How to Build a Front Opening Vivarium out of an Old Tank
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- čas přidán 1. 02. 2019
- In this video I tear down a 40 gallon breeder aquarium and show you how to repurpose it into a front opening vivarium. I'll be using it for dart frogs but this type of vivarium could be used for an array of small exotic pets.
holy shit, was just expecting like a basic diy vivarium, but you went all out and made a proper vivarium that couldve come straight from a store, i tip my hat to you sir :P
Thanks for the kind words!
@Ellis Marcelo pfft amateurs 😝✌️ Kodi for life 🤣😂
I’m a Doc and don’t have time to make those front loading Terrariums. I paid a company $750 to make three 24 X 24 X 24 cubes. Lol.. that was 8 years ago and never got the tanks or my money back. Great work! I’m quite envious of this talent.
This is one of the most well done, thought out and professional functional builds i have ever seen in my entire life. Ive been looking for a video like this for so long. An absolute game changer
Thank you for the kind words, glad I could help and thanks for watching!
Other online tips that I tried and liked.......After thoroughly cleaning the tank to prevent the debris from scraping the glass (always be gentle in cleaning and scraping or the glass will scratch), spray the silicon and underside of the rim with WD40 and let sit for 24 hours (Note: place the tank on trash bags so you don't ruin your floor). The putty knife should be able to work the rims off but you can always carefully cut the rim while protecting the glass with putty knives. The rest of the silicon should come up easily with the razor blade now. I recommend running the razor 1/3 the way down each of the corners first when separating the glass from itself (when I did not do this the glass chipped). This released some of the pressure so the razor was not getting stuck toward the bottom of the corner. VERY IMPORTANT-Thoroughly wash the glass several times and use acetone to remove any remaining WD40 or your new silicon will fail.
Note: My razor blades dulled very fast. I probably went through 10 blades.
Where did you get your track and how do the doors go in after the build? Thank you for this video!!
I can't believe it's taken me this long to see this video. Great work!
Thanks!
You make it look so easy. The problem I have is getting it square. But great tank conversion and repurpose
Best tutorial video I have seen on this subject matter yet. Great job!
Thank you for sharing your awesome craftsmanship; I wish I was able to do it; thank you for your time in sharing
Best build video on CZcams! Cheers for uploading it!
Fantastic video! Very clear. Thank you!
This is really professional looking. Nice job!
Thank you for this video. Great tutorial and the fruit fly thing is genius.
Great video all around! Love that you took the time too explain your steps in depth. Normally I'm ready forwarding of skipping videos all together but was interested throughout your done video. Keep up the great work and thanks!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, hope to get more videos like this out in the future.
been doing this kind of thing for a while you made it look easy good vid for newcomers
Very cool build! Thanks
Thanks and you're welcome
Thanks for this video, very helpful!
Awesome, but I dont think that I am qualified. I will just have to go the costly way and buy my vivarium. LOL
You made that look so easy!
Loved your video, great job and thank you!
Thanks! glad you enjoyed it!
Brilliant mate. Thank you, I am going to take a fifty gallon top opening tank and I want to make it a front opening tank for my beardie. You make it look so easy haha
I seriously thought your were going to use a conversion kit or something. This is incredible!!!
Yesgood very nice very informative thank you for sharing
Thanks! Glad you thought it was helpful.
Awsome video!
Awesome video!
Really helpful video, my hermit crabs will be very happy now.
Only thought I would hot glue some clear or cool handles other than that pretty badass
I know I'm late but I'm glad I clicked on your video great job
Thank you!
Great to see this I have a 2 40 gallon tanks I like to convert over to this with sliding doors in the front and still have the mesh top. My son and daughter love animals. Like snakes, Turtles, Hamsters ect and 40 gallon tanks are great for there pets. but hate haveing to go in the top every time to get to the animal's. I want to put the sliding doors in the front so they can have 2 options either top or side. to get in to the tank. My son wants his like this so when we redo his room he wants Shelves to put his tanks one and be able to stack them so he can have more Turtles snakes and such yet not have to go in the top every time to do any cleaning or handling of his pets. and a 40 gallon tank can be very very heavy, having to take down from a shelf ect.
