Before retirement, I owned a glazing contracting corp/ glass company. We built custom aquariums along with every other function you'd expect a glass company to do, commercial store fronts, glass showers, mirrors, residential/ commercial glass repair ..... . You could make a pattern and take it to almost any glass company (or just take the tank), where they can make a custom cover for your terrarium. For a 23 gallon tank, double strength (1/8") window glass would be more than adequate. My suggestion would be to make the top in 2 lites, to allow an opening between them. Your LED light, purchased with a hood, could be arranged such that one bottom edge of of the hood would rest on each lite of glass. If the light was considerably shorter than the opening left between the 2 lites of glass that make up the cover proper, you could purchase 1 0r two additional smaller lites of glass, which would overlap the larger lites and slow moisture loss by minimizing convective air currents.

Al

The lid isn't really the issue. I was going to make something out of plexi, so I can adapt it as I better learn what I need.

When I've seen videos, etc., on terrariums they tend to be smallish; something the size of my tank is often more a vivarium or palludarium. But in the latter cases they seem to often have open (or open-able) fronts, done by putting the tank on its edge, which due to the shape of my tank I can't do.

So I was wondering if there's any particular limits on what size/shape enclosures you can use for different tank contents, and if my 23g, bowed-front tank is best used for a particular purpose.

I've used the tank for 7+ years as an aquarium and I've gotten tired of regular water changes, so a use that would keep me doing that isn't something I'm keen on.

My bad. Sorry, I misunderstood your needs. I do hope you find a good solution.

Al

A quick image search regarding the many different environments one could create using the aquarium you describe, it would seem there are a multitude of ways one could utilize such a tank! It sounds like quite the project!

If I had a tank like that, I'd most likely indulge my love for small orchids, since my home environment simply won't support them without help. But I would guess someone could do almost anything, from a cacti/desert scene to one of a tropical forest with running water, or anything in between.

I would be very interested in seeing what you decide to make of it! Best of luck!

When I've looked online for "pure" terrariums (i.e., taking "terra" literally, without pooled water), they seemed to be on the smaller side--jars, etc. With fish tanks most of what I saw tend to be at least semi-aquatic. Since my goal is to avoid setups that require (semi)regular water changes--having done hundreds of them over the years--I wanted to avoid any such setup. But I wasn't sure if the ones I saw are that way for practical reasons or purely aesthetic ones.

I am not a terrarium expert but that won’t stop me from noodling on ideas.
I do think it sounds like you want to avoid water basins- have essentially just a soil- based setup.
You tank mainly is bigger that the usual tabletop or petite terrarium and is easily accessible for planting, so you don’t have to build it like a ship in a bottle.
It can accommodate taller plants, a wider plant, or maybe a larger variety of species. You could also have soil-within - soil by sinking a small pot.
I think, but don’t know, that it’d be less great for cacti because they will want more light and low humidity so not covered much and might be better to have plants that like humidity in the deeper shape of your aquarium.
Hopefully someone who really knows something will chime in!

It really is up to you. I've got an old 10 gallon that I'm going to convert to a germination chamber and general growth chamber for my cacti that need higher heat. A 40-80 mm fan attached to the wall will keep the humidity from being too much of an issue and an old reptile heating pad on the bottom of the tank will raise the temperature to about 95° within about 1.5 hours of coming on.

Since your tank is quite a bit bigger you could go for really lovely carnivorous plant terrarium with pinguiculas, sundews, etc. Sphagnum moss would also grow quite well in there. A couple amall fans and some introduced springtails would keep things from having fungal issues and would act as a minor food source for the carnivores. The sky's the limit really.

I have a 25 gallon terrarium and I love it. I have some very colorful tropical neoregalia Bromiliads as well as plants I've collected locally and bought in plant shops. It's like a tropical fish tank only with plants.

You can do a dessert terrarium but I feel you get more from humidity loving plants because an enclosed terrarium can provide you with that. A dessert style can just be out in the open. But if you want a dessert than no reason not to do that.

Larger size terrariums give you more options than smaller ones and don't require much maintenance once established.

If you want email me and I can tell you more. I live in Queens not far from you.