Tropical Vivarium DIY - Drainage

[mainbutter]

For this next installment of my conversion of 20G high aquariums into vertical, front-door opening vivariums, I'm going to go over how I do drainage.

This will be pretty short, as it's pretty darn simple.

None of my vivs are going to be "wet" (i.e. not for dart frogs), so I don't need the sheer volume of empty space that other drainage solutions provide.

I use a product called Hydroton (AKA LECA - Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate). I purchased a 50lb bag of it a while ago from some random small nursery store, as my local home depot/lowes/menards didn't have any. Call around and you should be able to find a local source easily.

I also use fiberglass window screen, from home depot.

I cut out a rectangle of window screen to the interior floor dimensions of the viv, and use the screen as a barrier between the substrate on top and hydroton drainage area below. It's as simple as that. A thicker hydroton layer provides more empty space for drainage, I only use maybe an inch and a half in my 20Gs, a little more in my big 2' wide exo terras, and a little less in my 12'' wide exo terra.

Any excess water filters down through the substrate, past the window screen, down into the cracks between the hydroton balls. Easy peasy.

Here's some pictures

A layer of hydroton


The window screen cut to size, about to be placed




Watered substrate w/the drainage - COMPLETE


If you missed it, here's my substrate - Tropical-Vivarium-DIY-Substrate-(ABG-Mix)

[mainbutter]

Here's a teaser pic while we were playing around with plants and landscaping etc.



Stay tuned for microfauna, plants, lighting, and automated misting.

[mainbutter]

Was editing and ran out of time!

P.S. I like to rinse the hydroton before use, as it's fairly dusty. I just use a plastic colander and run a bunch under a faucet. The rust-colored clay has a tendency to stain, so be careful with your wife's or mom's cookware/carpet/anything the dust can get on