Rockwall Paludarium Build Log. Pic Heavy

[DiggenEm]

First of all hello everyone! Awesome site!
So the ZooMed I purchased a few months ago was quietly collecting dust when I decided that I wanted to make it into a paludarium with a faux rock waterfall. My initial plan was to have the waterfall in the middle with GS and titebond planted areas on either side. Most well both of my previous builds had been setup in that orientation and it doesn't really allow a lot of planting space. So I decided to shift the waterfall to the left corner and build around it. So after I drilled the tank for the plumbing I started the build.

For the basic structure of the waterfall I purchased a 2'x2'x3" sheet of poly foam from a local hobby store. This type of foam is used for seat cushions and feels like memory foam. I cut the foam sheet into blocks and then I trimmed them into general rock shapes. After I cut enough blocks and stacked them into the waterfall shaped and hot glued the pieces to the glass. When that was done I sprayed GS around the waterfall and laid out the planters and carved it after it cured.








The next step I began to coat the foam blocks with Quikrete mortar. The first coat was extremely runny like chocolate milk and it was just to ensure the next coats would adhere. The second coat was a little thicker but still runny. I waited 24 hours and put on a real thick coat. The consistency was like pudding and this coat was were the "sculpting" happened. Now my sculpting skills suck I I did layers of thicker coats in some areas and when it dried it looked nothing like the foam blocks at all. I also redid the GS on the left




Now this were this build to a different turn. The GS that I resprayed and carved on the left lost its bond and had seperated from the glass in the middle so I tore it out and decided to build up a rockwall just like I did for the waterfall. I also took out the mopani wood and added another piece of Malaysian.
left side view

front view

Today I just finished up the last coat of mortar and will post more pics later. Please give me some feed back. This is my first time working with cement for a build so any questions or concerns are greatly appreciated.

[DonLisk]

Looks pretty awesome so far. Any chance I can see a pic from the top to see how much space is available for planting. I'm planning a new build for a Crested Gecko but not sure where I want to go with the build yet.

[DiggenEm]

Thanks Don. And as requested...
Sorry about the quality, I had to take it with the camera on my phone and 8mp is not enough to really show the depth. With this build I wanted to create a rockwall with lots of depth. Now you can make a rockwall that's more "flush" with the glass using the pink Styrofoam sheets. There's a few threads on the net on how to do it.

While I'm on the subject here is an update on the rockwall. I'm pretty much done with the cement phase except one small place where the top bulkhead fitting will go. I actually can't cement that portion in until I get the bulkhead installed. Here's a couple pics...

[DonLisk]

Awesome build. Thanks for the pics and ideas :-)

Can't wait to see it planted and operating.

[mdtalley22]

That is a great looking rock wall, and I also can't wait to see what this looks like all planted and finished!

[DiggenEm]

Thanks for the compliments. I'm stuck with a dilemma. Ok the yellow foam I was going to finish it with titebond to give it a more organic look. Now that I have finished the rock work (almost) do you guys think it would look better if I scrapped the GS and continued the rock work on the other side of the large piece of Malaysian?