Habitat - Indoor :: Finally Finished My ATBA (Pics)

[EdieOnline]

Finished my ATBA and thought I would share. Excited to be done. So far Monster Frank appears to like all the extra space to swim around. Need to work on my tank décor now.

[Kansasslider]

Looks nice. I'm a little concerned about the green carpet going into the water. What did you use for glue to hold it down? I also don't think it would hold up submerged.

[EdieOnline]

I used aquarium sealant to tack the carpet down. Curious about your concerns though. Concerned about toxins, or just that it may break down?

[Kansasslider]

I think it won't last long submerged. Toxins from the sealant shouldn't be a problem. The water could also be wicked up the ramp onto the basking area and cause mold problems.

[steve]

It looks good! Is the green carpet all plastic though? I think reptile carpet is. And you can use zip ties to attach it to the ramp.

[EdieOnline]

It's actually outdoor carpet. Made out of plastic fibers.

[steve]

Go for reptile carpet. It'll be much safer to use with turtles. There are probably a lot of chemicals in regular and outdoor carpet. Also check shelf liners... IKEA has a pretty durable one.

[Kansasslider]

Go for reptile carpet. It'll be much safer to use with turtles. There are probably a lot of chemicals in regular and outdoor carpet. Also check shelf liners... IKEA has a pretty durable one.

I don't think outdoor carpet is harmful or toxic and we don't know what's in reptile carpet either. Its probably UV treated and my guess would be that reptile carpet would be also. My concern about it being in the water is most outdoor carpet has a sponge or rubber backing that might decompose when submerged in water.

[Kansasslider]

Interesting read,
http://www.anapsid.org/substrates2.html

[EdieOnline]

Nice article. Astroturf / Artificial Grass is what I used. $.65/ft at Home Depot. Paid less than $8 for a 12x1ft roll.

Astroturf® / Artificial Grass
Astroturf® was the first artificial grass floor covering. Since then, carpet manufacturers have come out with many grades of artificial grass. Hardware stores and builder supply stores generally carry two or more grades. The least expensive is generally the best to use. It is more flexible, an important factor for thorough cleaning and disinfecting. The ragged cut edges may be folded under and basted to prevent fraying. Pieces can be washed and disinfected repeatedly before they require replacing. This substrate can be used for any terrestrial, arboreal, or fossorial reptile. It is cheap enough that several pieces can be cut for each enclosure and rotated each cleaning day. The pieces of artificial grass substrate sold in small, prepackaged pieces in many pet stores and mail order pet suppliers is the same as the product sold in builder supply stores.

[steve]

Anything made for outdoor use probably contains UV blockers, plasticizers, chemical hardeners and mildew resistant additives. The reptile carpeting referenced sounds completely different that what I've been seeing, which is usually all plastic.