Sounds like a good plan might be a little more difficult to convert if you want the top to open still.
keep making videos! I'm lov'n em
Thank you for the kind words, I'm working on more videos now but have been busy and not been getting to videos as often as I'd like.
Amazing song!!!!!
Pretty impressive bro! Great DIY Build. I've got tons of spare tanks laying around. I think I might try it. Even though you make it look so simple I'm sure I'll fudge it up. Lol
Thanks! I have a lot of experience breaking down tanks and cutting glass. It does take some practice but it really isn't that difficult either. Main thing is to be patient and take your time.
@@TCSDartFrogs I can 100% +1 this. My first tank was pretty bad with many improvements lacking. The second tank was a huge improvement, and so was the third compared to the second one. I've been able to keep the quality consistent since and from time to time some very appreciated incremental improvements that I learned over time specifically made for my needs. Building terrariums became an essential skill for me because commercially available enclosures are either over priced or they don't provide so many benefits I have to building them according to my specific needs, but usually the case is both. In the long run this skill really gives you premium benefits while saving you money.
Thank you for making this video, Travis!
L.E.: Not to mention that if you manage to turn this hobby into a business I can assure you you will save so much time and resources by being able to simply give good directions and knowing what you want from the start, and building your own enclosures will surely show you standards you didn't even know you have.
@@molnaralexandru3485 For sure many benefits to building your own tanks and definitely helps on saving some money.
Man that turned out so nice. I'm contemplating a 55 gallon conversion but that thing is so damn heavy. (I have a messed up back)
i'd buy one of those!
Where do you get your supplies..tracks etc...Awesome build
I've made a few tanks now based off this video and they are progressively looking cleaner in build quality, so thank you for the great tutorial! But I do have a quick question, are the majority of your front opening enclosures built from 40 gallons? I saw in you frog room tour that you had 2 large front openings at the bottom of the rack (housing your 16 year old azureus laif) and the rest above those are a tad smaller. What do you typically use to build those? Just 20s?
Dude I am not a frog person but the builds ur doing are amazing that is pure talent
Thanks! I have some really cool builds planned for the future.
Travis, this is a brilliant idea given the astronomical costs of front opening vivs and terrariums. Can you provide a little bit more detail as far as your build... How many cuts are you making, what dimensions are these pieces of glass that you were using to put your vivs together, how limited am I as far as what size I'm able to build out of a 40 gallon... Things of this nature. I have several ball pythons which I'd like to put in front opening bioactive vivariums, the only thing which bars me from it utilizing front opening the variums is, once again, the astronomical costs of these enclosures. any information that you were able to provide is greatly appreciated!
i've made my own vivariums from old aquariums kind of a pain haha. where did you get your aluminum spacers and e tracks at? I never found them with adhesive before. haha i had to order a bulk where i got mine. Thanks for the great video
Yea it's certainly not the easiest way to make a vivarium but it probably is the cheapest if you don't count your labor, I got the spacers and track from a friend, I'm not sure where he sources his materials but he makes the tracks himself, unfortunately he doesn't sell to the public
Great job my friend
nice video buddy!
Thanks it took me a while to piece it together
I didn't have fun on mine either lol
@@TroyGoldberg You mean you didn't have fun building the tank or making the video? LOL
TCS Dart Frogs not fun making the video
@@TroyGoldberg Yea I understand that haha
Great video one question on the setup though. Are the front back and sides on top of the bottom piece of glass or on the outside edges of the bottom piece of glass? or does this even matter? I want to make a 30Wx33Hx18D Rimless Paludarium using 1/4 glass with a water feature in the front just below the vent about 6" high of water about 15 Gallons at Max of water. if you have any suggestions on the design your ideas would be much appreciated
love the vid! makes me want to build my own! where did you get the Echannel??????
