15 Gallon Vertical Build

The following is a step by step chain of events into the creation of 15 gallon vertical tank build, which will hopefully one day contain some new dart frogs.

I created this on a spur of the moment decision so foaming and background silicone work were not photographed.

Materials for the build include:

• One 15 gallon fish tank
• One can of Great Stuff foaming crack filler
• Three tubes of GE Silicone II in black color
• Three pieces of cork round
• Small planters/pots
• One bag of Zilla Jungle Mix substrate
• One handful of New Zealand Sphagnum Moss
• One bag of Plantation Soil
• One sheet of 1/8 inch glass pre-cut for door and front sections
• One aquarium top flexi hinge (black)
• One aquarium top plastic back section (clear)
• One door handle
• 6 inches of magnetic tape
• One bag of Hydroballs
• One 24 x 24 inch window screen material
• Misc plants pulled from another vivarium

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To begin, I would like to note that this build is not complete since I am still in the process of finding a 5/8" glass drill bit for the installation of the Mist King misting system nozzle.
This vivarium will have one misting nozzle installed and be supplied from a Mist King misting system operating on an existing vivarium.




1. Tank was cleaned with Zoo Med Wipe Out 1

2. I attached several pieces of cork round to the glass with GE Silicone II.
I already had planned in my head what I wanted to create and where each piece should go.
The placement of each piece can not be changed once you start foaming in the tank so you must pick your locations wisely. Placing the pieces around the tank and stepping back to view will help you in deciding what appeals to you.
Walk away and then come back to view a few times to really get an idea of what this will end up looking like.

3. After all cork rounds were in place and dry, I added in some pots for planting and siliconed them into place. I began foaming with Great Stuff around each piece of cork and the pots. Great Stuff expands almost 50 percent so build the foam up to half the height you want it.

4. I then foamed over the other sections with thin layers and allowed to dry for about one hour before building the background higher with more thin layers. Each time waiting an hour before adding another layer.
If you put it on really thick, it will take quite some time to dry completely.

5. I allow to completely dry for 24 hours before beginning to carve out the excess and start sculpting in cracks and ledges.
If you come across a section not completely dry, you may want to stop and allow that section to dry before continuing.
When creating cracks and crevasses, carve out much larger than you want the end result since the following application of silicone and substrate will quickly fill and hide the landscaping features if not exagerated enough.

6. Next comes the application of GE Silicone II which will require you to have plenty of disposable rubber gloves on hand.
You need to cover all the foam with a thick layer of silicone and its best to apply in sections. Change out your gloves often and you will be able to work the silicone into crack and crevases without frustration. Allowing the gloves to get too built up with the silicone will only make it harder to manipulate the silicone since it will be building up on the gloves.


7. Once you have the silicone completely covering all the places you need to have the substrate attached, pour the substrate on heavy and press it in firmly wearing rubber gloves. You can never pour on enough is the motto here. Excess will be removed later so pour it on. Also, be creative and use different substrates to create color changes on the background.
I used Zilla Jungle Mix on most but also finely diced up some New Zealand Sphagnum Moss to add to sections.

8. Allow the above to dry for about 24 hours. Once dry, flip the tank and shake out the excess. I usually brush off the background with a medium stiff brush to remove more excess and detail cracks. If sections are missed, just add more silicone and press in more substrate. You can also use small amounts of Gorilla Glue to do touch up vise the silicone.
I then wet the entire background down to wash off more excess. I pour this out and then detail the tank to continuing into the planting stage.





9. The next step was to build a front.

a. Install the lower piece of glass

• The lower section of glass is installed to hold back the substrate and water, I siliconed the inside lip of the tank and allowed this to dry. This process will ensure water doesn't leak out through what was once the tanks top edge. I tested the water retaining ability of the newly siliconed section and of course it leaked. I added more silicone to the area that was leaking, allowed to dry, and tested again.
• Once I knew it wasn't going to leak, I installed my lower glass. To do this I ran a bead of silicone around the section where the glass would sit and then pressed the glass piece in. Once completely pressed into place, I allowed this to dry and then cut away the excess that was pushed out during installation. Let it dry and then trim it out since wiping it off during installion of the glass will just smear all over and give you more areas to clean up once dry.
• I then added a bead of silicone around the outside of the glass edge to ensure the glass would stay in place and ensure the glass had a water tight seal.

b. Installing the door

• The glass door is attached to the bottom section with the flexiable hinge from a glass aquarium top.
  
  
  
• The top of the door is attached to the tank frame with magnetic tape which was attached to both the glass and tanks edge to keep the door closed.

10. The top vented section was then created by cutting out plastic and siliconing in a piece of screen material. I then siliconed that into place where it would take up all of the open top area above the door.
This may change over time to a metal section of screen with no-see-um bug screen attached since I am only somewhat satisfied with the results of the plastic I installed.



11. The plants I used for this build came from my Dendrobates leucomelas vivarium. A bromeliad pup, and two Cryptanthus pups were placed into the pots I had foamed in and a cutting from a creeping fig was set into a crack.







12. Next was the finish work of adding the hydroballs, the substrate screen whic I used some window screen material, and then the addition of the substrate.

13. Tossed in some leaf liter and some random accent materials such as a jungle pod and a coconut hut, and thats all she wrote.



I will allow this to grow in and add more creeping fig as I upkeep my other vivarium.
I will also adding in some vine material od a branch to provide more climbing fixtures for the frogs.

Hope some of this will be helpful to you when creating your next viv.

Don