Vivarium Progress *updated*

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 02, 2007 12:11 pm

Sounds frustrating... hmmm... maybe an inch thick line of calk would work.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 02, 2007 2:55 pm

oh it gets better! I went out and grabbed another tube of sealant, brought it home, got some advice from the pet store guy on how to put this thing together first though. Opened it up and squeezed out a line and

it's BLACK! ARGH!! so I tried his way, and it's setting now. I also grabbed some of that plastic tub surround stuff that you can glue on around the edges, it's flexible, I'm going to use that to brace the outer edges. After, of course I find some gasoline and clean all the black smudges off the plexi

Here's a few shots I took before I yanked out the tank and tore it apart. Hopefully this is what it'll look like after I'm done, only it'll be full of water.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265 ... dlevel.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265 ... opview.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265 ... olside.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265 ... opview.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265 ... kypool.jpg

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:55 pm

Maybe you should jus get a small, sqare kk for the pool, intsead of messen with all this sealent?

Tidytourniquet · Post by **Tidytourniquet** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:16 pm

Thalia wrote:thanks for the tip Tidy, I did know that though I kept fish for like 10 years before I launched into crabs. We had a 55G explode and lost not only the tank but a few hundred dollars worth of fish and that sorta killed my passion for it.

OK, just wanted to make sure you didn't end up with a ton of fry and wonder what you were gonna do with them like a lot of people who get live bearers for the first time.

What Eragon said made me think of those boxes that came out for Beanie babies, they may not be big enough though.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:18 pm

.... a KK would be admitting defeat... I am NOT defeated! I will not let the aquarium sealant defeat me!!! I will prevail!

nora · Post by **nora** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:23 pm

The hermies will love the plants. I have put those kind of bromeliads in and they completely shred them, but they have a good time doing it! Nice viv.

MomToDixie · Post by **MomToDixie** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:38 pm

What is the plant with the pink in the middle? It is really pretty!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:07 pm

The pink plant is a bromeliad, they had a whole bunch of different ones at Home Depot, I picked out the shortest ones

The Umbrella trees are dead... or soon to be, I'll be removing them on Monday.
I THINK I fixed the tank, I took it apart and redid the whole thing, then on Friday I stuck that sticky bathtub liner around the edges, I used the iron to press it down. Most of it is sticking but some keeps lifting, I'm going to reiron it on Monday and do a test fill. It better work this time!

Other than that the tank is pretty much ready to go, so I'm going to do a head count and see where everyone is who is down, either molting or destressing. Rosebud is worrying me he's acting pre-molt and he takes at least 6 weeks to molt, I really don't want to wait that long to move the crabs!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 06, 2007 5:30 pm

I saw the bromeliads at home depot too and wanted to get one but was afraid since I didn't think they were organic. Do you think it's safe? I was gonna wait until I could find an organic one but if its not as bad as I thought I'll just get one from there.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 07, 2007 10:50 am

I don't know if you'd find organic bromeliads. I just rinsed the roots out and got all those feritilizer bits out of them and replanted them in plain cocofibre, that's what Crabber did too.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 07, 2007 10:58 am

MUAH HAHAHAHAHA

It appears I have success!! I sealed the tank last week and let it sit over the weekend,and it appears to be holding! I've got it filled, but in the river rocks for substrate, my signature "No Fishing" sign and the little air powered filter and it looks to be holding!!!! I'm waiting for the glass to unfog for me to take some pics. The only problem i'm having now it the stupid filter's suction cups keep releasing and I"m afraid to push too hard on the walls for fear of ruining the seals.
It is with deepest regrets that I announce the passing of 2 dwarf umbrella trees. They really never stood a chance against the black thumb of death. They were uncermoniously tossed in the garbage this morning after having turned black and dropping almost all their leaves

Their passing is not all sorrowful because it will now allow a hidie to be added to the current vivarium design

I'll try to get some pics up today or tomorrow. If this tank holds tomorrow night I'll be putting the big light on the new tank over night and the crabs can move in on Wednesday.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:13 am

Sweetness Thalia! Love the tank....but the worms are scary, lol. Great job, though.. I'm glad you conquered the sealant, haha

Can't wait to see new pictures and can't wait to hear about the crabbies playing in their new environment

xoxo

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 08, 2007 8:16 am

I came home from work last night and the stupid tank had leaked!! ARGH!!! I think I'm going to have to admit defeat and use a goldfish bowl instead

AND now I've gotten up this morning and Rosebud has dug under completely, hopefully not to molt

If he is molting I'll try this sealant thing again. I think John might have tried to reattach the filter to the wall while I was gone and pushed too hard b/c it held water perfectly for the couple of hours I was home and then suddenly sprung a leak while I was at work. I'm going to remove a little more of the water that's in it right now and run new sealant up the seams and give it one more go. If it doesn't work I'm resorting to the fish bowl.
After breakfast I'll post the pics I took yesterday while the tank was actually holding water *sigh*

Candi, the worms were actually wrangled by John, I told him I needed worms and he went and got them and dumped them in for me. It was a rainy night so they were all over the sidewalks and driveway, already rinsed clean too

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 08, 2007 11:58 am

question: are you using aquatic sealant?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 08, 2007 5:02 pm

TWO TUBES of Aquarium Sealant!!!! ARGH!! Hence my frustrations!! Well ok, I used more like 1 tube since I used the left overs of the tube that I made the background wall with, but I had to buy a 2nd tube to do this most recent (black) sealing. I'm just (apparently) inept at using sealant lol, actually I'm pretty sure we just pushed too hard on the walls with the silly filter, which I used sealant to glue it to the wall Muhahaha!! No more falling off for it!!

Actually this time isn't so bad, at least it stopped leaking at one point so I know that the leak is on a side. So I just left the tank in the vivarium, removed a few inches of water and resealed all the sides from just above the water up to the top. Hopefully Friday when I refill it it'll be a success. looks like I'll have 6 weeks to perfect it anyways, I'm pretty sure Rosebud is molting

Of course he starts just as Cheery is finishing, I checked and she's totally shed her exo, eaten quite a bit of it and is hardening nicely, looks like she's grown quite a bit, her BP was looking pretty big against her shell hole (she left me a window on the bottom of the tank so I check her once a week). Hopefully molting season will be done soon and I can think about moving them, bah this is frustrating, I hate molting season.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Vivarium Progress updated

Vivarium Progress update

Vivarium Progress *updated*

Vivarium Progress **update**

Vivarium Progress updated

Vivarium Progress update