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Watertray, how to?

  • Thread starter celox
  • Start date
Hey all members,

Some might remember me, I was quite active a few months back.
Anyway, I want to make a custom sized watertray to fit right in the spot (41cm * 87 cm)

Has anyone got any idea or experience on how to make a self made watertray and what materials should be used.

I was thinking about using wood and plastic, but I have no clue how to start working on it to make it atleast half decent.

any help would be appreciated
 
You could get some Plexiglases cut at a place like Lowe's or Home Depot to the size you want and then use some of that epoxi stuff to seal the joints. I'm not sure if you are going for aesthetics or not, but I did that with an aquarium on the side and sealed the top halfway with Plexiglases to hold water when laid on it's side.

xvart.
 
that sounds really interesting mate, can you show me a picture of how exactly you fixed the joints together with epoxy (afaik thats polyester right?)

Thanks xvart, It sounds so interesting that I'm even thinking of making my own terrarium that way. Just need some more info
 
Plexiglass is probably the way to go but its kind of expensive. I talked to this guy once who made custom aquariums. I think he said he used some kind of silicone sealant for the edges. I was going to make my own custom tanks til I priced the plexiglass. It comes in large sheets (Lowes) so it must be custom cut to your specs. This guy said it wasn't hard to make your own tanks but then again I think he did it for a living.
 
If you want to save a bit of $$ you might be able to go with a Reptarium Softray. The dimensions on the 38G tall model are 41cm x 75cm. 12cm shy on your long dimension but @ only ~$13 it might make more sense. Plus, it is made to take water
 
The price depends on the thickness of the plexiglass (and the size ofcourse). What thickness do you guys recommend?

If you want to save a bit of $$ you might be able to go with a Reptarium Softray. The dimensions on the 38G tall model are 41cm x 75cm. 12cm shy on your long dimension but @ only ~$13 it might make more sense. Plus, it is made to take water

I might think about that, i'll check out shops nearby or online shops
 
that sounds really interesting mate, can you show me a picture of how exactly you fixed the joints together with epoxy

Sure, I'll take a picture tonight when I get home. As I recall, it wasn't that expensive; I didn't use a lot of Plexiglass, though; so that could be why. I only needed a 2.5" x 11" piece, but I had to buy the whole piece. I would imagine that thickness isn't too big a concern since it is a water tray and won't be holding a lot of pressure or volume.

xvart.
 
how about the thickness for a terrarium?
Thanks for the info, its appreciated!

Edit:
Decided to make a terrarium aswell, been thinking about the idea since yesterday. already found a few sites, drew a quick plan. etc

I decided on a (this is in cm) 100l*40d*40h tank (wich is about 39.4*15.7*15.7 in inches) that equals about a 42 gallon tank.

I heard that you need about 8 wats of light for each gallon; that would make 336 wats.

Now I know of cool white lights, but what kind, size and how many should i buy to make the plants happy?
Or if possible what combination of lights (again, kind, size, how many of each) do you recommend?

Thanks for helping out guys

Edit2

How thick should the plexiglass be to make the terrarium strong enough, I was thinking 1/4 of an inch (6milimeter)
 
Sorry for the double post, but I forgot a question in my previous post:

Are the dimensions fine, The only think i'm uncertain about now is the height, I drew a few plans and it should work just fine, but I need some expert help since this will be my first terrarium building project. (Still doing the water tray thing too, but this is on top of my list now)


edit:
oh another question ^^, can you add up the lumen of different lights? (2 lamps of 3850 lumen = 7700 Or does it just stay 3850 lumen?)


Edit:
Did some lumen calculating, I took 60k lux (to get bright sun)
I would need about 16900 lumen for that.

This all sounds rather high to me, is 60 000 lux too much perhaps? what is the optimal amount for cp's. I thought the more the merrier

For that set up I would buy
1 T8 true light (970 mm long) = 2200 lumen
7 T5 Cool white (34" long) = 14700
= 16900 lumen total.


I could be way off here tho, infact i'm pretty sure i'm way off.

Any other calculations are more than welcome. Combinations of lights, where to use reflectors etc. I'm completly in the dark on this one :(

Just read that 40 cm could be abit low for a terrarium, something about flowerstalks that get restricted to a certain size. any thoughts, i figured it"d be ok but could be way off again

Plants would be around 25 cm away from the lights
 
  • #10
Sure, I'll take a picture tonight when I get home.

And now I remembered to upload the pictures! Hope this helps. They aren't too good of pictures. You can see a couple inches of Plexiglass at the bottom of the opening and if you look closer you can see the epoxi sealer. Not a pretty job, but I was more concerned with leakage than looks. It's obvious that I'm not using it, yet!

This was what I used: link.

IMAGE_00074.jpg


IMAGE_00073.jpg


IMAGE_00072.jpg


IMAGE_00071.jpg


xvart.
 
  • #11
I hope you put baby neps in their, they would be so cute perched up on that.
 
  • #12
I hope you put baby neps in their, they would be so cute perched up on that.

lol. Actually that is a file holder from my office desk that I just put there when I was cleaning. I didn't have any plant plans for that holder.

xvart.
 
  • #13
well thats no fun. Mr. work

Im sure almost any plastic would work to unless you want to see the inside of it. or just get hard wood, put some laqoure on it. thats what I would do.
 
  • #14
http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNdiytank/bndiytank.htm

found a decent tutorial about making a aquarium, going to do it like described in there.
With a few changes ofcourse, size, thickness of plexiglass and I obviousle don't need so much cement as this guy used (since it's not going to be a aquarium)

Thanks for the pictures, much appreciated!
 
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