The Jungle - ExoTerra Large

[DTB]

I decided to take on a slightly larger (much larger!) project and replace my 3ft fish tank in the lounge room. Even though I have loved watching the tank grow and flourish, the amount of time spent on water changes, trimming, rising electricity cost, risks of pipes leaking while away, etc, made it necessary to decommission it.
Enter stage left: The perfect opportunity to set up another ochidarium!!
And to my partners relief, it wasn't going to take up anymore room, a double win!!

I hadn't tried anything this big before so it was a real learning curve. For one, there were only 3-4 ExoTerra Large tanks available in Australia, so sourcing one of those at a reasonable price took quite some time.

I built (with the help of a talented friend) a custom stand for the tank with a really clever hidden door for all the equipment so this build really was from the ground up which made it all the more enjoyable.

Another hurdle was that I wanted to create an all cork background and fill the gaps with Sphagnum As there is only 2-3 places in the whole of Australia that I found had a good stock of cork, a flight interstate was in order to purchase a large supply of pieces i needed (i coincided with a family function so it worked out perfectly)

The Mistking system and a few other bits I had purchased from America and luckily was over there for a holiday a few months ago so I was able to bring it all back with me.

We really face a number of problems with supplies for terrarium building here in Australia but despite the MANY headaches and brick walls, the end result was all the more rewarding.

The project is now nearly completed with just the lighting hood and permanent lighting to be put in place but I thought I would put some photos up of the build as I loved watching this tank come together over the last 3 months.

Please comment with any things you would have done differently, problems you can forsee or if any plants should be moved to a different area, your knowledgeable opinions are always welcome

[IMG]181008_Vivarium3_002 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]181008_Vivarium3_004 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]181008_Vivarium3_012 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Vivarioum_FalseBottom_002 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Vivarioum_FalseBottom_006 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Vivarioum_FalseBottom_008 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Vivarioum_FalseBottom_014 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]181008_Vivarium3_019 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]181008_Vivarium3_022 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]181008_Vivarium3_031 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]181008_Vivarium3_033 by David Burgess, on Flickr[/IMG]

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