Random Question Regarding Background for WTF Tank

[Sarosaurus]

Thanks for the input guys! I think I am going to try working with the foam and making it look good. I have all the time in the world to get it done...and I want to do it properly so I don't end up changing it again.

Should I secure the foam pieces together or to the back of the tank? And how well will plants root themselves in the Styrofoam?

I am getting ready to purchase an exacto knife...one thing down!

[deranged chipmunk]

The plants won't root at all in the foam. You would need to surround some planting pots with it. Take a look at my weekend warrior thread and you'll see what i mean. It's not very difficult at all.
As far as securing it to the glass, you have options. You can spray it directly onto the glass, you can lay down a layer of silicone on the glass and spray foam onto it, or you can silicone egg crate to the glass, let it cure and then spray the foam onto the eggcrate. All of them work well, but my preferred method is the latter.
Just take your time, plan ahead and read as many of the build threads on here that you can. Almost any question you have will probably have been.answered at one point or another, if not, feel free to ask away

[Sarosaurus]

I decided to not go with the Styrofoam idea. I am going to try my hand with the GS and see how that works out for me. I was searching online and managed to find a look that I really liked and that seemed simple enough for a starting out project. I am going to go for the look of the background here: New England Herpetoculture LLC - Custom Backgrounds! It seems like it will be pretty simple.. I honestly don't see how I can possibly screw up making roots/vines out of the foam.

I found a piece of nifty looking Malaysian Driftwood while I was at work today, so I bought that and brought it home. I am going to either use it to make a little cave for my frogs (believe it or not, I have a planter that looks like a rock tipped on its side and Artemis hangs out in there occasionally) or figure out how to turn it to make a little planter out of it. Not quite sure just yet...

I am slowly purchasing everything I want/need to make this tank awesome. Just need to get some silicone... And I have a question about that..

When it comes to the black silicone, does it matter if I use the All Glass brand or the stuff made by ZooMed? Is it the same thing or not?

[deranged chipmunk]

You want to use a silicone that is 100% silicone. Ge silicone 1 or 2 will work just fine and will be cheaper thank those tubes of aquarium sealant. Unless of course you absolutely must have black silicone. As far as i know, the darkest silicone ge makes is brown.

[Sarosaurus]

I was thinking about the black silicone because I like the look of it. I don't want to paint the outside of the tank to hide the foam and everything.

I'm being picky, I know. :P

I don't necessarily need the black silicone though. Just trying to eliminate some cost.

[deranged chipmunk]

Black contact paper will do the same trick. And it is easily removable. And you can also trim it to cover up anything you want to hide

[Sarosaurus]

...Why did I not think of contact paper?!? That is a genius idea!