Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, I am pretty efficent at making custom enclosures, but I have a few questions for some of you "water creators." I have a 55 Gallon tank sitting in my reptile room begging to be used. I have had everything in this tank from Leopard Geckos to Bearded Dragons, to tropical fish, etc. I recently put together a vivarium out of a 20 gallon long tank, and I love it. Have natural mosses growing, and the plants are thriving like crazy!! What I would love to do is put together a vivarium in the 55 gallon. I have a few questions:

1. How can I create a system for water that flows in via some type of waterfall(probably using cork bark), either flows through as a stream, or filters in through a false bottom, then back out, as to not fill the tank?
2. Should I use an outside water tank? I was thinking of something like a tote filled with water stored under the tank with a water pump to pump the water in.
3. Would I have to use a second pump within the tank to pump out the water, or would it be worth it to cut a drain into the glass? Mind you, I am NO glass cutter, and I don't know if a hole in the bottom/side would effect the integrity of the tank.
4. Would it be easier if I did a half land/half water tank where I could just use an undergravel filter with a power head to create a waterfall?

I visited the local Aquarium(not a store) this past weekend, and they had some cool reptile enclosures that had constant rain, or drip systems, and I thought that they looked really cool. I would love to combine some fish and reptiles within the same ecosystem with real plants.

Please help with any tricks, techiques, etc. Thanks!

Im not really an expert on this situation but I am going to try to do something similar. I am building a jungle habitat for crested geckos. The dimensions will be 24x24x42tall, the floor is going to be live moss. This will be a corner enclosure so two of the sides will be considered the back. One back wall I am going to cover with 12x12 cork bark tiles, while on the other wall I am going motor stone and run several 1/2 inch PVC pipes from underneath the cage inside the stand. The pipes will be connected to a pump which is in a rubbermaid tub underneath. The water will trickle down the rock wall and into a collection basin at the bottom. I will have put a couple of holes in the bottom of the enclosure with more PVC pipes leading back to the tub for drainage. I will probably also put some type of aquairium filter hanging on the side to keep the water quality up. Maybe we could share tips on building, I think I enjoy building the enclosures as much as keeping the herps. I have just finished a desert enclosure for a new bearded dragon. I hope to have pics up soon. Sorry so long.

easiest would probably be a submersable filter/pump with a false bottom.there is a ton of info if you google diy false bottom, terrarium false bottom etc...

if you feel brave you can drill a hole in the glass for a bulkhead. you can drill it in the back of the tank at the level you want the water to be at and add a sump reservoir, but this wont help you drain all the water during cleaning unless you tip the tank on its back.
if you cut a hole in the bottom, extend a pipe up from the bulkhead, the length of the pipe being directly related to the depth of the water.as the water gets higher than the pipe it will effectively drain out.ill try and find you some links with instructions on how to do this stuff
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1.1 Gargoyle geckos
1.1 leucistic leopard gecko
0.0.1 asian golden tree frog
1.0 oriental firebelly toad
0.1 european firebelly toad
1.0 albino betta
1.0 orange tabby
0.0.1 asian painted frog
1.0 broad headed skink
0.0.1 fowlers toad
1.1 red eyed tree frog
1.1 red eared sliders
476.769.47 feeder crickets

here is a link, ill try and find some more tomorrow
Link

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1.1 Gargoyle geckos
1.1 leucistic leopard gecko
0.0.1 asian golden tree frog
1.0 oriental firebelly toad
0.1 european firebelly toad
1.0 albino betta
1.0 orange tabby
0.0.1 asian painted frog
1.0 broad headed skink
0.0.1 fowlers toad
1.1 red eyed tree frog
1.1 red eared sliders
476.769.47 feeder crickets

Whoa, that link is WAY more involved than I need(thanks though!). Firefighter, that would be great to share ideas, although, I probably won't be starting this project until it gets warmer out(I am in RI.) I like the idea of a false bottom, but I don't think that would allow me to put fish in the bottom, unless I raised the bottom about half way up the tank. I think that would look weird though. I'd like to do a "horseshoe" shaped landmass with a "lake" type effect in the middle. That way, whatever herps I decide to use, they can travel to each land mass, and fish can live in the bottom. I may abandon the fish idea, but I think that would look cool, fish swimming inbetween the roots of the live plants above. LOTS of ideas in my head. I should probably sketch some ideas. Firefighter, I also think I like building almost more than keeping. I'll take some pics of my stuff soon.

I look forward to seeing your creations. Im going to be a while starting mine too. Keep me posted on your progress and ideas.

