How to Turn an Old Aquarium into a Terrarium

Eventhough aquarium and terrarium might look similar , they are structurally different. You can not use a terrarium in place of an aquarium could result in leaks, poisoning, even the complete destruction of your tank but you can turn aquarium into a terrarium.

Well, do you have an old aquarium at home or there is something wrong with it so you don’t use the aquarium anymore? Let’s make them more useful to be a terrarium as decoration at your room. You can make it by yourself without getting out of home as usual when you plant some flowers in the garden under the sunlight.

4 Ways to Change an Old Aquarium into Terrarium

An aquarium is a vivarium, usually it contained in a clear-sided container in which water-dwelling plants and animals such as fish, and sometimes reptiles. Definitely, it filled with water that has high maintenance than terrarium.

Aquarium belongs to a container that has high risk to be broken like cracked glass or scratch, if you don’t fix immediately, it will not work well anymore.

Well, if you have this kind of problem of your aquarium, you can change them into terrarium than throw it out.

1. Clean the Tanks

First, cleaning up the filthy tanks is a must. If you got a lot of hard water stain on them, you need to wash them more than once or else you can apply toothpaste on all of the surface of tanks. Wait for 10-15minutes then you can brush them then rinse well by warm water and dry before using.

2.  Choose the Right Plant

Next you can prepare any plants in the terrarium. Actually selecting the plant species is quite easy. The point is you can choose some tropical plants, cacti and succulents inside.

However, you have to be careful while choosing the plants, especially based on the type of container you use.

If you are going to use an old aquarium that sealed and damp, selecting the plant that can grow in a humid environment is a must. But if you want to have plant that easy to care for, such as cactus. You should use an open container/glass

3.  Various Types of Reptiles in Terrarium

Terrarium is not as a container for ornamental plants only, for animal lovers, especially reptiles. It can be a good idea for your favorite animal to live in.

However, not all types of reptiles are suitable for live in a terrarium. the animal groups most commonly kept in terrariums are Insects, spiders, scorpions, amphibians, lizards, snakes and turtles.

Terrarium for Reptile

It almost same as an aquarium but in it there is no water as much as aquarium. There is only a bit of water to regulate the humidity of the air.

The main principle to make terrarium for reptile is that it must be made as close as possible to its natural habitat. Of course, each type of reptile has a different habitat, for that the shape and model of the terrarium must be adapted to the type of them too.

On this occasion I want to discuss little bit about terrariums for snakes. What should be in the terrarium? Well, let’s see this tips below, what should be there are:

• Drinking water

You can use an ashtray or a kind of bowl that is not too small and must be adjusted to the size of the snake because in addition to drinking, sometimes the snake will also take a bath to regulate its body temperature. If the size of the terrarium is large, it is recommended to make a small pond because apart from being a place to drink and bathe, the pool also functions to maintain the humidity of the air in the cage. The condition of the water must also always be clean and must be fully filled.

• Tree Branch

Its needed for snakes whose live in trees, because according to their instincts snakes will always be wrapped around trees / twigs.

• Lamp

The lamp as a light and also as a source of UV light, this is very necessary, especially for terrariums that are indoors and are not reached by sunlight.

• Where to hide

According to the instinct of snakes like a place that is a bit closed so we need to make a kind of small cave as a hiding place.

4. Prepare the Materials for the Terrarium

After choosing what would you plant or put in the terrarium. It’s time to prepare the materials for terrarium according to your needs.

Usually for plants in the terrarium, you can prepare materials such as small rocks/pebbles, charcoal, sand, and soil for the planting medium.

More Info: Terrarium Plant DIY Ideas that Save Your Space

Then as a decoration, you can choose various landscape accessories so that your terrarium will look colorful and beautiful.

How to Make a Terrarium

• To make a terrarium, first thing you need to do is putting 1.5 inches of pebbles. This layer of pebbles will be a drainage for the terrarium
• Next, add a thin layer of activated charcoal to fight the growth of bacteria in the terrarium. After that you can see the soil has reached approximately 2.5 cm of height for planting media and plant root growth.
• Finally, you can put some plants that you have chosen or landscape accessories that you have according to your needs.

Those are easy steps to turn an old aquarium into a terrarium. If you are interested in changing your hobby or taking advantage of existing used goods, this would be fun to do.

You can use the tips above for you who really want to make a new terrarium using a special glass or plastic container. Terrarium can be a choice for your modern and aesthetic home decoration.