I got it from a friend but you can buy it online at www.outwater.com/
Awesome product. But to pay for the 3dprinted parts plus glass you can get a 40gallon terrarium when they are on sale. Currently at petco a 40g terrarium is $129. Nonetheless, cool product
I wish to make one of these for my small orchids
These would work great for orchids, possibly with the addition of a fan for extra air flow
I'm currently getting all the tools I need to add to my 20 gallon long aquarium sliding glass doors. I never done this before but I heard it was pretty simple, so i did some tutorial research. I'm just tired of lifting the screen lid to feed & clean. too much work. I just want to make sure I get the right tracking, what do you suggest??
do u think instead of sliding doors i can make the door using door hinge? is it possible making it using glass?
Great vid! Where did you get the aluminum spacers?
I got them from a guy who builds custom vivariums but he doesn't sell to the public anymore, I believe you can get square aluminum tubing at most hardware stores and cut it into the size you need. Alternatively you can cut small pieces of glass and glue them together in a stack until you have the size spacer you need.
Where do you buy the L tracks and plastic E channels? Great work btw! Have you made any larger tanks because that’s what I’ll be doing 🥲
Wish I had some of these tools and they weren't so expensive... I'd probably get carried away and build something every other week. I enjoy building tanks (thus far only the interior portion) way too much
Too much for my wallet that's for sure 😂
*I actually ended up investing in a dremel (the 3000) and took apart a 55gallon and put 2 tanks together completely from scratch. Trust me when I say it isn't as easy as youtubers make it look. Was it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again? 99.99% sure I won't. Royal pain in the ass. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong and it isn't as fun as doing a background. For me it really took the joy out of it and felt like work. Definitely don't recommend it at all.
Now would you have to cut out an opening for the basking lamp??
im thinking of doing something kinda like this but out of a 20 long i want to cut the front glass to put in doors using the pieces i cut out and haveing them swing out like a exo terra does.. would prefer to do this without taking the tank apart .. is there away to cut it with it in place or should i atleast remove the front panel and do my cuts i need? how would you do this? any vids on this would also be very helpful too
Hey Travis, Do you know how you would go about making the doors swinging doors instead of sliding doors? Awesome vid as well nice job.
I'll be doing an upcoming video that covers this.
Awesome looking forward to the vid
@@TCSDartFrogs Look forward to seeing that video!
I want to see that video perfect project during this pandemic
Where did you get the e-tracks from if you don't mind me asking?
Do you have your specific measurements you used for this?
it looks lovely! Cant find decently priced L-tracks... you'd think an extruded piece of plastic wouldn't cost so much! Does the steel mesh ever rust from the moisture in the tank? Thank you for the video!
hey travis, attempting this and need some help
also when you cut your glass how did you make a allowance for the cutter wheel being offset?
did you factor it in to your original measurements when you used the the marker?
or did you just slightly move your straight edge away from the line and line up your wheel?
I think your overthinking it, you just line the cutter up with the mark and use a straight edge to keep the cutter going in a straight line along the mark.
Wow. Would you make one for my classroom?
your technique with the silicone looks messy but the final result is really clean!
You jenius
How do you put the sliding doors in once you have fixed your “E-Track” ?
The top track has a deeper groove than the bottom track so you just slide it up and then it will go back down into the bottom track
@@TCSDartFrogs Makes sense.
@@TCSDartFrogs where did you buy your e tracks? I'm having a hard time finding black ones and I haven't seen any that already have adhesive backing, I'd really appreciate if you could let me know
Nice video! Which was the thickness of the glass?
Thanks, for smaller tanks like this I use 3/16 " glass
what silicone do you use?
