Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey thanks for the advise and the link to your site.its a great site and exactly what i was looking for.anyway,i have seen a few ways to make a false bottom,but the idea i have in mind for my vivarium design,the floor is very uneven.i was wondering if i could get away with a simple falsebottom using only gravel.id shape the gravel the way i want,then cover the gravel with a screen or something to keep the substrate from seeping into the gravel.then place substrate on the screen.i would then drill holes in to floor to drain when i needed to.i assume a layer of water would accumulate in the gravel,so id be able to place a pump in that layer for waterfall ect.id prob. place the pump in some sort of container with holes punched in it so not to suck up junk.so will this work? if so then why all the extra trouble of laying pvc down ect?.isnt that just extra work for nothing?.oh yea,i have read that silicon is for sealing glass,but i wanted to make mine of glass but use a plexiglass floor so i can drill easier.can you seal glass to plexiglass with silicon?should i just make it all from glass?

Yeah, in one of my tanks I used gravel to create a false bottom. The only drawback is that I moved a month ago and that tank about killing me carrying it. You are on the right track about junk getting into the pump.

The pvc holds the egg crate up to make a bigger falsebottom.

I know you use weld-on for platics but it won't work with glass. Only silicon will work for glass. The platic rims on tanks are held on with silicon so I assume that you could use silicon for plexiglass, but I have never tried it. Better get a second opinion on that one.
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

thanks josh,again your site rocks!im really glad sites like yours exist,otherwise figuring out things like this would be a lot harder.hey by the way,a while ago,when i first got an interest in building a vivarium,i fould a site while doing some searching.I believe it was created and owned by a japanese guy.it was basically a huge gallery with details about personal vivariums.people from all over the world would send in pictures of their vivariums and detailed descriptions of their construction and residents.my question is,does anyone have a link to the site,and the second questioin,and what i am really interested in knowing is,if anyone is familiar with that site,they have seen that alomst all of the european vivarium photos,all feature the same type of vivarium.i have never seen this type sold in the usa.it is tall with what looks like sliding glass doors in the front.the only thing i have seen in american that even comes close,are the tetra terra vivariums with the 2 front doors that open out.im not a big fan of them and i like the european terrarium sliding doors better but have no idea who makes them or where to buy them.thanks