I Built a Giant Cloud Rainforest Vivarium

I created my dream tank, a cloud rainforest terrarium in an over 1,000 gallon custom built tank. Landscaping and construction of the habitat took months of planning, a lot of hard work, and days of terrarium building. But the final result was all worth the challenges. The tank hosts a variety of plants, and possesses an automated climate mimicking that of a cloud rainforest. Hope you enjoy Part 4 of my ant ecosystem series. Ant love forever! This video was shot in 4K Ultra HD resolution.

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I did it! I actually did it, and I must say, I’m quite proud of the outcome. Within this over 1,000 gallon tank, is my magnum opus, and in my heart, I feel it is one of the greatest things I’ve ever created in my entire life!

I’m going to show it to you, but I must say, constructing it has been an adventure and a half, full of twists, turns, heart breaks, and triumphs, but the utter biological beauty of it all, made it worth the journey.

In celebration of recently hitting 5 million subs on this channel, this new tropical world of ours within glass will serve us a very special purpose in the world of science, and I’ll explain how it all came together, in this crazy story of how I created a living,

Mist-breathing cloud rainforest within glass, part 4 of my ultimate ecosystem series, which I dedicate it to all of you. Welcome to the AntsCanada Ant Channel! Please SUBSCRIBE to the channel, and hit the BELL ICON. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy!

I knew creating a giant cloud rainforest vivarium, incorporating a tonne of tropical animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi, was no easy task. I mean, I’m no God, but as your Creator of Worlds on this channel, I knew successfully pulling off an ecosystem terrarium, which was the main objective of this giant cloud

Rainforest build, would require me to apply all the knowledge and experience I’ve acquired over a lifetime beyond just ants, but of biology, animal husbandry, terrarium building, aquaria, etc. So even prior to the actual building of the tank unit, I had been studying and planning

Nonstop, dare I say obsessed, day and night to make sure all details of this rainforest build were covered. If you haven’t seen the past three episodes of this series, which was largely a research phase and a crowd sourcing of your ideas, I’ve placed the playlist link in the description

So you could check out those episodes, after watching this episode. But when the team, that I had commissioned to build the initial tank unit, arrived this week, my heart was racing a million miles a minute. This was it. No more planning now. It was time to execute and build the ultimate vivarium!

Animals and plants were waiting on standby to be introduced to their new kingdom once I was done. My ant tanks had to be moved around in a game of musical ant farms, to accommodate the new gargantuan setup that was about to become part of the Antiverse.

Volcania, my fire ant setup, had to be drained of water and lugged to an opposite wall. I actually liked it better here. The Leviathans, my Marauder Ants in their dragon setup, that used to be there had to be moved closer to a window beside the Blades of Midas’, my Spiny Ants’ setup.

My trap jaw ants, had to be moved to another window, where it looked much neater. Anyway, the base of the setup looked sturdy and was huge! The entire thing was about 10 feet long. Everything would be held together by frames, silicone, and glass.

It took the team the entire day to finish it, but when they did, laying eyes on the empty tank in the Ant Room was such an experience. I have never before had nor designed a tank this huge. Walking up to it was a dream.

I was in awe, and felt like an athlete, the night before the Olympics. I knew all my terrarium building skills would be stretched to their limit with this one, and all culminated to this sole terrarium. Let me show you the specs of this tank.

To get in, you have to go through the back, via two glass panels which swing open. The terrarium would be housing a lot of life, and I didn’t want things escaping all over the place, whenever I needed to get in so this was the best way in my mind.

I also wanted a full unobstructed view of the front, so I chose for no doors there. I knew I would be needing some good space at the top for lighting and climate equipment so I had an upper compartment created to house all the lights and gear.

Speaking of climate equipment, I also knew ventilation was key, particularly for the animals I had in mind for the vivarium, so I had the side made with an opening door with mesh for ventilation. The top of the tank of course was also mesh.

Now before starting any terrarium build, I always visualize what the final result would look like. I began to trace the general shape of what I wanted the vivarium to look like in my mind. I even drew a sketch several weeks ago of what I wanted it to look like.

For me this visualization phase is imperative, before actually building, because it would help inform all my aesthetic choices made during the building process, which you will see later! The tank was empty now but I could see it already done in my mind.

It was late, so tomorrow would be building day, but little did I know, this terrarium-building process would turn out to be harder than expected and wouldn’t go as planned. The first thing I needed to do was to silicone a wall.

I wanted the vivarium to have a water portion, so that wall separating the water from the land needed to be set in place, but before that, I needed to prep the rock wall, and for that I’d like to introduce to you what has become my best friend throughout this

Whole rainforest building journey – this was the real MVP! It’s terrarium scaping foam. It was my first time using it. It’s by a company named Dymax, hashtag not sponsored, but it’s basically a biologically safe glue for glueing tank decor in place.

