2 new builds I'm doing right now

[IrishRonin]

Okay so I've made some progress but man with this weather curing is taking forever. Ok so the first 2 are the 20g with simple background complete w/ false floor installed. On the left you can see a small pool mounted to the wall, that's the top of the waterfall and one the right you can see I put in a planting spot. It still needs to be cleaned up but haven't gotten there yet. In the others you can see I've sprayed the foam but it took 2 1/2 days to cure so I haven't added the coconut fiber yet. For this pond I am actually using an old hide I had laying around, flipped it over, attached a drain pipe to it and cut some slits in it so the water can drain back into the water table without soaking the soil. For the top waterfall pools on both these builds I am using a magnetic freed dish, they hold water very well and can be easily place before you spray your foam plus they are easy to carve any alterations (hosing grove ect) into it. Well hopefully today I'll finish the background as well as the streams too, I'll keep you all updated as it happens. Oh and bill it was part of the agreement that he sends me pictures of it all planted so when I get them I'll be sure to share.

[ndame88]

background with the tree looks great, I would think that 5-7 RETF in a 20 gal would not be enough room? I hesitated to put 6 in my 36x24x48

[IrishRonin]

No you misunderstand the one without the tree is a 20g the one with the tree is like yours 24w x 36L x 48H and it's for a pet store so the frogs won't live the entire life in there

[deranged chipmunk]

very cool Ronin. i love the use of the hide as a pool. kind of jealous i never thought of that looking forward to seeing more progress

[IrishRonin]

Bill-To be honest I don't really like these types of hide, it probably has been in my "workshop" for 4-5 years. I was looking for something that would look good as a pond, while looking at water dish I saw it out of the corner of my eye and then the light bulb came on. I need to update this thread as more work has been done but I don't have the pictures so you'll have to wait. The only thing left is to finish the streams and mate the hide to its stream. Maybe I'll get those pictures up tonight after work.

[IrishRonin]

Okay so I know it's been awhile since I've updated so I'll make up for it with a picture heavy update now. Okay so the streams were being more hassle then anything so I used some old skills and did them out of fiberglass. Years ago I did a giant yellow submarine on wheels with a certain little red fish on it for a black mouse with big ears. So to start I got some foam blocks and laid them out the way I wanted them, I then hot glued the pieces together. After that I carved them into their final shape, you have to do them upside down and backwards so when you pop them out there the correct way. Once I had my bucks the way I wanted them I them brushed 8-10 layers of hot wax on them so the glass wouldn't stick. When they were dry I went ahead and fiberglass them. If you've never done it before it's really easy, first you paint your buck with resin then add a piece of fiberglass mat then you repeat until you've got 3-4 layers. When they dried I used my dremel to cut it off the cardboard I did it on, and then I cut the buck out. Then I had to glass them to there pond/ drain tube. Now all that was left was to decorate them, for that I used silicone, hot glued, sand and rocks. So as you can see one is done and the other is about 60 % done. I also finished the background for the large enclosure but I somehow forgot to get pictures, next time I guess. Well let me know what you think.

[deranged chipmunk]

out-freaking-standing!! i know a lot of guys who do glass work for automotive customizing, never thought to apply it to a build. awesome!! but, for some reason, now i got a hankering for weinerschnitzel.