So after a while of no progress, I finally got some supplies and went at it. My major hold up was that I realized if I were to silicone in the background foam, my false bottom wouldn't fit in the tank. Therefore, the false bottom needed to be all ready to go before siliconing in the background. However, that meant my bulkhead had to be installed first and because it sticks out of the bottom (will be drilling holes in the back/sides of future tanks), I had to get a stand with a ledge so that the tank could be supported without the bulkhead resting directly on the ground. I found a stand, installed the bulkhead, dropped in the false bottom. I then put some newspaper on top and taped up the sides so that when I silicone in the background and add the TBIII/Coco fiber it won't get everywhere.

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My next step was to fit the background in and silicone it down. However, I realized it would be difficult to get the tops of the background covered without making a huge mess if I siliconed it in first. So, I went ahead and mixed up some TBIII/coco fiber and slathered it on the top edge of the background. I then pressed in added coco fiber and let it dry. I had never mixed this stuff up before and it wasn't the easiest to apply. I think it might have been a little too thick, and the top was very thin, so getting it to stay on without getting everywhere was a chore, but it worked.

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After about 6 hours it felt really hard and dry (there is almost no humidity in my apartment in Minnesota right now, probably helped the drying process). I haven't shaken off the loose fiber yet, I'll do that tonight.

A couple questions: 1) How do you spread the silicone on the tank to get it completely covered so that when looking at it from the outside of the tank, it looks black. I got the GE Silicone II Black, just need to know how to easily spread it around.

2) I want to add a plant holder or two on the background before I cover it with TBIII/coco fiber. I plan on using GS to secure it to the background, but how do you deal with drainage for those holders? If I GS the entire thing in, water won't drain from the bottom. If I drill/poke a hole in the bottom, there will be some GS that isn't coated in TBIII/coco fiber and will be too small of a hole to get in there. Does that matter? Do I even need drainage for these holders?

Thanks!
Dave