Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The giant viv I was talking about back in may is finally finished, and the gecko moved in. The plants have some recovery/growing in to do, and there are always adjustments to be made on a project this large, but all in all, it turned out very nicely if I do say so myself.

It is 7' tall, 2' deep, and 4' wide. the cage itself is 4' tall, 2' deep, 4 feet wide. It is made of birch plywood, sealed with Aquatic Ecosystem's Sweetwater epoxy on the inside (green) and Man'O War Spar marine varnish on the outside. The back wall is covered with corkbark panels from herpsupplies.com and a waterfall of my own design on the far right. The water fall flows into a 5 gallon pool sectioned off from the rest of the floor by two pieces of slate held into place and sealed with Black Handi-Foam from Aquatic Ecosystem's. The water then drains through a standpipe (aquarium hobbyists will know what I mean) into a 10 gallon sump and returned the 7' up by a Rio HF 10 pump. Humidity is kept up with a Sunbeam Ultrasonic Humidifier plumed up to a 1/2" PVC manifold circling the ceiling of the viv, allowing for even distribution of the fog. You'll notice a screen vent below the front window, and at the top of the back wall, this configuration helps promote air circulation without dramatic loss of humidity. It is lit by a 4 x 55 watt Bright Kit from AHsupply.com, with a double-pane Solacryl panel between the lights and the viv. I also added two 4" Hamilton fans to the top of the lighting canopy, one blowing in, the other blowing out, to keep heat buildup to a minimum (these gex like it pretty cool). The Plants include Dracenia, Schaefflera, Lady Palm, Pothos, and Philodendron, with plans to intoduce more exotic additions in the future. I will be adding some liverworts and tropical moss to the land, and some Java Moss and possibly other emergent plants to the pool/waterfall area. The substrate is the Tropical Planting Mix from T&C terrariums (based on the ABG mix), and sits on a screen covered eggcrate drainage platform, 1/2" over the viv bottom. The bottom is plumbed with two 1" bulkhead drains to a 5 gallon bucket underneath. Oh, and the wood is Manzinita I collected in Grass Valley,Ca.

By the way, it currently only holds one male Uroplatus henkeli, but will soon hold a trio when I add two captive bred females.

Thanks for looking,
Jared Morris

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Can you get a close up of the pool and the waterfall? I really like the looks of it so far..

Later
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

Looks like an elaborate setup, how's it work, what did you use?

DZ

The blue canister on the far left of the photo is the ultrasonic humidifier, the white 5 gallon bucket in the middle is the drain reservoir, and the 10 gallon glass tank on the far right is the sump for the pool. The ultrasonic humidifier is on a timer which is set to turn it on for 5-20 minutes every half an hour or so. The fog is plumbed into the vivarium by way of a few random fittings and a length of bilge pump discharge hose (BPDH). BPDH is like the duct tape of viv plumbing! The fog enter the vivarium through a bulkhead and is distributed around the top perimeter of the cage by a 1/2" PVC frame with 1/16" holes drilled at 6" intervals.

The drain is quite simple; just two holes in the cage floor, bulkheads through them, then more BPDH to route the water to a drainage reservoir (the bucket). This needs to be dumped every week or two

The waterfall is a bit more tricky. I made the pool for the waterfall in the vivarium about 5 gal, and then used a 10 gallon sump so that in case of accidental drainage of the pool into the sump there would be no overflow. The pump is a submersible high head (tall pumping height) model designed for use as a sump return pump on aquariums, and at about 6'8", it still pushes about 200 GPH. At the top of the waterfall there is a little Tupperware dish where the water pools before spilling over the rock facade to the pool below. in the pool the water drains throw an overflow standpipe (go look at a reef aquarium overflow and you might see what I mean) back down to the sump.

I've got four 55watt CF lights, two to a ballast. Each ballast is on a separate timer, one set to go on an hour earlier than the other.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, the bulbs are 6700K ESU desert 7 Super UV CF lamps, the only CF UV lamp available so far to my knowledge. The color and intensity are excellent, and a reliable source told me their UV output is quite a bit higher than the good old Reptisun 5.0.

Hope that helps,
Jared

Feel free to ask any other questions you may have

Cage looks fantastic. I'm sure I'll have more questions once I read the posts more thoroughly but for now...

>>I've got four 55watt CF lights, two to a ballast. Each ballast is on a separate timer, one set to go on an hour earlier than the other.

Are you saying the fixtures are externally ballasted or that each fixture holds two bulbs?

Speaking of the fixtures, how big are they... length x width x height?

How warm do the ballasts get compared to other, regular sized flourescent fixtures? If you have a temperature gun I'd appreciate an actual reading.

Thanks.

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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

I just re-read the first post and saw you got the lights from AHsupply.com. Most of the questions are answered there.

I'm still not clear where the ballast sits for these fixtures and how warm it might get.

I'm building some cages with minimal clearance. I'd like just a single 13W CF between each cage with the reflector. I do not need a "hood".

What would my options be for mounting the ballast? How warm does it get?
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

ballasts are mounted right above/behind the humidifier... they get quite warm, but not dangerously hot.

So basically the ballasts can be mounted wherever you like, correct? I assume you mean behind/above the humidifier in the lower section, and not the actual outlet part in the upper part of the cage.

One other question. How was the epoxy paint to work with as far as fumes, rolling on smooth, etc.?
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

ballasts are in the under section

the epoxy is just like an oil based paint to work with

Just simply nice! I'm truly impressed.

DZ

could i see pictures of the pond and waterfall?

wow thats incredible . Lucky geckos.
Lia