# big viv building



## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

had a thought of building a big viv thought about using wood rather then glass as its cheaper and easer 

but if i were to put live plants in there etc how would i make it water resitant so it dont go manky


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

what i've done is yacht varnish along all 'cut' edges of the wood - couple of coats. Then before screwing it togther i've spread aquarium sealant along all these edges so it's screwed and glued. Then i gave a couple more coats of yacht varnish and finished off by sealing the edges with aquarium sealant.

If that isn't good enough then the rot is welcome to it.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

so u just did the edges 

wont the rest rot tho


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

No he only used silicone on the edges, the rest with yacht varnish.....I think.

I'd probably do the same but maybe with epoxy resin and if I was feeling extra precautious some pond liner aswell.

If you're going to to do say, a polystyrene or spray foam background that's going to prevent a lot of moisture coming through.

If I were to build a large humid viv I would use wood personally.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

i would use glass but its epensive 

wood u can just get from b & g and screw together easly 

whout a bout g4 pond stuff or somthing like that that u can get from fish places


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Yeah that would work. I forgot about G4. Needs a few coats I think.

You'd need to work out whether to have the lights internally or not.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

could build like a canopy type lid to sit on top easy changing put mesh on top to let the uv though


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

A mesh lid will let humidity escape......


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

just were the light camopy would sit the rest would be wood

that way i can have easy changing bulbs and mesh uder them tho let light and uv in


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

That'll work.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

wood will be a lot easyer to make a opening front aswell just get the viv glass sliders 

harderst thing would be deciding how big and what to put in there


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

hmmmmmmmmmm what to in there if i built one


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

water sooner or later will find a way the smallest gap and the viv is ruined !save yourself money and use glass saves doing it in 6 months and having that sickly mouldy wood smell....speaking from experience if its going to be wet use glass I used 3 tubs of yacht varnish and then did a fake rock background and floor and it still found a way through countless layers of polystyrene grout paint varnish !!!! :lol2: go on dendroworld and just make an ent viv out of glass easy enough to do it seems......


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

If it's big you can use acrylic, purely for the fact that it's so much lighter.

Can get it cut online and delivered to your front door.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

dosnt acrylic warp and go dis colourd and bendy 

wats the idea with the sloped bottem in the ent ones


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

it shouldnt be that hard or expencive to use glass, just find a good place that can cut replacement windows, then use sealent to stick it all together


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

stewie m said:


> dosnt acrylic warp and go dis colourd and bendy
> 
> wats the idea with the sloped bottem in the ent ones



Not if it's thick and stuck together.

Dunno, don't like them.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

Morgan Freeman said:


> Not if it's thick and stuck together.
> 
> Dunno, don't like them.


it marks really easly tho


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## ralphsvivariums (Dec 15, 2009)

if your that worried about wet wood just buy a sheet of the thinest clear perspex you can find and line the inside in that.


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

you could even use kitchen lino, you can get it in and colour or pattern you like and it is water proof, once you have sealed the edges ofcourse


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## Lermy (Sep 13, 2010)

ralphsvivariums said:


> if your that worried about wet wood just buy a sheet of the thinest clear perspex you can find and line the inside in that.


was just going to suggest that, you could yacht varnish the inside then perspex over the top and seal it all in


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

that is one thing i did think about but then i though about weather it would work with the humid heat


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## Lermy (Sep 13, 2010)

why wouldnt it i dont think it would warp as it would be fixed to the wood and wouldnt be able to move,


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

yeah your right it might work


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## Lermy (Sep 13, 2010)

silicone it and screws to make sure aswell then cover the screws, could get some reasonable thick pieces rather than really thin as that would more likely warp


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

i would do a back ground so u couldnt see it any way


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Get started then!


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

maybe after christmas wen my 2 dart ones are finished


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

DON'T use yacht varnish unless you are going to completely seal the area you used it on! Yacht varnish contains toxins in there to kill barnacles, that over time WILL harm your phibs as well.

However, the term yacht varnish is often used in place of clear polyurethane varnish... The 2 are often confused, but the 1st should never be used on stuff for animals.

Now if I was going to do this, I'd make a wooden box/frame and then build a lucite box inside of this, so it was a viv within a viv. Humidity would never reach the wood at all that way. I just don't think wood is particularly good for building amphibian vivs with, even if it is cheaper than glass...

Ade


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

stewie m said:


> i would use glass but its epensive
> 
> wood u can just get from b & g and screw together easly
> 
> whout a bout g4 pond stuff or somthing like that that u can get from fish places


 Why should glass be exspensive...local double glazing merchant will give it to ya....GIVE.....but now ya gotta do some graft....get a DECENT glass cutter.look on inter web which ya will be better at than i and go for it ...its NOT HARD Sam just right tools....and cost bloody sight cheeper than WOOD but ya gotta do some work to use 'em....but very little dosh....and good GLOVES...INIT....YOU GET?


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

it is expensive well me glass shelves were wen i had them cut at a glazzers they cast me more then my 90 45 60 exo terra and there 4ft long by 4inchs and i want to buld someting biger them my exo or thes now point building one

but if i can make somthing out of my bench in my room witch might be going spear then its even cheaper and it saves me wasting loads of wood i will still need to line it with somthing to water proof it and make some doors


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

i find it hard to make doors


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

depends what u want i guess have u tride sliding doors thats what i might do just get the runners and the glass 

altho id prefer swing doors


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

this was my atempt at making doors for my boa's viv  LOL


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

its not to bad i think if the glass was bigger it would be much better


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

although mine look horrid, swinging doors are much better, IMO


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

yeah much more practical


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

soundstounite said:


> Why should glass be exspensive...local double glazing merchant will give it to ya....GIVE.....but now ya gotta do some graft....get a DECENT glass cutter.look on inter web which ya will be better at than i and go for it ...its NOT HARD Sam just right tools....and cost bloody sight cheeper than WOOD but ya gotta do some work to use 'em....but very little dosh....and good GLOVES...INIT....YOU GET?


