Tank Topper

[Trustyice55]

Hey there, everyone! I received some hermit crabs from someone who didn't want them and was going to throw them in the trash so I saved the poor things. I researched everything and now my 20 gallon long, i felt, was too small. See, when the 6 inches of substrate was placed, I only had a few inches of air. I decided to make a tank topper to increase the air space and have a sort of second level. In order to do the topper, I researched many things and one thing that appeared in my search was a term "Above Tank Basking Area". It seems that many turtle keepers had felt the same thing for their water turtles and so made tank toppers! I copied the idea and have finally made the topper after months of researching everything I needed to. In this thread, I will describe how to make one.

First of all, determine your dimensions of the topper. I decided to copy my 20 long dimensions but with a little bit shaved off, so the topper could sit right in the lip where you place light canopies. The material I used was not glass but acrylic sheeting. It was very cheap and I chose a 30x36 sheet. The thickness was .93. I used a mini circle 5 in saw. It had fine blades, that's key to cutting the acrylic.

Proceeded to cut 4 sides and I sanded the edges to be a lil more even. After cutting, I lined the pieces up and silicon'd the edges together. I have to warn you that there will be a strong vinegar smell and so do this outside. Also, the silicon must be 100% silicon, nothing added to it. I got mines from walmart. I waited for it to cure a whole night and silicon'd the weak spots. After it's cured, I placed the mesh top on it, to see if it would hold. It did. Then I transferred the whole thing to the actual tank, and decorated it to the point where its got vines and fake plants. I would post pictures however I have no idea how and I'm not sure if I can log back in after i leave the page, cause i keep forgetting my password :roll: