Useless Projects

[01101010]

Gonna do some kind of moss wall in the back there?  I've been thinking about converting one of my tall fish tanks into a terrarium with a moss wall to grow carnivorous plants on.

Taking pages of info off youtube, just search vivarium builds. Basically I'm building out the back with cork bark and rounds and tons of spray foam. Once everything is dried, carve the foam however you want and then apply silicon, rub it all over the foam then pour substrate on, I'm using coconut fiber/husk like most of the youtube world does... mainly because it is cheap. Let that dry and touch up any shit spots and you are done. I'm still tinkering with ideas about a waterfall set up which involves the false bottom so I have to plot all those plans out then build (which means put it together then realize I forgot something, then put it back in and realize it somehow doesn't fit...etc).

Today I am swapping out the screens on the top of the terrarium with acrylic pieces to keep humidity high. I should have some pics later if I don't pass out from drinking.

[Polysorbate80]

Be sure someone gets pictures to share if you accidentally glue yourself to anything while drinking!

[01101010]

I'll keep things as short as possible... finished the lid, though debating whether or not to seal the topside. I'd need a really thin application that I am not sure would be worth the hassle. As it is now, it is fully sealed from the bottom side.

First thing was to rip the rubber gasket off and pry the screen out. Kind of impressed the screen is pretty heavy duty.


Sadly, they applied black silicon to the corners of the screen gasket so there was some fussing around with that. Scoring with a razor and prying out with the screwdriver worked, but it wasn't easy.


Cut and fit the 1/8" acrylic sheet to fit panels.


Set a heavy bead of silicon on the edges and then peeled the plastic off the acrylic and set them into place. Instead of putting weight on the acrylic panels, I let the silicon set for a few minutes and flipped it over to set on some old cd jewel cases strategically placed and let the weight of the lid rest on the silicon to fully cure.


After debating how to set up the waterfall part, I decided to divide the tank into a shallow pool part and a false bottom part, separated with a cut piece of acrylic to hold the water to one side. Basically going with a paludarium set up with a twist.


Should give me about 2.5 gallons to run the waterfall with its own water source. Letting everything cure for a day or two before testing for any leaks. The exterior seals have already been tested so the divider is the only thing I need to check by filling just the waterfall side.



I also picked up some interesting cork bark rounds for the background, but that has to wait till I get the bottom completed before getting nuts with the spray foam.

edit: watering testing now for leaks. Leaving overnight to see if anything slow leaks because those are the ones that kill you in the end.

[01101010]

Long week of tweaking the foam spray waterfall. Should have pics this week of the progress.

Moving right along... very slowly.

Been taking my time to let the foam set and cure after fucking it up the first day. Got the form where I wanted it:


The build up took all week with a new layer on top each day. Once I got a big blob set I started carving away:


Got the top where the water will flow into a small reservoir and then overflow that into a channel, falling down into another channel, then into the pool. The big bubble of foam is a touch up to a large hole that formed in the foam - stuff really turns out similar to bread at the end, with a couple hollow points that need to be filled.






Put in the false bottom on the planted side and foamed up the sides to secure it.


Finally added the siphon drain access towards the front. This will be capped and covered once the substrate goes in.


Next up is flipping it on its back again and foaming in the cork bark background and modifying the bottom of the waterfall with 'shelves' to mount plants to.

[Mandella]

Ya know, I was thinking about trying a terrarium full of frogs since it'd be "easier than fish."

I think that no longer.

Great looking project though. Really shaping up.

[01101010]

Ya know, I was thinking about trying a terrarium full of frogs since it'd be "easier than fish."

I think that no longer.

Great looking project though. Really shaping up.

I'm going a little bit overboard with this though, so YMMV.

[Samwise]

I really dig the foam waterfall, especially since I've been noodling on how to create a waterfall effect with the moss wall thing I'm planning.  Not applicable to my use case but I really like the amount of freedom you get to sculpt a channel for the water.

[Samwise]

Finished scraping paint off the other decorative tile on my fireplace this morning:



Lion rampant to the sinister?

[Polysorbate80]

Werewolf? 

[Samwise]

There!  Wolf!

[01101010]

Onwards toward the maw.

This week was about getting the background and cork set in. First, I modeled it for a stupid amount of days.


Then the fill in with foam. Found some pond spray foam which was the only thing they had in black and only one of those so had to stick with just the back with it.


Found some tiny stone substrate I had from my old 10gal. Laid down a nice semithick coat of silicon and pressed the bits into it. Have to wait to vacuum out the excess for it to cure though.




Hopefully coat the rest of the waterfall pathing and basin with those stones this week. Then doing the rest of the foam with coco husk or plantation soil. After that I'll test out the water and adjust as necessary.
Not looking too bad.

[Mandella]

Wish I had something better to say then "cool project," but, Cool Project!

I'm enjoying watching it develop though.

Looks like all my Spring projects are going to be of the yard clearing variety -- hardly interesting enough for photos.

I may get to that long planned back deck this summer though.

[01101010]

Will update hopefully later, but things are crawling along.

Finished siliconing the waterfall path and top reservoir. Applied a thick coat which took 72 hours to cure and was still smelling a day after so been delayed by that. Water tested Thursday and noticed a small leak (not surprising) in the back. Pathway was fine but the way the water was splashing down the first waterfall, it was leaking into a small spot of yet treated foam.

Saturday I expanded the area of silicon and pebbles up the side to compensate. Finally ended up at Petco and picked up some cocohusk and have started packing that onto the background in all the nooks. Did all that on Sunday so I'll get home today and vacuum out the excess and take some pics.

Getting close... even got 16qts of ABG mix for the planted part of the tank. Should be able to set it up and get everything running by the end of the month once I figure out the best way to reduce the water flow from the pump I bought.

Still need to find a stand/table to set it up on. That might be an ordeal given everything I'd like to use is either too narrow or too short.

[Druzil]

In the planning stages for setting up a workshop in the new house.  I'm going to be using a portion of the 3rd carport in the garage (see how much I can get away with  ).  There's not much there at the moment so I'm going to need to build some sort of workbench to start with longer term plans for some dust collection and some sort of movable outfeed table for my table saw.  Mostly right now I'm deciding how big/fancy to go with it and whether or not I want it to build in a spot for the miter saw.

[Polysorbate80]

I put my miter saw on its own small table.  Heavy enough to stay put when working but still movable when I need space.

I like having my work tables taller than standard height anyway, so I always wind up building my own.  Otherwise my back starts to hurt from the constant slight hunching over I wind up doing.

I'd have taller counter-tops in the house too if it wouldn't wind up being a problem for everyone else 

[01101010]

In the planning stages for setting up a workshop in the new house.  I'm going to be using a portion of the 3rd carport in the garage (see how much I can get away with  ).  There's not much there at the moment so I'm going to need to build some sort of workbench to start with longer term plans for some dust collection and some sort of movable outfeed table for my table saw.  Mostly right now I'm deciding how big/fancy to go with it and whether or not I want it to build in a spot for the miter saw.

You want the miter saw spot, but really make sure you have it in a wide open spot... my buddy put his in his basement workshop and can't get any length of material longer than 5 feet in it because of the space.

I'd love all the power tools but renting and not having a dedicated space for it makes it a no go for me.

[01101010]

Phase 3 picture update:

These are crap pics because the tank is laying on the back and it's hard taking pics from above. But hey... pics are pics:

Covering the waterfall after hopefully sealing the leak... I mean even if the leak didn't get sealed, it will shortly with the way I am going through silicon...


Top - had some decorative river stones the wife bought awhile back for a plant... stuck them on the rim and will continue that on the lower level.


Lots of coco husk and silicon and light patting....





Now just have to wait to dry and vacuum out the excess. Should be done with this by Saturday.

[01101010]

Well after a bunch of travel (work and play), finally got back to getting this project moved forward. May was just a wash every weekend, so welcome June... better late than never.

The background finally got fleshed out and touched up... never ending spots of touch up. But finally got it to the point of acceptability.



Also fit the pump in and got it flowing (pics below) but had a hell of a time getting the flow to where I needed it.