You can get it super cheap on ebay.

Have you ever tried cutting glass? I did it once and messed it up. I reckon a few tries and I could get it though.


You can also use polycarobonate sheets. Cheap and easy to cut. Doesn't look so great but you can always cover it and if you use glass for the doors it won't be so bad.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Check this out.

77 gallon viv construction journal (pics) - Dendroboard


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

Morgan Freeman said:


> Check this out.
> 
> 77 gallon viv construction journal (pics) - Dendroboard


cool, that looks like it is pro made, and also very simple, cool link


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

whats the stuff he using for the corners etc 

looks brill better then i thought it would


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

The guy's pretty young I think, well he made it with his dad anyway.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

stewie m said:


> whats the stuff he using for the corners etc
> 
> looks brill better then i thought it would


You can whack it together with those black plastic panels you can get from pollywog. They're super cheap.

That would be seriously easy to make.


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

your not wrong, it makes me want to go a buy a load of crap now....even though i have no need for another viv hehe


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

mrcarlxx said:


> your not wrong, it makes me want to go a buy a load of crap now....even though i have no need for another viv hehe


There's always a need for another viv!


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

lol, i think i feel the need for another rep, so i can have a go at building this lol


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

how many people have just eBayed it to see how many ideas they can start to plan?


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

haha *puts hand up*


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Meko said:


> how many people have just eBayed it to see how many ideas they can start to plan?


I'm sad enough to have a notepad with all my ideas for vivs, this has been in there a while :blush:


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

i qiut serprisd how good it looks i thought it woud look cheat tacky and plasticy u only need to see in the front any way get a background and plants will hid most of it any ways


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

stewie m said:


> i qiut serprisd how good it looks i thought it woud look cheat tacky and plasticy u only need to see in the front any way get a background and plants will hid most of it any ways


If you covered the outside you wouldn't know what it was made of. I'm not sure if any paints would work on the plastic, there'll be something you could use anyway.

Shelf liner or similar.


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

i wonder how much this stuff would cost at homebase or somewhere like that? it seems to be rather expencive to get it delivered off ebay....which is a shame.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

or u could use the sticky stuff that cabnets are coverd with so it looks like it made off wood not sure on the name of it tho


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

mrcarlxx said:


> i wonder how much this stuff would cost at homebase or somewhere like that? it seems to be rather expencive to get it delivered off ebay....which is a shame.


I have seen it in homebase but I can't remember if it was pricey or not. I'm sure it's cheaper than acrylic.


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

i know what you mean, its like a laminate cover.... kind of like window tinting film but with a pattern on it


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

BnQ

70cm x2.4m £22.

You could do a 4ft x 70cm viv with two of them I think? Then use some acrylic for the front. So what.....£44 for the polycarb, £20 for the acrylic.....plastic runner things, silicone....£80? Ish.

You can obvs build a wooden one for that price but this would be completely waterproof and for a glass viv that size....silly money.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

mrcarlxx said:


> i wonder how much this stuff would cost at homebase or somewhere like that? it seems to be rather expencive to get it delivered off ebay....which is a shame.


not that expensive

4mm Greenhouse Polycarbonate Sheet Replacement Qty 10 on eBay (end time 24-Oct-10 21:43:45 BST)

that's 10 - 4x2 sheets


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

thats more like it! although it would be nice to not be limited to 70cm, im sure they will probably sell something so you can join the pieces together


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

laminate cover might be it u can get in like beech or dark wood etc


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

Meko said:


> not that expensive
> 
> 4mm Greenhouse Polycarbonate Sheet Replacement Qty 10 on eBay (end time 24-Oct-10 21:43:45 BST)
> 
> that's 10 - 4x2 sheets


blooming hell, you could make a cracking size viv with that lot :2thumb:


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

i can see every one making thes now :lol2:


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

No sh*t. 4mm would work.

Get to work Stewie.

If this is for a planted viv, I know a wicked t5 unit that would fit perfectly and not cost you a fortune.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

stewie m said:


> i can see every one making thes now :lol2:


Been wanting to for a while......Now I've got my own place......


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

i need to finish my 2 dart ones first 

oh yes planted all the way


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

like u said wood would be cheaper untill u start making it water proof 

as in this will work from the start


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

I've just about finished mine, could always do with a few more plants but whatever.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

Morgan Freeman said:


> I've just about finished mine, could always do with a few more plants but whatever.


 
o right cool what u putting in there

whats this t5 unit them

how would i heat it is it going to be safe to put a mat on the side with out it melting the viv


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## mrcarlxx (May 1, 2009)

lol, if it melts the viv then i think it may be a little to hot for the animal living inside it hehe


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

well yeah lol

i dont now how easy it warps or melts as iv never used it


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

how awsome would a 6ft x 4ft x 2ft be


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

hmmmmmmmmmm intresting

10 pc 4mm POLYCARBONATE SHEET 6ft x 2ft FOR GREENHOUSES on eBay (end time 29-Oct-10 06:32:22 BST)


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## brysaa2 (Oct 11, 2009)

I nearly used those greenhouse acrylic sheets to make a turtle tank, but realised it wouldn't hold the weight without costing a bomb. :lol2:

I think it's the best way to go to building your own viv tho, acrylic has so many advantages over glass, other than scratching more easily lol :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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