Project: Under the Dome! (115gal acrylic tank)
Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 3:53 am
Hey folks, I'm Daniel.
Me and my bud Chris are hermie maniacs and we wanted to introduce you to our project "Under the Dome". It's a 115 gal tank we built from acrylic to meet all the hermie living requirements for straws. The acrylic tank allowed us to build a mini aquarium and mount perches by drilling into the acrylic. We designed the tank to be taller than it is wider because it allows us to create a deep 11" substrate, while giving plenty of room for climbing. The tank is kept in the closet so I can more easily control the temperature to keep it at 80C during evenings. I didn't want to risk putting a heat lamp on or near acrylic, and heat pads wouldn't work on a good insulator like acrylic, so I went with a small radiator and ventilation holes around the top area.
FEATURES:
Its been quite a learning experience this past year. Initially, building the acrylic tank was a nightmare: aside from being 2-4x more expensive than glass ($552 for four 2'x4' and two 2'x2' acrylic panels), the binding solvent was unforgiving in that it dried up really fast. So we took a lot of time to prepare it. Ultimately it was worth it though, because we had the ability to drill into the acrylic panels and continue to add new stuff onto the walls. Later into the year, the straws I ordered came with mites which ended up killing one of my smaller crabs a month later (tons of mites in it's shell). I had to order hypoaspis miles (or mite-killing mites) to cleanse the tank. Also, some of the polished shells I ordered from ebay clearly had muriatic acid residual inside (used to dissolve the snail) since my finger went numb after feeling the inside of the shell.
Aside from these rough patches, the hermies love the new tank! they're so active: the reds usually stay near the water reservoirs and spend a lot of time submerging themselves or at the bottom level where the humidity is at it's highest and moving whatever objects they can. My PPs spend a lot of time on the canopy, they like to fight for the highest point in the tank for some reason. My Es are incredibly intelligent, I've seen them poking at the PPs/reds to test the reaction. They also find the weirdest and most creative hiding places. My crabbies aren't even scared of me anymore, they're always like"oh... its the janitor" or "well? where's my popcorn.."
FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS:
Me and my bud Chris are hermie maniacs and we wanted to introduce you to our project "Under the Dome". It's a 115 gal tank we built from acrylic to meet all the hermie living requirements for straws. The acrylic tank allowed us to build a mini aquarium and mount perches by drilling into the acrylic. We designed the tank to be taller than it is wider because it allows us to create a deep 11" substrate, while giving plenty of room for climbing. The tank is kept in the closet so I can more easily control the temperature to keep it at 80C during evenings. I didn't want to risk putting a heat lamp on or near acrylic, and heat pads wouldn't work on a good insulator like acrylic, so I went with a small radiator and ventilation holes around the top area.
FEATURES:
- 3 levels: Bottom substrate/shell level, Middle food & water reservoir level and Canopy/mosspits level
- Sphagnum Moss pits bound onto the side of the tank with stainless steel screws
- Water reservoir above substrate level is bubbled with airstones
- Food shelf furthest from the humidifier inlet to delay mold growth
- A camera at the top so I can see whats going on when I'm away
- Heater & humidity are controlled automatically set to 80/80
Its been quite a learning experience this past year. Initially, building the acrylic tank was a nightmare: aside from being 2-4x more expensive than glass ($552 for four 2'x4' and two 2'x2' acrylic panels), the binding solvent was unforgiving in that it dried up really fast. So we took a lot of time to prepare it. Ultimately it was worth it though, because we had the ability to drill into the acrylic panels and continue to add new stuff onto the walls. Later into the year, the straws I ordered came with mites which ended up killing one of my smaller crabs a month later (tons of mites in it's shell). I had to order hypoaspis miles (or mite-killing mites) to cleanse the tank. Also, some of the polished shells I ordered from ebay clearly had muriatic acid residual inside (used to dissolve the snail) since my finger went numb after feeling the inside of the shell.
Aside from these rough patches, the hermies love the new tank! they're so active: the reds usually stay near the water reservoirs and spend a lot of time submerging themselves or at the bottom level where the humidity is at it's highest and moving whatever objects they can. My PPs spend a lot of time on the canopy, they like to fight for the highest point in the tank for some reason. My Es are incredibly intelligent, I've seen them poking at the PPs/reds to test the reaction. They also find the weirdest and most creative hiding places. My crabbies aren't even scared of me anymore, they're always like"oh... its the janitor" or "well? where's my popcorn.."
FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS:
- Driftwood on the canopy level
- Adding walls to the wooden framework
- Possible filtration system for the water reservoir--which has pretty much become a straw bathroom
- Ideas from the community
Dem are some lucky crabs! 
