Joe's 29g Vert. Tree Trunk

[jflick345]

Hi Everyone,
New to this forum but not totally new to frogs. The last several years I was heavy into reef tanks but after a relocation to FL and some apartment living I'm getting back into the herp. world. I started with a green tree/long tailed grass lizard basic planted viv. in high school and moved eventually to a 20H Red-Eyed Leaf Frog viv. Both were very basic planted tanks so I'm stepping up my game a little this time. About a month or so ago I started a 29g vertical build for most likely thumbnail darts, probably a pair of R. imitator Varadero. I've made tons of progress so I'll bring you up to speed.

I started with some supplies from NEHERP and a small local Herp shop. I have a ghostwood branch with a bunch of pods to toss in as well.



I made a V-shaped egg crate frame and started building up a thick coat of GSF for carving down to a tree.



The intial foam:


I ended up adding a lot more foam to the bottom and middle for the knot/hole and the roots but I forgot to take pics. Here is the resulting tree:



I built a custom stand out of 2x4s and a nice skin to stain. I also tossed some non-toxic acrylic craft paint on the tree in case any showed through the coco bark coating.

[Hellsrage]

Very nice, can't wait to see more!

[jflick345]

Time Warp One week...I coated the tree in a nice coco bark/Tite Bond III oatmeal and let it cure for 3-4 days. Next I foamed the tree into the back, let it cure overnight then foamed the right side.







We took a nice weekend trip to Siesta Key with a stop at Tropiflora in Sarasota for a nice haul of Neoregelia broms, Tillandsias, and tropical plants. My lovely assistant help me determine a suitable layout.






The most painstaking part of the process was next. I made a mixture of coco bark and sphagnum for the background and used TBIII and water to create a very thick oatmeal-type slurry. I coated the back, let it sit a couple days then used some shoe boxes to tilt the tank a little to coat the right side. What a pain to reach a around the tree to get all the nooks and crannies. Totally worth it in the end but what...a...pain. I let it cure probably a good 9-10 days as I completed the vent and glass/door silicone job. It hardened up rock solid in about 99% of the area but nothing was soft enough to concern me.

[jflick345]

I had a nice 4 day weekend and put a lot of the "final" touches in. I added the LECA layer, substrate barrier, and NEHerp substrate and started planting. I love the way it loooks and more importantly so does my wife. She might be more excited for frogs than me...maybe. I stained the stand and got a couple free 1.5 gallon Glofish tanks that I will be putting in the base. We'll see for how long since somehow the space ended up a great size for a 10g vert. or 2. I think it will be a great touch when it's completed and filled with fluorescent fish.















I'll be adding in a small sphagnum moss layer to the substrate and then live oak leaf litter with some sea grape leaves tossed in along with misc. pods. Thanks for looking!

[flybyferns]

This looks great , Joe.
Thanks for posting all the great photos !
Lynn

[maxQ]

Beautiful job, this came out great. We have some talented people here.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! Very nice build, looking forward to seeing frogs in there !

[jflick345]

This looks great , Joe.
Thanks for posting all the great photos !
Lynn

Beautiful job, this came out great. We have some talented people here.

Hello and welcome to FF! Very nice build, looking forward to seeing frogs in there !

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! I'm really excited to get some frogs in there. I still have to start some cultures and I want to let the plants grow a bit so the patience is gonna be tough but worth it.