Tank:
Exo Terra Terrarium, Large/Tall 36x18x24 Model PT2614
http://www.petco.com/product/115538/Exo ... ium-115538
UPDATES SINCE ORIGINAL BUILD (May 2015)
unfortunately the original tank above cracked on the side, thankfully I was blessed enough to have a spare, from my original order - doors were broken so I took the old tank doors off and put them on the new tank. I rebuilt the tank almost exactly the same, but took this time to rebuild and fix parts I didn't love. I also upgraded a few things.
I will mark all updates and update photos, with (update on v2 tank).
Original Plan:
(update on v2 tank) the idea of all rocks on one side took up too much real estate, so we went with rocks sprinkled around the new 6x6x6 pools.
This is the mock build that we completed, we start the actual build this weekend. We did away with the beta tank, too many variables and could have nearly as many crabs.
Getting the tank home was a chore, it came broken 3 times! Amazon even put the product on hold for an investigation for a week because they were worried they had lots of broken ones in the warehouse. I finally got it from Petco.com and it was delivered on a palette, unbroken.
With an Exo Terra the great thing for us is the doors open forward. I have 3 daughters who would have real problems with the height of anything else, reaching into the tanks to feed, etc would be a lot of trouble. There is also a locking switch that is great. However, the challenge is the lip on it. I Spent weeks trying to figure out how tall it was on my version. The Exo Terra tanks have a lip that is 6.25 inches. Not a great height for hermit crabs. Everything else was great. We wanted a sophisticated 2nd level and this gave us the height we wanted.
THE LIP
To overcome the "lip" issue with the Exo Terra we built an additional higher shelf, lip, thingy. I built it to allow for a height of 10 inches of substrate (we are going to start with 9 inches). The lip is make of plexiglass, that I used aquarium silicone to hold together. I wanted to attempt to eliminate the problem of the substrate sneaking around the corners and ending up in the front gap created by the new lip I made. You can also see it straight on in the above image.
Aqueon Silicone
http://www.amazon.com/All-Glass-Aquariu ... on+sealant
TIP: silicone can be super messy to work with, I used one of those take home cups from a restaurant to catch all the excess silicone.
CORK WALL
Measuring the cork wall and cutting it was next
Zoo Med Cork Background 18x24
http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Natural-B ... cork+NCB-4
I used a circular saw to just cut it straight
(update on v2 tank) on the new version we cut an opening in the top corner so that the tubes would sit in the holes in the top better, not the top is a bit more air tight.
This is a shot from the tank mock up. I drilled holes above and below where the cork log would go in two different spots. I will be securing everything down with zip ties.
BACKGROUND
After the cork wall went up I wanted to hang bamboo leaves from the back. One of the peeps on here has something similar, I think I am doing it slightly different.
Did some research about cutting and drilling plexi (not too forgiving)
This is a step up drill bit that cut holes every 2 inches like butter. The Plexi strip is 2" tall and I am holding it up with command strips. I removed one set of leaves and poked the end of the bamboo branch through the holes so that even a hard tug on them wouldn't pull them out. I first tried to silicone them and that failed bad. This method is way better. It does bow in the middle only slightly, but it isn't noticeable at all.
This is the step up drill bit - works great on plexi
I did have Lowes cut the plexi strip, think they said all cuts are included with purchase
Shoved the branches in the hole till the little nub went through as a stopped, so when pulled they wont come loose
Here is a couple of shots of the branches wedged between plexi and glass, held with command strips
Here is the final look of the background (inside of the tank - still working on Ultratherm)
I do have several of them at different heights based on the final tank build
CORK TUBES/CORK LOGS/TREE TRUNKS/MAGNETIC LEDGES
This one is straight out of sugarselections playbook. She has the tank 12" taller than mine and I loved her video and design.
This part was by far the most detailed and difficult and time consuming.
The following images show 2 cork tubes that I ordered from ebay (guy in germany)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CORK-BARK-Tube- ... 1c4d5b25f5
I must have spent at least a full day positioning and re-positioning these, choosing the best fit & cutting them with various tools; jigsaw, circular saw, hand saw and many different drill bits.
The horizontal log is secured to the cork wall in 2 places and to the vertical log in one. Cutting out just the right amount and having room for the moss pit and other fun things was most difficult. The centerpiece bonsai tree had to fit just right, so I had to keep cutting away the middle of the log till the tree fit and supported it just right.
The vertical log I had to think about lanes of traffic, how to get the shell shop off the ground and a few perch spots. I removed at least half of the very bottom, so that there would be less tree for the crabs to bump into when digging. Placed several climbing nets inside and secured them to each of the openings. There is the main entrance, entrance to the horizontal log, one to the shell shop, one to the perch (magnetic ledges) and of course the top opening.