Great video. I understand the dimensions are 16×16×12...... but what are the smaller glass dimensions like the doors, and all the other smaller cuttings
Thanks! All the smaller pieces vary with each build, I'm not the best at cutting the glass to the exact size it should be which ends up making the openings bigger or smaller than they should be, each build it varies by fractions of an inch and so I often have to measure and cut as I go, the doors are often something you need to measure for and then cut as they need to fit just so. I believe the doors are roughly 8 1/2" x 7". I don't know the exact measurements of the rest of the pieces but since many people have asked about the dimensions I may make a video laying out all the different pieces you would need.
@@TCSDartFrogs That would be awesome! You seem to be the only person on youtube that has made a vivarium tank build.
@@KMB_StiX Troy Goldberg has also done a tank build though he uses a slightly different style on the ventilation.
I appreciate what you did there, I was looking to do something similar for a Bearded Dragon so I want to keep it as large as it can be. I basically want to just put the doors on the front of the tank, and will probably need another piece of glass for the top. Any tips, suggestions would be great.
You can get glass custom cut at hardware stores
Also for larger tanks use a thicker glass ofc
I’m making one for my bearded dragon right now. It’s essentially what he’s doing, but rather than undoing the whole tank I’m only going to take out one pane of glass to cut into shape for sliding doors. That way the top can still have a mesh cover for airflow. So from the five faces of an preexisting aquarium, only take out one to cut and turn into a sliding door to silicone back into place. Hope this helps
How do you get the doors in?
Can I do this method on a 75 gal?
Anyone have any idea on where to get like e track or any type of aquarium trim parts etc?
I didn't understand the Sherman Vent. What is that exactly? It seemed like the screen was glued on top of the glass rather then between the glass strips. Did I just see it incorrectly?
I like the idea, but it would be nice if you addad some measurements for those who are willing to give it a try.
That's the great thing about building your own tanks is that you can make them any size you want.
Great video. Where do you source the "E" channel from. We are having trouble finding it. Thanks!
Www.outwater.com search for door tracks
1/4" inch size? Can't remember if it was mentioned..
I'm really having a hard time finding that as well. I've found some brown ones but black is either hard to find or stupid expensive (as in over 25 bucks for just the top or bottom track... that's insane. It would be cheaper to buy a terrarium!)
@@sarahtedrow3692 they're expensive too though. I had found them as one of the few who carry the tracks in black but they only sell in multiples of 12 ft which is fine but shipping is another 14 bucks. So to get one set of 12ft tracks cut to say 4ft pieces it runs at about 30 dollars. That's a lot for some plastic. Eek
When you order the channels, request them to cut them into 3 or 4 foot lengths, shipping will be cheaper.
is there a certain way you installed the glass doors I’m eager to start this project but scared I will get the doors wrong
They just slide into place, the channel at the top is larger than the bottom channel so you just have to push them up far enough to get them into the slots. Best thing to do is make a template out of cardboard to make sure it fits before cutting the glass or before ordering glass.
where exactly can i find the track? And what size? What's the actual name
Hoping to adjust it to fit an emerald tree skink- wish me luck (edit: spelling)
Where can I get the E track
Hi! I would like to know what's the size of the tank u made after the 40 gallon break down?
Hi, it's roughly 16" wide 16" deep and 12" tall.
Is it ok to have the fixtures above the glass?
If you're referring to lights yes they should be fine as long as they don't get too hot.
Wait how did you put the glass in the E track? Does it just slide in? If so from where?
The glass is shorter than the opening, but the E channel's edges are tall enough that the glass doesn't fall out or into the vivarium. It is hard to explain but the top edge of the glass is inserted at a slight angle into the top E channel. Then the glass is lifted straight up as it is straightened/swung inward until it is above the lower E channel. At that point the bottom edge of the glass is set down into the bottom E channel. The bottom edge of the glass is resting on the bottom of the lower E channel while the top edge of the glass has a gap above it inside of the E channel. To take the glass out, the process is reversed. The glass is lifted straight up inside of the E channel until the bottom edge of the glass is higher than the top of the lower E channel, then you simply swing the glass towards the outside of the tank until it clears the edge of the bottom E channel and pull it down, out of the upper E channel.
