So, it's been almost a week since the first post. I learned a few important things along the way.

1: Buy gloves that are just a little too small for you. As they heat up, and your hands sweat, they tend to get a bit roomy - leading to floppy finger-tips getting coated in fiber and silicone. This was the main "hassle" of working on the tank.

2: If you're going to do a water feature, just use the pond/waterfall foam. While I would've loved to have done this, but none of my local stores had it in stock for some reason. I imagine that the waterfall foam, being black, would be far easier to cover. However, it would also be harder to see one's progress. The real advantage being it's watertight from the start - as long as you don't cut it. Which brings me to:

3: Don't cut on the foam too much. You'll uncover large voids that go deeply enough to be worrisome. If this happens, try plugging the fissure with a rock, and siliconing over it. One or two such fissures began steadily dripping when I did my first leak test. For really "curvy" features like mind, don't knock the idea of siliconing a section of pond liner to the back of your feature. I'm seriously considering it myself.

4: Sand gets everywhere. Silicone-kissed sand gets everywhere, and then sticks.

5: There will be "missed spots" - don't sweat it. Go back later with a more decorative material like shaggy spaghnum, spanish moss, or pebbles.

On to the "finished" tank shot.



The waterfall works nicely, but the flow is a little high. I have to wedge a small rock into the overhang to prevent it from spitting like a water fountain. The water feature leaked, so I bailed, dried, and patched... we'll see what comes in the morning! I used an artists acrylic paint to cover the "ugly ends" - it looks much better in person. The water feature holds about 1.5gl, so it'll be closer to 1gl with the full amount of substrate, driftwood and plants. Once the feature tests leak-free I'll be waiting one week for the silicone to get fully cured and de-stink'd, then everything gets to move in.