The shell shop is a water dish/corner dish that happened to fit perfect in an unused part of the 2nd level (will probably add one at the bottom level later). I drilled holes in the sides and secured it with zip ties to one of the openings. With just the right tweaking it fits pretty close to "in the corner" and well within reach of the 1st magnet ledge or perch.
Magnaturals / Pet Tekk Rock Ledge
http://pet-tekk.com/index.php?page=shop ... Itemid=111
Climbing Nets
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CamillesChoice
Tank after finalizing the cork tubes:
Climbing nets on the inside of tube
(update on v2 tank) I pulled the nets out of the "volcano" and used them to build a 3rd level, the crabs could easily crawl up the volcano without them.
Shell shop and magnetic ledges:
shows how I secured the dish to the trunk
shell shop and ledge on the same level
Outside view of all, also shows how magnetic ledge is held on. The blue tape I just forgot to remove... it was just for placement.
(update on v2 tank) I picked up a few more ledges and attached them to the front of the tank, plans to add more later as well. This way the crabs can walk around the 2nd level by way of vines and ledges.
HEATING / ULTRATHERM
So there are a lot of ways that people are mounting their ultratherm, UTH or heater. Clearly the most recommended way is on the back of the tank, about 1 inch at the substrate level and the rest above. I picked up one that covers the full length of the tank.
With an ultratherm there is a flat side (of the cord junction) that is the all black side. The side with more of a bump and the copper liner faces away from the tank.
I do have plans on adding some aluminum foil, insulation board and or styrofoam in the near future, I just need to come up with a pretty way of doing it.
I am a photographer by trade and in our studio we use gobs and gobs of tape. Upon further research my favorite tape is also amazing to hold on the ultratherm. It leaves absolutely no residue when removed, is pretty easy to remove when needed and is not affected by the heat. So if I want to move how it's taped or change anything I dont have to worry about unwanted residue. Its also a pretty black.
3M Tape Used 2"x60yards
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MK9UNG/ref=biss_dp_t_asn
Ultratherm
http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultratherm-heat-pads
(update on v2 tank) through advice here I added tin foil on the entire back, covering the ultratherm and then added insulation on top of that. So it's ultratherm, Tin Foil, insulation.
3M 8979 Tape - Amazing Stuff! We use it for everything
VINES / TRAFFIC LANES
I used the Flukers vine system.
These are made up of 2 small, 2 medium and one large. It took me a long time to figure out something that made sense and looked even remotely "natural".
I put a mock bottom on again so I could build the vine system so it was ready when I finally put the substrate in.
This is the large wrapped with a small:
Vine runs from the shell shop to the highest perch
2 Mediums and a small all wrapped together to keep my centerpiece in place
SUBSTRATE
We used a combo of Flukers Sand (really like this stuff) and Eco Earth (EE)
This is where I found the best price and had amazingly fast delivery:
http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Hermit-Cr ... trate.aspx
It took twice as much Flukers Sand than I thought it would. Didn't measure first, don't make that mistake.
Substrate is supposed to be sand castle consistency, so I found the best and neatest way to make this happen was to make snowballs out of the substrate mixture and placed them a layer at a time in the tank. Then as the first few layers were laid down I would do a crush twisty thing with my hands to break it up and even it out. I just continued to do this till i had it up to a height I needed.
Making snowballs also helped with my water support/emergency flood tubes, keeping them exactly where I needed them.
The supports are pvc tubing that are not filled with substrate and can be accessed by removing the pool area. So in the event of a flood I can access the bottom of the tank on that side. They also serve as supports for the water area so the weight of it doesn't sink and also so the crabs don't try to flip it over.
POOL/JACUZZI/WATER AREA
Here you can see I drilled a diagonal hole from the outside (high point) to the inside (low point) to feed the air hose through to make the water bowls bubble tubs. I also attached the air stones to the tubing. I made the air tubes really long because I plan to just cut off the tubing as time passes and they need to be cleaned, will just be easier to cut it off as we go.
Really like the spots to run tubing through on the Exo Terra tank
The thin plexiglass sheet was cut to fit neatly in the part of the water area, hold the pools and also I siliconed a handful of rocks to it to work as a wall for all of the other rocks. Keeping the loose rocks from falling over to the substrate side. This wall also serves as an area that the crabs will shake/brush off some of the sand or EE from them so it stays relatively more clean.
This image shows the silicone on the rocks that will keep all of the other rocks in place.
(update on v2 tank) we added 6x6x6 pools, a remote control led light under the pools. The pools still have air stones in them. I did also add a humidifier (Tropic Aire)
I really love the step by step instructions too!
*hint*