Would love to know measurements throughout this build, I’m a little lost but sure I can figure it out
The great thing about making you own tank is that you can make the measurements whatever you want, and if you can't calculate the measurements for building a tank then I probably wouldn't suggest attempting it in the first place.
Thanks for your advice, but does it have to be a 40 gallon or can it be a 20 gallon long? Also do u sell tadpoles?
Thanks for the question! It really depends what size tank you want to build. Your not going to have nearly as much glass with a 20 gal long, alternatively you can also buy glass precut to the size you need from any glass shop if you are not interested in spending the time to tear a tank apart. I do not sell tadpoles.
@@TCSDartFrogs can you use 1/8th glass or does it have to be 1/4 inch?
Hello. It is an old video so I might not get an answer. But if you know how to build a vivarium with outgoing doors it would be awesome. :)
How will a heat lamp on the glass react?
A low wattage heat lamp would probably be fine but anytime you heat or cool glass too quickly you run the risk of it cracking or shattering. I would recommend putting a larger screen section if you plan to have heat bulbs on top of the enclosure.
were do you get this E track
I have a friend that makes it but you can source it on outwaterplastics.com
Will uvb rays penetrate the glass from the top?
uvb cannot penetrate glass nor acrylic, however you can place your UVB strip over the vent on the top
What are all the measurements for the viv?
12"x16"x16"
Is that a zilla 40G cage?
I'm not sure I got it with a bunch of tanks when a local exotics store was closing.
It would be great if you add links for the materials.
I bought many of the materials from a friend that doesn't sell to the public and so I don't have a link for most the products.
@@TCSDartFrogs awesome work !
Well maybe for an additional stream of income make An Amazon account or something else , search for the products and put the links here as a reseller.
Great work 👍
Can you show me how to take an old tank and just put front doors on it for a reptil 😊
Is it possible to do this all glass perhaps with swivel doors
It could be done with glass but I'm not sure what you mean by swivel doors, if you're talking about a hinged door then yes that is possible and should be in an upcoming video.
@@TCSDartFrogs yes that’s what meant.
does anyone know if there are clear/acrylic/glass e tracks
I've never seen any clear track but never really looked for it either.
Is there any reason to disassemble the entire tank? Seems like you could get away with just removing the pieces youre cutting (lid and front)
Yeah the reason is I'm constantly building new tanks and using scrap glass so might as well do it all at once.
New video please!!
Can you please help me.. I want to make a divider for my 55 gallon terrarium but I dont know what to use.. glass or plexiglass. It's for my juvenile cornsnakes.
It really depends on if you want it to be permanent or not and how secure you want it to be.
@@TCSDartFrogs permanent is ok with me I can reuse the tank for other reptiles in the future. I just want it to be divided well without them slythering to the others side of the tank lol
@@GirMommie20 If you don't mind it being permanent, I'd use glass and silicone it in place, the tank would obviously need to be cleaned out completely do that and I would recommend waiting at least a week before putting anything living in there after the silicone has cured.
@@TCSDartFrogs I was thinking the same thing!!! I will do that thank you so much (:
@@GirMommie20 Sure! Glad to help!
I don't see the gauge of stainless steel mesh.
I buy from an acquaintance and he won't give tell me the gauge but I'm working on finding my own source and when I do I'll share the source.
What are your dimensions
Roughly 12" high 16" wide and 16" deeep
Hey, what are the dimensions of the enclosure
Never mind looked through the comments and I found the answer.
WHERE DID YOU GET THE TRACK/E-TRACK😮!!!!?????
Amazon bro
I want to do a 100gal tank for my dragon
That would be cool, front opening tanks make things a lot easier in my opinion.
cant get this damn rim off, i got both 36" sides on the top to pry off, but the sides are not happening. uhghgghhghhhh