I decided to give it a try and began to use it to glue sphagnum moss to the back of our rock wall. To my surprise, it worked like a charm! I just sprayed the stuff onto the moss and sure enough, the foamy glue stuck the moss to the rock wall like a charm.

When this was done, we carried the entire thing which weighed a tonne into the tank, where I proceeded to silicone it at these long brackets. This is what the rock wall looked like from the front. It would soon become the coolest rock wall ever when we were done with it.

Now that the rock wall was in place, I could better judge where to silicone our water barrier wall, and I began to silicone that into place. Next up, from rock wall to a moss wall. Wait until you guys see this!

I measured out the piece of stainless steel chicken wire I’d be needing for this epic moss wall. When cut to size, I began to cover it with dried sphagnum moss using the scaping foam. When it was done, I set it in place, and guys now for the real star of this terrarium build,

The tree stump. Oh man! Now when building a terrarium I always choose one item to be the main star of the show, so to speak, one central piece of landscape decor that would steal focus and have everything around it revolve. That star for this tank was this tree stump!

In my initial sketch idea, the main star in my mind would be the branches, so for weeks I kept my eyes open for some interesting looking branches to play that role. That was until I spotted the tree stump! It was in my neighbour’s front yard and I drooled when I saw it.

I asked my neighbour if I could have it seeing as it was already dead and was useless, and to my surprise he said yes! We had to chopped it from the ground. The thing was massive, so massive that it actually didn’t fit in the tank when we first tried to install it.

We each took turns hacking away at the back of it to make it fit, and let me tell you, whatever this wood was, it was iron solid! It took forever to chop it to size. Once amply chopped down, we lugged the unwieldy stump into place.

The idea was to have it sit a bit higher so I had a wooden stool ready to become its great throne within the setup. Then I wanted the tree stump to be tilted to the right and leaned up against the moss wall, holding the moss wall in place.

And there it was, looking so pretty, a tree stump king with its attractive mossy cape ready to steal the show. I siliconed one side of the moss wall into place, and allowed the entire thing to dry overnight.

I also siliconed the other side of the water wall, and that was the end of Day 1. All silicone needed to dry now before the next step, but little did I know, life would throw an unexpected wrench into our great terrarium-building plans. Early the next morning, it was the scheduled water test.

I always get nervous with these water tests because I’ve had bad experiences with water walls leaking, and have learned to never start a terrarium build with a water wall without first test that water wall for leaks, and luckily, I didn’t start the actual terrarium

Building prematurely, because what I spotted made my heart drop to my stomach. Leaks, and not just inside the tank but also outside the tank! The setup was not waterproof! I wasn’t sure if it was my fault by not explaining that the tank needed to be water

Proof, but perhaps the manufacturer thought he was building a completely dry unit, like the display case wall I also had them build in my room, but worrying and blaming was too late now. The entire thing was leaking, and leaking bad. I spotted where the leak was. It was an unsiliconed corner.

So I removed the water and re siliconed everything including that corner, as well as the inside and outside of the water portion. It was good that we spotted to the problem, but I had lost a day as we would need to allow the silicone to dry before proceeding with a second water test.

The next day, I proceeded with the water test. When it was full, I was happy to see that there were no leaks. I placed a tape at the water mark and would have to check back in a few hours to verify that it was indeed leak-free.

I came back in a few hours, and this was what I saw. Ahhh… ok, a little leak, outside the tank. Inside, no leak, which was good. But there was still a leak somewhere, so once again, I drained all the water out, and went

In again to silicone a massive band this time, over all joints, corners, and edges. My guess was that the silicone the company used was not for aquarium use. I’ve made this error in the past. If any of you guys are building your tanks, be sure to get silicone for aquariums.

While waiting for the silicone to dry, I used this time to do things like clean the glass, as I knew the moment I started landscaping, it would get harder and harder to properly get in to wipe the glass. The next day, I was ready for the third leak test.

Overnight I had sucked up all the trapped water in the brace using paper towels. This was the moment of truth. So many items, tank decor, and plants were waiting on the sidelines for the moment I was ready to build and I had hoped it would be today!

I watched the paper towel like a hawk as the water began to fill up. When the tank was full I checked the paper towel. No drip. It was dry, and this continued for the next several hours which to me meant we had passed

The leak test, which also meant that now the real fun was about to begin! Woopie! First, we needed our drainage layer. I used lava rock, and a lot of it. I also used pebble gravel and spread it throughout the tank floor.

The purpose of a drainage layer is to have a place for water to sit while not having to waterlog the soils which can be harmful to some plants, can drown important soil creatures, and produce anaerobic spots which can be toxic for life. Next, charcoal!

