First off thanks for all the information on this board; I used a lot of it to design and build the above tank basking area for the 75 gallon tank I just picked up. Sitting on a sturdy metal desk.
Here are some pictures!
^This is my Sheltie, Maddie.
It's basically just a box, with a hole cut out for the filter, and two holes cut for the panes of glass in the front. The glass is set into a groove I notched into the border of the wood, and sealed with aquarium grade silicon sealant.
The right half of the unit has a roughly 20"x16" platform sitting on 1x4's, so the platform is a good 4 inchese above the surface of the water. Under this platform I installed a set of under cabinet fluorescent lights (you can kind of see these in the third picture). The top of the platform has a ceramic tile on it that [should] heat up nicely with the light overhead. Thermometer says the temp in the basking area is about 90-95*F.
The ramp is plexiglass that is covered with cabinet/drawer liner and hooked on with a hinge. The bottom of the ramp is anchored to the tank with suction cups on a piece of all-thread.
100 lbs of screened/sifted/washed play sand on the bottom, along with cleaned rocks.
The covering on the ATBA is stick on vinyl tile, with a nice stone pattern on it. This stuff was surprisingly easy to work with and cut nicely, and is very sticky. We'll see how it holds up to the temps and humidity..
The plants are plastic from the dollar store.
I'm still working on a top, right now it's just two pieces of wood holding a light up there.
The water looks kind of cloudy because there are lots of bubbles on the side.
Here are some pictures of the soon-to-be-new-residents of the new setup, Tony and Lee:
^Tony says hi!
Lee isn't as friendly...
^Their current basking area
in a 30 gallon tank. The RES's were my sister's before she gave them to me when she wanted to get rid of them, and this has been their home since she got them. They're just simply too big for this.
Anyways, the water is currently heating up -- 68*F and counting. I figure another 5* and they can hop in. I sure hope they like it!
I have a UVB light for it; it's on their current home at the moment though. I also have some additional filters that I will be possibly plumbing into the system if necessary; just need to get some powerheads for them.
Now it's time to reorganize and clean the room... Let me know what you think!
-Jake
lol) and having to buy more it came to about the same total price. And once I got all the pieces of wood put together it definitely didn't need structural support since this thing is solid as a rock. But glass is easier to clean I guess, so that's a plus.
