Habitat - Indoor :: Bently's New Setup! Finally! Please comment!

[bently11]

Hey guys! After almost a year of planning, my dad finally took action and Bently's setup is finally complete! It is from glass cages, a 90 gallon with a built in basking platform and a drainage pipe. I have to say, glass cages did a heck of a good job! I love this tank! It is very boring right now, I'm trying to think of some ways to liven it up a little. By the way, he's been living in a puny 10 gallon tank for about 3 years (i know, stupid on my part) so this is a HUGE upgrade for Bently and he loves every inch of swimming space! It's been about a month since I installed this and the Fluval is excellent! So clean!






The ramp from underwater:

The drainage pipe

Bently basking! Took me a while to catch him here. He didn't figure it out for 3 days. He loves the MVB though!

[Kemul]

Very nice!

The only thing I need to mention is that the UV rays won't penetrate that mesh
screen. You need to cut a hole right under the MVB or replace the mesh with
the white light diffuser people have been using here.

Good job

[francinemarie]

BEAUTIFUL! may i ask how much this tank setup cost?

[BullDog]

Looks amazing! That drainage pipe is a really cool idea. Does glasscages put the imitation grass on the basking area?
Like Kemul said, very little UV will get through the mesh. Many people choose to just cut a hole in the mesh where the light shines.

[papoopeepoo]

Awesome!

It's nice to see a glasscages tank in use. I've only seen their pictures. It looks really well designed.

What type of stand are you using to hold the tank up? Just the cider blocks?

[mh0000]

It's rather difficult to tell, but it looks like the glass bottom is making contact with the cinder blocks. If so, you need to address this. I would consider placing a sheet of plywood under the tank to support the entire frame. Your setup might void Glass Cage's warranty. I think they require a flat and solid surface (they might even require foam under the tank to accommodate imperfections in the tank's frame).

Your plumbing leads to a canister filter and not a sump, correct?

[jozzep]

Nice buy, i recognized the glasscages design before even reading.
I hope you picked it up at a reptile show and didn't pay the expensive shipping.
The ramp is great, but i don't like that they use silicone strips as steps.In time the turtle will rip them off, but you can always replace it with another material.

[mh0000]

Actually, it looks like the drain leads to a bucket. I guess this drain is more water changes only? If so, I would just install a barb and vinyl tubing onto the plumbing and have the water pressure push it into a sink or out of a window. The end of the tube would have to be below the water line in the tank though.

[bently11]

Hey thanks for all the replies guys! I bought the fake grass at Home Depot and cut it to size. The drainage can be hooked up to a hose so I can pump all the water out and do a complete water change if I have to. The bucket is there just in case it leaks. There are pieces of fake grass on top of the cinderblocks so it's not in direct contact with the tank. I've always worried about it falling but it seems pretty sturdy and the tank weighs a ton. It'll be hard to pick it up again. We were going to put wood on it, like a table, but the drainage pipe is very hard to work around. It sticks out from the bottom which makes it difficult to put anything in that area. The whole setup with everything cost me about $900 and the tank itself was about $400. Jozzep, I picked it up at a hotel where they were staying. It would be hard to ship a huge tank that weighs 100 pounds on its own. I'm going to talk to my dad about cutting the hole in the mesh. Thanks so much guys! Any more advice is appreciated!

[papoopeepoo]

I hate to say it, but those cinder blocks can't be permanent. Just because the tank seems sturdy and well supported it really doesn't look like it. the frame should be supported equally all the way around. Having most of the weight in one area is not a good strategy when you have a large amount of weight sitting in one location for a long period of time. That goes for both your tank AND the floor it stands on.

I would purchase or build a wood stand, and drill a hole in the bottom for the drainage pipe to pass through. This will improve both the appearance and the stability of your tank.

[Azfar]

The ramp is great, but i don't like that they use silicone strips as steps.In time the turtle will rip them off, but you can always replace it with another material.

E yup.. Exactly. I've experienced use the silicone strips as steps.. it took 2 months for both my turtle pooped the whole strips one by one (I think I've found so far about 6 7 strips every time I want to clean the filter)

Overall your tank very nice and beautiful..

~~ I love the second picture.. your Bently so adorable..

[untsmurf]

The tank looks great and it's a wonderful upgrade! But what everyone has been saying about the stand is correct. Before your tank breaks under the pressure and your house fills with 90 gallons of water (and you'll be out $1300) you need to fix your stand.

Between the 100 lb tank (your estimate) and say 70 gallons of water, you're looking at almost 700 pounds of pressure on those two cinder blocks. If you don't provide a base that allows for even distribution of weight, the bottom seals are going to give and the tank will be useless.

I don't mean for this to sound all doom and gloom, but that's a beautiful tank and I would hate to see all your awesome efforts go to waste.

I'd say until you can make a new stand for it, you can just buy two more cinder blacks and two pieces of wood and form a makeshift table. Just leave a 4''-6'' gap between the wood slats for the drainage pipe.

[mh0000]

"There are pieces of fake grass on top of the cinderblocks so it's not in direct contact with the tank."

Well it is not a matter of it being in direct contact or not, but rather if the weight is being transferred to the cinder blocks via the glass or via the frame. The weight MUST be conveyed to the blocks via the frame. If it is from the glass, you might as well just open that drain right now and get the disaster over with. Just get 1-1.5 inch plywood and stick it under the tank

[bently11]

I talked to my dad about it, and he makes me so upset sometimes. He's against the wood and the stand, so he wants to get a bunch more cinderblocks and make a table out of them, supporting the frame. Is this ok? Like a solid table made entirely out of cinderblocks.

[BullDog]

You can use cinderblocks as "legs" for a stand, but I'd recommend still putting a piece of plywood over top to take the stress off the tank. That's what I did for Frankie's 90 gallon before I built a stand. On top of the plywood, I also put a piece of cardboard, so it has a little bit of give.