Was at Lowes yesterday so took the opportunity to pick up some plants for it. Was making progress today so decided to get those plants set up:







I actually pulled that moss carpet on the bottom right, directly from my front yard. it literally pulled out as a strip after I cut into the ground with a knife. I cleaned off all the mud and pressed it in place then tucked up some of the substrate into the edges.

Still to do is finish the waterfall side. Got the pump and sponge system set and even made a sloped false bottom to put the rock bottom on. Fits about 4 gal in the tank part - it'll serve to keep the humidity up.

Speaking of which, I put it all together with the top I modified and now I have very little air flow so the humidity is pinned at 100%. So I have to fashion a vent and am thinking of repurposing an 80mm pc fan on the lid for periodic air circulation.

[Mandella]

That terrarium looks awesome. Those frogs better appreciate it!

 

I'm serious. How much would that habitat even cost to buy? And it looks better than anything I've seen for sale. Which I am looking for, actually. I've got a 55 gallon bowfront that I don't necessarily want to put fish back into, and have been considering frogs. How hard do you find it is to keep them alive and healthy?

Otherwise, I'm going to go with low maintenance cold water goldfish....

[01101010]

I'll be glad to tell ya once we get the frogs.  Right now, just getting the bioactive planted part up and running.

That said, keeping frogs doesn't seem that arduous. Food is basically fruit flies dusted in calcium supplement and once you get a culture of fruit flies set, you can seed more cultures and keep it going. Of course if those crash there is always the major pet stores, all of them around Pittsburgh stock feeder bugs and fruit flies are included on the stock sheet.

Otherwise, temps needs to be 70-80F and humidity needs to be 90-100%. Pretty easy IMHO, but you have to commit to it - like everything.

[Draegan]

Clearing trees and a lot of branches the last few weekend. I wish I had taken pictures, but it's just... trees. A lot cleaner look now. Brush and brambles are gone from the hilly areas on my property. If you recall the rock wall, steeper slope going downward on the other side of the house. A lot cleared up there.

[01101010]

Always hated brush clearing... esp by hand. Pull out bushels of underbrush and branches and look back to see you didn't really do much of anything. Then again, that was on the golf course I worked at in high school and that part of the course was a nightmare.

And a small update to the vivarium. Got springtails in the mail... came in a quart container full of charcoal, which is standard. I get it out of the box, unscrew the lid and see nothing. Springtails are tiny white flecks about 1-2mm in length and on the black charcoal I figured to see a few at least. Not a one. Looked up what to do online from the company I ordered from. Followed the instructions and still nothing. So I decided to just give the flood a try. Basically, to get these little guys out, you pour water into the container, enough to fill it to the brim and since they are hydrophobic, they all float. Well did that and only got maybe 20. So I poured them onto my substrate and called it a night. Next morning (today) shook up the container and flooded it again and the entire surface of the water was covered. Supposedly they go dormant if the CO2 builds in a closed container or the temps drop. Well overnight solved that I guess. So now I have stage 1 of the bioactive part of the tank done. Now I need to find some isopods. After that, probably in July, I'll add the frogs.

[Samwise]

I had to look up what in the hell springtails are.  Neat!

[Mandella]

Holy Hell yearly brush clearing this Spring. We had a heat spike in the mid nineties in May which just about did me in. I did break down (after my regular lawn mower broke down again) and bought a robot lawn mower. There is just something old school about sitting on the porch with a beverage in hand watching this little mechanical turtle looking thing methodically working over the front yard...

Also still avidly following the frog saga (and looking up springtails). If you need any loud as hell colorful tree frogs, I could probably set you up with hundreds from the back yard...

[01101010]

Small update. I monitored the humidity all week and it was pinned in the tank at 100% all week. With very little airflow, I am not surprised but I also don't want everything in there rotting. The false bottom is working with draining the soil, but I decided to make a vent in the lid for more air circulation. Got a few ideas from roaming Hoe Depot and almost decided on a PVC grated 3" shower drain, but really didn't want to drill a 3" hole in the plexi I fashioned onto the lid. I also was thinking about adding an old 80mm case fan in the tank for air circulation. Taking those two things I came up with the dumb plan that just might work out... below:

Took the plastic window off my case's door and decided to use it as a template since it had both 80mm and 120mm screw holes already mapped out. But looking at drilling all those other holes was a bit daunting.


