FrogFevers 55g Display Tank Build...

[Kreamcheese]

Cant wait to see the final product. I would like to incorporate some of your/others ideas in my new build.

[FrogFever]

So much more to come!

[FrogFever]

I usually don't use black foam because its harder to come by and more expensive but I had to go with it this time. Luckily I found this brand on Amazon for $10 each. I bought 3.


Alright so I forgot to take a picture of the initial session of the waterfall construction, but here are some pictures of the second session.

I started by using quite a bit of black pond foam on top of the eggcrate. That allowed for the slate to have something to stick to.

I found that after the foam had cured the slate was not really stuck (from being sticky) but instead, the force of the expanding foam wedged the pieces in place. About half of the pieces fell out upon touching them so basically this pond foam isn't as gooey as regular great stuff and it cured very fast so we also encountered the problem of not working fast enough to get the pieces in place. (The tank was laying on its back unlike how its pictured.)

(The first session had A LOT more tape to hold the slate pieces in place.)
So for the second session we used brown silicone to stick the remaining pieces in place so they'd stay put this time.

In my opinion I think the brown ruined the look to it so I planned on covering that all up with more foam.


So far so good but you can see all the big gaps where slate is missing.

Water test shows that I've got a pretty powerful stream going so I'll have to turn it down a notch.

3rd foam construction session - 2 cans of black pond foam worth in tank

Tubing and fan housing concealed, pots, film canisters, and water bowl all set in place...


Right side of tank


Left side

I decided to incorporate more slate pieces in other parts of tank to tie it all together, so its not "just a waterfall"

Attachment 0
The foam expanded much more than I anticipated the second time around. BUT it did get rid or the brown silicone look.
I have some SERIOUS sculpting/carving to do to clean it up. I really enjoy that step though.

So does anyone know which types of darts would most appreciate and utilize perches for calling? Any recommendations on which species would most enjoy this setup? :0

[Kreamcheese]

Build is coming along nicely. Foam always expands much more than you want, but like you said the carving can be fun. Wish I could help with what darts to get but I'm not yet in that hobby; hope to have some soon though!

[FrogFever]

Finally got the first coating of Pond Foam carved out. It took me well over 3 hours.
(Right side of tank)


Waterfall area carved out. I added more slate pieces on top to hide the drilled pvc pipe that distributes the water over the rocks.
I do plan on hiding the water tube as well. I am also planning on using one more can of black foam to get spots throughout the tank that I missed before.


I almost decided to not use the Lights in Flight because of the whole technical detail oriented aspect surrounding them, but then I couldn't find the receipt ($26), so I decided to use them! Like I said before, "I've gotta go BIG in this build", so I'm glad I decided to stick with the original plan.


Here you can see how I taped up the lights with painters tape. I did this so that the lights didn't become covered in foam or silicone. It helped out tremendously not having to worry about how they were laying in the background.


In another build I saw someone mentioned that they covered up the lights casing in silicone. I thought this was a smart move just to be extra cautious since there will be water/humidity surrounding these lights. I took this a step further (got the idea from the gf) and decided to coat the entire string of lights in silicone and then peat moss. That way if I can't figure out a good way to conceal the light strand into the background then at least the wires will look like vines strewn across the enclosure.

It turned out better than I had hoped and this was only with one layer of silicone and peat moss! This time we didn't use the Toluene to thin the silicone it and it coated it very well. Any spots that were still showing green will be covered with more pond foam.

Silicone: $6
Peat Moss: $3 (Fred Meyers)
1/8" Fiber Insulated Staples 40ct.: $1.50 each (2)
I found these insulated staples at Home Depot. I thought they would be perfect to hold the strands of wires to the background as I set them all in their right places.


It was quite a tedious task as the staples kept falling out every time I moved the wires at a different angle, but after more than two hours the whole tank was set up with two strands! I then used dabs of silicone on the staples to give them a little more stability adhering to the foam.


End shot


I also finally got this beautiful stand I ordered online!
Petco online: Shipped for $140.


It may be hard to tell in the picture, but here are a couple of lights glowing green and the way the blue tape is covering them it makes them much dimmer than before which in my opinion looks a thousand times better. Much like real fireflys and not super intensely bright LEDs flashing in a tank.

My plan is to replace the blue painters tape with green painters tape and leave them covered.

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS WELCOME!

[rosaphile]

That is looking to be fantastic! I'll be watching this thread.

[optimum]

i bet this will turn into a killer set up! looking forward seeing it finished