So... Lets just say I havent had the best success with this terrarium. Believe me, the front opening doors are amazing and make it so easy to access the tank. And it large enough to allow me to scape it - freedom - yet small enough that I can lug it around with 2 people if I ever have to move it. The problem is, the stand came from the previous owner which is more of a TV ikea unit. As a result, the tank overhangs the front by about an inch. Figured it wouldnt be too much of a problem, since it contains "feet" which the stand does support not to mention my family was all like 'its fine' "shouldnt be too much of an issue' ect. And I figured since I have to use a 'insert' so that way I could have some amount of substrate in there without it falling out.
Lets just say the glass cracked and the front has completely come off the silicone - basically, its holding up by the two sides and a clamp at the top. So yeah... not functional.
The crack - and also the bottom has completely broke off the bottom glass unit... Even with the crack, the glass still bows a lot.
Since the front piece bowed, it also lead to the result of a broken sliding glass door - with cutting yourself on glass is not fun...
Since this is an obvious danger, and its a question of when not if, I has forced into an 'upgrade' (aka: new tank. Yay)
Originally I got a nice custom 6 foot tank (6 ft x 2ft x 27.5 inch high) fish tank, that I had built. I also included a nice glass partition around a foot in to make a nice looking SW pool.
Except I forgot to think that aquariums are braced to be filled with water, which is a cm thick (around 0.4 inch thick) which made it extremely heavy - at least in excess of 100 pounds. Two people can move the think, but it is extremely hard to do so! The weight wasnt so much of an issue, rather how will I get it into my room. As we later found out, my current terrarium is not 5 ft long, nor is it 2 ft wide...
Its 4 inches short, and 6 inches less in depth/width.... So the behemoth isnt going anywhere further than the front doorway. Now, I could of set it up away from my room, but I decided against that in terms of my family enjoying to spray various chemicals, perfumes and what not... (And also, the only rooms I frequent is my desk, the kitchen/living/dining room, bedroom and of course, bathroom. That room is never on my agenda, and I knew that it I set it up there I was not going to take good care of them.)
This left me with a dilemma. I need to upgrade, but I dont want to loose out on these - few - requirements.
- Must be an appropriate depth/width, Many past tanks have been 45 cm (1.5 ft) in lenght - like this one - and I'd love to have an increase in width so I can have more options to place objects
- some form of it must be sliding doors, to allow easy access
- must be able to get into my room (max of 5 foot, and probably a max of 2ft)
You can see where this is going?
I was thinking of purchasing two 4ft terrariums (URS tall/giant models, 4ft long, 1.5ft wide, 3.3ft high) and connecting them through tubing... But each are in excess of $500, so they aren't exactly the cheapest. Not to mention, I looking for an increase in width. We arent fortunate to have terrarium builders, and even though there are articles out there, to get the glass cut to my measurements - at one other stage was thinking of doing a custom 'euro' style vivarium - would be expensive, and not only that, extremely labour intensive. In the future maybe, but currently this is a pipe dream that has to be placed on hold.
Now, how about a 'custom wooden viv'... It can still be costly, but at least i can build/dismantle easily, shape it to my preference and in a long run, cheaper to make... So, I have decided on the idea to do a custom plywood tank. Which, hopefully will happen - if not, this might just turn into a thread to discuss building tanks, and give others direction.
My basic design is going to be a little different than the usual wooden tank. (Kips and NeatHedgehog have detailed threads that most involve using pond liner and epoxy... Even Naalide: http://naali.de/einsiedler/?page_id=328 <<< one of my favourite loves of crabitat...)
My idea is to use a small preformed pond, similar to a glorified tote. Reasoning, I dont have to worry about pond liner - which is expensive - not to mention that any seam in a pond liner has the potential to leak, rotting the wood underneath if not sufficiently epoxied. Also, it allows me to install such things as 'bulk heads' which I could use as drainage since I wont be able to view my substrate layers. The lip of the preformed ponds will then sit on a cut out plywood base, siliconed - and supported - which then will be epoxied, and covered with gravel, sand or crushed coral - since its at most an inch deep, while the pond areas will be up to a foot deep. Or even spray foam, carved and then covered with concrete - long time fav - or bits of sand/coral ect. All wood definitely will be non-treated!!!!!!!
To further minimise weight, I also plan to use plexiglass - which also gives me an option to buy a large sheet which is cheaper and cut it myself, instead of buying glass and having the shop cut it - costing more money. Plexi has the ability to warp and scratch, which sand, crabs and plexi do not make a good match - i know - but if it gets too much og a problem I can easily swap it out with glass, buff it out or buy new ones - if needed.
So there you have it. I might in the next couple of days do a very rough or freehand sketch, to show what I mean.
But warning; Im not good at drawing and google sketch up is way too slow. 
So far my current questions are:
- do I have to use epoxy? Aint exactly cheap in Aus, and theres cheaper alternatives... (Synthetic rubber, which many also use for plywood aquariums to seal them...)
- Should I stay away from pines/soft woods? Not only cause they have to potential to release aromatic compounds, but also due to a small area of wood that hasn't been covered in a 'coverant'; more likely to rot/leak/warp?
So... thoughts?
They sell terrariums thats constructed out of melamine board, but thats a no go for me. Its not moisture resistant and prone to warping and only suitable for desert reptiles... And I don't know how well epoxy adheres to the 'plastic coat'.)
- so that should hold most of the weight.
But they might help and give reference in case some of you guys havent seen them before and may give some insight. 