This is the carbon agent I would be using to help absorb impurities. It also helps reduce odours that can develop over time in a terrarium, a must-have for our rainforest world! Next pieces of rotting wood. This would help in giving the soil structure, provide nutrients to the soils, and act as

Food for a number of soil creatures. I also added some large decayed leaves for a similar purpose. Finally, it was time to add soil. I ended up using ten huge bags of soil. Now we want to give the plants within our vivarium the best chance to thrive and so

Within this bag was the most potent of stuff. Poop from my goat Billy, aged for a few months mixed with decayed leaves and grass. It stank, but once this stuff starts breaking down and releasing its nitrogen-rich compounds into the soils, our plants would rejoice and truly live their best lives!

I then added a layer of leaf litter for more nutrients, and more soil. And once, the ground medium was set, it was now my favourite part. Landscaping and planting! I started with the moss wall. Though the moss was dead, my vision for this moss wall was for it to be alive with plants

Growing on it. So I cut holes into the wall to accommodate various plants in pots or stuck directly onto the moss epiphytically. When that was done, I began to work on planting the main tank. This process was a lengthy one and consisted of grabbing the supporting actors of the show,

I.e. these asparagus ferns, which I love, and you’ll see why when it’s all finished, and rearranging them around until I was satisfied with the general look and shape they formed. Once that was done, I proceeded to continue adding, rearranging, and testing out the look of various other plants and decor.

As you can see here, I start with larger items first and make my way down to smaller items. I find it easier to work that way. What made this terrarium build extra challenging was that instead of working from above like

I would any ordinary smaller tank, I needed to work blindly from the rear of the tank, then walk around the front to see what I had done. I took a break from landscaping to start grouting the bottom of the water area.

I did this so that in case water creatures that like to burrow did their thing, I wouldn’t see glass at the bottom. Next, more soil and another moss wire piece here. This time instead of a wall, it would form a cool mossy hill. More landscaping and decorating.

Now a lot of this was intuitive. I’ve been terrarium scaping for animals since I was a young boy, so I had a lifetime of experience behind me helping me decide what fit, what plant was too big, what shape of leaf might make it stand out or compliment another plant beside it.

It takes some practice, but if you want some terrarium scaping advice, I suggest studying aquascapers, hobbyists who design aquariums, particularly using Japanese or Indonesian techniques and styles. Even though it’s for fish and not land terrariums, in my opinion, aquascapers do nature tanks the best!

It also helps to have someone else come in with fresh eyes to give some honest feedback about what looks cool and what could use some adjusting. I continued to scape well into the night. The next morning, I got straight to work on vines! Vines, oh vines!

I’ve never before had a tank large enough to incorporate real vines, but have always wanted to. Now was my chance. I collected these vines, which are actually air roots, from a banyon tree in my neighbourhood. I always felt they looked awesome and was happy to give them a try in our tank.

Now I thought situating vines in an aesthetically attractive manner would be easy, no different from arranging branches in a terrarium, but let me tell you, I was wrong. Arranging vines in a pleasing and natural looking way was hard!

It took me the entire morning and afternoon to come up with a vine configuration that looked natural and would be an effective climbing space for arboreal animals. When that was done it was time for finishing touches. Almost done.

Time to add gravel to the water area, then water, then stick moss onto the rock wall. And, after a total of five whole days of working on this tank, this was what the final result looked like. AC Family, behold… The slice of tropical cloud forest, I call ‘Pantdora’.

Now, before I show you all the neat and exciting details of this tank as a terrarium build, I want us all to first become an ant for a second, and have an epic exploratory walk through these vast territories as a tiny creature, for greatest effect. Let’s go!

Pantdora is a magnificent tropical and humid paradise for any jungle creature that might have the chance to walk its mossy soils. With it being a cloud forest, humidity is high, which means heaven for moss which carpets many areas of this rainforest terrain. Now if you’re having problems seeing things right now, don’t worry.

It’s just while the cloud which blows through here every evening and morning floats through to hydrate the lands. It will be gone shortly. Now the reason I chose to construct a cloud forest, over any ordinary forest, is because cloud forests, meaning forests, usually at the saddles of mountains, that retain a lot

Of moisture from settling clouds, happen to be among the most biodiversity-rich ecosystems in the world. Cloud forests are my favourite forests with incredible ecosystems, hence Pantdora here. Pantdora also sports a peaceful waterfall fed from a mountain spring that trickles into the opening of an underground cave water system.

What a world these lands would be for our beloved creatures moving in. Alright, and now to check out these lands, as humans. The foggy clouds are produced by a fog machine which pumps the fog in every few hours to ensure the lands stay hydrated. The tank looks pretty epic from the front.

This is my favourite angle of the tank, and check out the back! I just couldn’t stop staring. Have a look! It’s insane to watch and looks super real with the clouds, but let’s have the clouds go shall we?