But I went ahead and got the dremel out and started plugging at it. Actually came out pretty nicely.




I tore my mother's old PC apart to destroy her HDD by her request and pulled a bunch of parts from it including a 120mm. So I'll be attaching that to the top probably as an exhaust fan and on the outside of the tank. So I grabbed an old USB cable from my misfit wires drawer and wired the fan up to use an old 5V cell phone charger plug. Works fine albeit slow as the fan is a 12V. I have a 12V adapter from an old portable DVD player, but I like where the fan speed is.. not too much to dry everything out but enough to pull air. Also finishing the 'pond' side... got the pump set, filter sponges and put in the aquarium stone substrate on a slated false bottom - pics later on that. Waterfall works fine but I am not going to have that going all the time.

[Draegan]

Some aftermath pictures of a quarter of what I did with brush.

You can see my neighbors house.


You can see my house.


Basically all undergrowth and I cleared out all the branches at a 20-30 foot level from the driveway. This is taken at the elbow of the driveway which is about one tenth of a mile.

From the view of my house, all the low hanging branch (from the level of my lawn) were taken off so you can actually see into the forest now were taken off. The issue was they were 15-20 feet off the ground once you climbed down the slope. Fun work. I've now cleared alot of debris yesterday and attempted to plan grass seed.

[01101010]

So finished tinkering with the paludarium and got everything set. Now we wait for things to die off or flourish. Hopefully by July I'll be ready for livestock.

Only attaching a few pics and will eventually link the whole process set in an album in imgur, but for the time being...

Top down look with the 120mm installed. Definitely low flow, but I tested the air circulation in the tank via the match smoke test and it is sucking air up through it. We'll see how long it lasts.



The lighted side - got a bromeliad from lowes today (on the left), on clearance as it had already bloomed. They don't bloom again, but I wanted the leafy-ness. Bonus that it actually has a pup growing off so yay. The green plant on the lower rightish side was an impulse buy and fit the theme so in it goes - it's a dracaena.



Side shot.. covered the top of the substrate in sphagnum moss and tucked it here and there... hence all the light colored moss everywhere.



The dimmer/water side. Made a slope of aquarium stones down to the right and a curtain of sphagnum drops from the substrate side to the stones which then go into the water.



And because we are in the future, a small video tour...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_SNMWDUmko

[Mandella]

That thing is looking super colorful and interesting all ready. You should just put some plastic frogs in there for the time being to fool people.

Also, your mom made you completely tear apart her computer just to destroy the hard drive?



@Draegan: You want to see your neighbors??

 

[Draegan]

You can't from my house but that shot is 100 yards down the driveway. And about 20 feet down.

[Polysorbate80]

The firepit is evolving again.  Wife wants *more* seating... 

I originally thought of rock walls around the exterior of the stone area, but that was before the pergola went up.

So now, I'm having a friend build me wooden windbreak walls and benches to go in the open portions of the walls on two sides. 

The third side has power now, so I'll build a cabinet to keep a small fridge out of the weather, and another on the other side to hold booze miscellaneous stuff.  Friends tried to talk me into putting a sink there (water is available) but I think it would be more trouble keeping it clean and draining well.  In between the two cabinets will be a gap for my grill to fit into.

I also wanted enclosed planters on the outside corners, but after trying to think of how to build a water-resistant structure I switched plans.  Now, there's a low platform on each corner to hold a variety of large pots:



There is a downside:  the wife has decided she now also wants that stone in place of the lower siding enclosing the space under our front porch. 

[Yegolev]

Gotta love those mutable requirements.

[Mandella]

Your firepit has become an amphitheater with an attached concession stand...

 

The stone does look nice!

[Polysorbate80]

 Need to figure out where to put the dance floor

[Brolan]

Gotta love those mutable requirements.

This is starting to remind me of software development.

[MahrinSkel]

The customer has asked that your project should support a wedding registry.

--Dave