Surrealasm

January 30, 2012
-- Decided, once again, to go with another tank for the first build. I found a ten gallon for ten bucks earlier this week, so I figure that if I mess this one up it's not going to be that big of a deal.
This weekend I went to Home Depot to get some of my materials. I got:
o-styrofoam board
o-great stuff (for cracks and trim)
o-1" PVC pipe
o-GE Silicone II (brown coloration)
o-fiberglass window screening

So I started by cutting out the styrofoam backing to the measurements I needed. Then I took the great stuff and sprayed a relatively even layer on the board, and I added a little bit more in certain areas to provide more texturing. I had no way of predicting how much it would expand in the drying process, so it was more of a test run than a for sure backing. I also decided to spray on the styrofoam so if it went horribly wrong I wouldn't have to try to clean the Great Stuff out of my tank (it's extremely sticky).

Next I went to work on getting my false-bottom in place. I managed to find some egg-crate lying around the storage area at my work. I used this and cut it slightly larger than what will become the base of the vivarium.

That was pretty much all I could do on Sunday. Between letting the Foam Stuff dry and trying to smooth down the edges of the egg-crate, a lot more time was consumed than I anticipated.

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Today I brought the PVC pipe to work. We have some good quality circular saws that are mounted in the woodshop area, so I figured it would be easier to utilize those, rather than using the hack saw I used for the egg crate.

This evening I'm planning on doing a little bit of sculpting on the Great Stuff foam, and getting the false bottom a snug fit.