Anyone with expierience with drilling holes in glass??

basically put some masking tape over the top and bottom of it. use a high speed titanium or carbide drill bit. it would actually help if you put a little bit of water on the glass to keep the bit cool while drilling.

you may want to go down to the tile section of home depot, they sell a kit for drilling a hole in ceramic tile (same procedure for drilling in glass).
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
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Current snakes:
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1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
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If you go down to home depot or lowes you can pick up drill bits tspecifically for drilling glass. They are no more exspensive than regular drill bits. The ones that I saw were made by Black and Decker. They are pretty small but I have used them and they do work. I used to work in auto glass for about six years and the key is to keep the glass cool. Usually you use oil but if you choose to use water you may want to put an inch of water iin the bottom of the tank and keep feeling the water temp. It will heat up fast! The real key is to go slow! dont try to rush it. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Well, I made up a picture, but for some reason, my image host isn't working right. I have decided pretty much that I want to do a "pilon" system. Not sure if I spelled that right. Basically cut 6 pieces of PVC pipe to serve as pilons. On top of that will sit my egg crate. I haven't decided if I want to silicone cork bark to the PVC legs to make them look like wood. Does cork hold up under sumbersion? I will then use fiberglass screen on top of the crate, on top of which I will place either lava rock or just bigger riverstone. On top of that, another layer of screen which will have activated charcoal on it. On top of the charcoal will most likely be coconut husk. In the middle, I want to create a corkbark waterfall to resemble a treetrunk. I will fill the center of the water fall in with potting soil to keep any wandering critters from hiding inside it. I will run a pump from under the crate, and run a hose through the substrate and up to the top of the "trunk." I will plant fauna at the mouth of the falls, to grow and cascade down the front. I will also cut into the crate a place to hang a heater. I haven't decided if I was going to go with a printed backround, or more cork bark. Still planning the "decoration" aspect.

Another question I have: Is "play sand" good in this type of tank? I am afraid that the sand will get into the pump, and ruin it. Anyone??

Most aquarium bottoms are tempered glass. If you try to use a regular drill bit or even a glass and tile bit you will likely just cause they entire bottom to shatter into a million little pieces like a car window after a nasty wreck. The tanks for fish that have these cool under tank sumps with wet dry trickle filters and such have been drilled using special equipment, which usually consists of a drill press with some kind of diamond grit hole saw an a clay dam around the cutting area filled with a cooling liquid. It's very involved and can be very expensive.

I would check your local aquarium stores and see if any of them know of glass shops that can do drilling for you, even then they may be limited because of the size of their equipment. A lot of the time, aquariums with the holes drilled for sumps have those holes drilled before the final assembly. Not to scare you off the idea, but I'd definetely look into the drilling very carefully before you ruin an otherwise good tank.

Now a different approach would be to use an outside the tank canister filter. Canister filters have the ability to push water up to a good height and also to suck it back out. They only thing is the filter must be lower than your water level, which usually means below the aquarium. Now that being said, you can use a filter in something like a 55 gallon to only filter 10 or 15 gallons of water in the bottom of the tank.

You can also place the filter output [where water comes back into the aquarium] above water level, but not too far. This could give you a miniature water fall if you have it cascade across a small outcropping of rock or piece of wood. Also, you could simply use the canister filter to keep your water clean and safe for your fish and use a small concealed powerhead to run a small stream of water out of the pool and have it trickle back down over some branches, rocks, etc.

All of the tubing for the canister filter, cord for the power head, etc. can be cleverly hidden behind your landscaping. Take a look at this how-to for some great ideas on how to set up water features in a naturalistic vivarium:
http://www.blackjungle.com/gallery/talltank/page1.html

The canister filter I use to filter my turtle tank [which is actually a 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank], is the Fluval 104, which you can usually buy for around $50 or so. Try Drs. Foster and Smith for some of the best prices on powerheads, and canister filters - www.drsfostersmith.com

Good luck and have fun. Post pics when you're done.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

Hey I'm going to be doing a similar set up as you're looking to do in the future. I found this place and they are great guys and have a killer instructional for just what you're doing.

http://www.blackjungle.com/gallery/talltank/page1.html

With a slight mod. you could easily do this to a 55. You could even put the water fall in the corner of the land half and have a stream running through it to the water half and the pump brings the water back. By using PVC pipe cut in half and the same caulk and rock I think it would look kick@#$.

Hope this helps
Chris
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Chris, my wife Mary
a dog, two cats, two birds, four snakes
oh and three kids