I have a fan on a timer which turns on to periodically blow fresh air into the setup from the side, but I’ll use that now. The mist takes a moment to dissipate, and voila, behold Pantdora after the fog clearing. What do you think? So let’s start with the underground river cave opening.

It’s stocked with floating water lettuce, mosses, fed as mentioned from a trickling waterfall from our mossy and ornately planted rock wall. Oh, I can’t wait to stock this cave water system with aquatic life! I also added a stick to help rescue any animals or insects falling in.

They could also grab on to the various banyon roots that go into the water. Our cloud forest floor is adorned with carpets of various species of moss. Cloud forests, as mentioned, offer the perfect haven for moss to grow.

In fact, cloud forests are also known as mossy forests, seeing as they tend to be abundant in moss growing on the ground and vegetation. I find they look really pretty, give any tank that signature forest feel, and I hope they establish themselves in this tank. Crossing fingers!

And what did I say about our star tree stump, huh? It stands boldly as a focal point from which the eyes begin to wander. Hello, Golden Ratio! Our mossy wall is adorned with tillandsias, bromeliads, and climbing ficus pumila, which I am hoping will totally cover this mossy wall over time.

Same goes for this plant which often takes over my terrariums in no time. But probably my favourite plants within this tank are the asparagus ferns, the supporting actors! See how nice they look? I find they always look stunning paired with wood, and kinda look like mini bamboo trees.

Check out this one which I found has a long stalk that I could hang from above. I love it so much! Other plants worth noting are these nerve plants which make great terrarium additions, this bright yellow-green philodendron which adds an awesome pop of colour, some wild baby

Plants which were growing from a clump of dirt that I found in the forest in my yard, not sure what species they are but we’ll see, and clumps of spanish moss which hung beautifully from the canopy above. Which brings us now to the vines. Oh, the vines.

Took forever to get them to look just right. They entangle through each other high above the lands. There’s a UV and heat basking spot for any reptile requiring sunlight. But my favourite are these banyon tree air roots. Have a look at them! I love the look of the air roots.

They add such a cool aesthetic to our tropical rainforest. They’re like nature’s curtains. Check out the view from this side. Doesn’t it look like a true slice of rainforest? I honestly can sit here for hours staring! Terrariums are so therapeutic!

Now I made sure that there were lots and lots of places for animals to hide, find homes, explore, etc that offer differing microclimates than the main living area. Lemme show you. Behind the moss wall is mostly space, so creatures can make their way back there and hide if they want.

It’s also probably quite humid back there, too. I also allowed for the formation of an underground cave beneath the wooden stool on which the tree stump sits. I attached the rock wall using long brackets so that creatures could wedge themselves into

The soft tighter mossy areas behind the wall, and my personal favourite, this neat cave which leads into a huge, darkend dome beneath this moss hill. There’s actually a lot of shadowy places and niches creatures could retreat to and occupy here.

Places for creatures to hide and get away would be important once the various animals begin living together. And AC Family, that was when I spotted a tiny movement. Do you see it? A tiny jumping spider dangled from a thread of its life line silk. It looked around these vast lands in awe.

I bet it was introduced here through one of the plants. Hello little, guy! Welcome to Pantdora! He would have an utter feast of insects to eat very soon. But I think he could feel a slight change in the air, and that something major was coming. The humid clouds were rolling in again.

And, AC Family, we’ve already seen the cool clouds of our cloud rainforest, but it wouldn’t truly be rainforest without… rain. Pandora’s tropical montane climate consisted of frequent rain drizzles. Before scaping, I made sure to outfit the entire setup with an irrigation system.

I also had to modify the nozzles a bit so the rain produced would better mimic an actual cloud rainforest shower, falling lightly as a sort of mist, but also as droplets falling from the tall trees high above the canopy. The rain drops fell magically onto our precious clumps of moss below.

I love storm watching, and I just loved watching it rain within our cloud rainforest kingdom of Pantdora. And that AC Family was how I built a giant cloud rainforest within glass. What do you guys think of it?

I have honestly been staring at it nonstop since it was built yesterday, and I felt honoured to have such a stunning slice of nature that we could look into and visit, any time we wanted, within the Antiverse. It made me come to better appreciate the magnificence, the design, the complexity of the natural

World and climate. Speaking of climate, I also plan on changing the frequency settings on the fog and rain to mimic the natural wet and dry seasons through the year. I think it would be interesting to see how the inhabitants within Pantdora react to these season changes.

But, guys, this brings me now to the best part. This vivarium of course was incomplete. It already had a tiny spider, but I’ve been waiting for this very moment for literal months! Now that all the flora of our vivarium was in place, it was time for the next step of

Our ultimate ecosystem vivarium-building process. You guessed, AC Family, it was time to add the fauna! Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we upload every Sat at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE to help us keep making more. It’s ant love forever!