36x24x48 Protean Construction

[J Teezy]

looks good what did you use to glue the layers together

[ndame88]

GE Silicone, unsanded grout

[ndame88]

Here is an update on my background, the entire process has taught me a lot. I did 3 layers of mortar and then purchased clear Pond Armor $90, I applied the Pond Armor to about half the background and it turned it almost black in color and VERY shinny, I hated the look, so added 2 more layers of mortar, used some acrylic paint to add some highlights, purchased DryLok Natural to waterproof the mortar, going to apply it today.

[ndame88]

Next is to figure out how to transition to the water area since this is a Palu build, from the bottom of the background to the bottom of the tank leaves me 12 inches to play with, looking at have a water height of 9 inches. I purchased this piece of driftwood off of Ebay.



The driftwood is H17X L25X W21, its free standing, will have to trim the bottom branches so that the main horizontal bean is just in the water, this will create a land area to attach epiphytes and grow some moss, still not convinced this is the way to go without having a true land area.

[J Teezy]

too late now but let me recommend some products for the future. For sealer you can use stuff called Shields All. It leaves a sort of shine look as well but what it looks like is if the background was wet, and since vivs are usually humid places and if you are misting its going to be wet any way, and with your plants covering the majority of the background anyway its not really noticeable. I usually also seal with silicone just because i like to be safer than sorry. The way you can combat the shine is by sprinkling sand on the shields all and/or silicone, which breaks up the shine and adds some texture.

Some other products are from hotwirefoamfactory.com. These people specialize in styrofoam crafts. They have a product called foam coat which i plan to use in the future. They have an exterior version that dries more textured like rock and they also have stuff called grit to add to the foam coat for rockey finish. The guy at this site Lizard care, and fake rock wall landscapes does alot of foam work for animal enclosures and he trust tried the foam coat products and said he likes it more than grout which is what i used after watching his videos on his previous projects.

I'll be giving the foam coat a whirl next build as grout can be a pain at times with flaking or cracking and can be kind of fragile until you get it all sealed and what not.

[ndame88]

Thanks Josh, DryLok ended up leaving a wet look, but nothing like the Pond Armor, I am going to check out the other products you mentioned for future use.

[ndame88]

So I just realized that the piece of driftwood I got off Ebay is Red Cedar cut over 50 years ago, from doing research Red Cedar is a no no. So now back to square one on figuring out a transistion to the water with easy exits for frogs falling in the water.

Any ideas? I was thinking something like this

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/mem...aludarium.html

[ndame88]

Added a piece of driftwood, used some acrylic paint to add highlights, 1/4 tubing covered in eco earth to look like vines come out under the driftwood, tubing will drip water.