Glacier Country Viv. Build

[BigSkyCham]

How long are you mistings, and how frequent?

I plan to follow the prescribed mistings from Chameleon Academy Panther Care Guides....1 minute at 9pm, 2am and 6am. With the fully planted substrate I don't want to over water while testing the misting system out and be left with a soggy swamp. Once it achieves swamp status it's difficult to dry out.

I haven't set up the automated misting until I can shore up the leaks. I have a Mistking system. There are 5 misting heads. All are mounted to the screen top. Two on the front left, two in the top middle and a single on the top right side.

When I mist for 1 minute the water pools on a horizontal ledge between the upper and lower parts of the tank. The water that pools on the front edge drips down to the tracks of the lower doors and eventually leaks out onto the stand and floor. My plan is creating a water shed that will allow the water to drip into the substrate instead of into the door track. It should prevent most of the issues. Simply repositioning the misting heads has helped tremendously.

 

[MissSkittles]

Can you go over your layers of substrate with me? I obviously recognize the drainage stones/balls in the middle, but what is the top and bottom consist of?
Also, being glass, the seams should have been sealed with silicone. Is it the seams which are leaking?

 

[BigSkyCham]

View attachment 369862
Can you go over your layers of substrate with me? I obviously recognize the drainage stones/balls in the middle, but what is the top and bottom consist of?
Also, being glass, the seams should have been sealed with silicone. Is it the seams which are leaking?

The glass and frame are fully sealed with silicone. I did a 72hr leak test with water and there were no leaks.

The water is coming out of the bypass doors. Any mist or water that collects on the glass drips down to the frame track that the doors slide on. If the misting runs long enough the door frame track overflows and then can leak.

For the layers at the bottom….starting at the top of 8-9”:

1: Leaf Litter: top 1”
2: NEHERP V2 Substrate: 3-5” (V2 description: https://www.neherpetoculture.com/substratesvivarium )
3: Mesh screen layer
4: Hydroton/LECA: 2-3”
5: Mesh screen layer
6: Plastic egg crate raised false bottom
7: Under false bottom: drainage space with bulkhead overflow drain: bottom 2”

On the front view of the tank I used some cut black vinyl to cover the false bottom space. I haven’t put the vinyl on the side of the tank yet. I covered the back and left side of the tank with solid vinyl covering on the outside of the glass.

 

[MissSkittles]

The glass and frame are fully sealed with silicone. I did a 72hr leak test with water and there were no leaks.

The water is coming out of the bypass doors. Any mist or water that collects on the glass drips down to the frame track that the doors slide on. If the misting runs long enough the door frame track overflows and then can leak.

For the layers at the bottom….starting at the top of 8-9”:

1: Leaf Litter: top 1”
2: NEHERP V2 Substrate: 3-5” (V2 description: https://www.neherpetoculture.com/substratesvivarium )
3: Mesh screen layer
4: Hydroton/LECA: 2-3”
5: Mesh screen layer
6: Plastic egg crate raised false bottom
7: Under false bottom: drainage space with bulkhead overflow drain: bottom 2”

View attachment 369866

On the front view of the tank I used some cut black vinyl to cover the false bottom space. I haven’t put the vinyl on the side of the tank yet. I covered the back and left side of the tank with solid vinyl covering on the outside of the glass.

Ok. It was the very bottom layer that I didn’t understand what it was and was wondering about drainage management, so you answered all my questions.
If you can’t find a happy spot to direct the mist heads to, maybe there is some way or something that you can put to redirect the water flow. I don’t think you’d need anything terribly large or obvious. Maybe just a small piece of something along the water flow path to disrupt it to the side…almost like a tiny little roof or half-trough. Hope I’m making sense and maybe offering decent help.