake plant was put in place just to test and not permanent yet.

 

[broderp]

I don't think I would want a water fall in my terrarium, and I hope this works as planned both for you and the Cham who gets to use it.

Q- how do you plan to deal with the humidity (if at all) that the water fall will produce? I use an Exo Terra terrarium as well and humidity is easy to maintain. If you add all that moisture, you may have issues maintaining a healthy humidity level even if not running the water fall all the time.

You also look like you have created a large shelf for a Cham to climb up on, be sure to make sure the temps up there are safe!

I love the black foam and cork.

 

[RcManChild]

I then used a second can of foam to make the water go where I want it to go..Once it has dried for 24 hours you can then cut and carve the foam to the shape you want. However the foam underneath is no longer sealed. So once cut you will either have to foam over it and use you hand with a glove to cover it or use silicone to seal it up.

This how mine turned out. I am not happy with this and will add foam to make the water fall look the way I want.

 

[RcManChild]

I don't think I would want a water fall in my terrarium, and I hope this works as planned both for you and the Cham who gets to use it.

Q- how do you plan to deal with the humidity (if at all) that the water fall will produce? I use an Exo Terra terrarium as well and humidity is easy to maintain. If you add all that moisture, you may have issues maintaining a healthy humidity level even if not running the water fall all the time.

You also look like you have created a large shelf for a Cham to climb up on, be sure to make sure the temps up there are safe!

I love the black foam and cork.

I am planning to test the terrarium for a full week with 2-3 water changes before a chameleon enters the cage to watch for humidity and temperature.

As for the ledges. I realized that after it was too late. I am hoping that placing the heat lamp in the middle of the cage will prevent the heat from getting too high. This is also why the basking spot is almost the same height.

As for humidity I am hoping for a few things
1. tank dry out at night.
2. way less misting or none.

As for dealing with the humidity:

The amount of water entering the cage will ultimately determine this. I did buy a 720 GPH pump so that it would have the power to get the water to the height desired. However I am going to put a t tap off the pump maybe 2-3 inches long. This section will have a valve to control the amount of water that will circulate in the sump itself. This will prevent all the water entering the terrarium and allow me to adjust the water flow directly.

Along with that, the amount of time the water fall is on will help. Even if I turn it on for 45 minutes in the am and pm.

Like I originally stated this is an expensive "experiment" and perhaps it will not work which I will be deeply sadened. However that being said a larger cage would help with the situation of humidity,

 

[RcManChild]

If worst comes to worst. I know have a sump and pump for my next salt water tank.

 

[broderp]

One thing I noticed about this method is that everyone adds the foam to the glass. I'm going to try this method (less the water fall) in a day or so (once all my suppliers arrive) and my thought is to take the foam background that came with my terrarium and use it as a template. I will cut out a slightly smaller square that fits the terrarium and then frame it in like a shallow box. I will then try this technique to make a wall. This way, my wall will be removable for cleaning or replacement. Less work to do in the terrarium as well should I decide to redo and remodel later.

Your progress looks great.

 

[RcManChild]

I thought heavily about that and opted out of it for a few reasons.

1. I am using the foam to help support the cork, the branches and a bunch of other things.

2. Crickets can get into any small crack. I hate it. So I decided no to have that.

3. Water. I did not want stagnate water anywhere.

Why build a template when you could use the tank itself.

I would Saran Wrap the inside of the tank. Using multiple layers to ensure it's sealed. Then put a very fine layer of Vaseline on the Saran Wrap and add the spray foam. And you now have a foam board if you will the exact size and shape you wanted it and still removable. You would have to get rid of the Vaseline. Just some water should take care of that though.

Not sure on you how you plan to incorporate your idea, but this foam stuff sticks to just about anything. Wood, glass, metal, seriously anything. Hence why I would use the Vaseline. I do not know how it would affect it when drying so I would test it first. But I do this with carbon fibre and epoxy and it works great.

 

[broderp]

Thanks for the input. I see your point. I just find tearing down my terrarium to clean a total pain. It took me hours to remove all the electrical and sensors, then remove every stick, twig and branch and all the plants. Followed a deep cleaning of everything and then triple cleaning the glass. (LimeAway scrub, Windex with squeegee, water spray and rinse, Flukers cleaner scrub followed by another water rinse and then a very light Windex (no amonia) wipe with paper towels for a streak free finish and a LONG air dry. Then to reassemble.....

I will defiantly consider the Vaseline and wrap. I plan on making an egg crate frame for support, including two "arms that come out from the back and extend to the front for support.

Enough about my project.....this is your thread. I can't wait to see your further progress!