20 Gallon Vertical Build Journal

[John]

Looks good Don. But a vert for tincs? Are you sure?

[DonLisk]

Man, these two are climbing everywhere. Most of the time they are up on the monkey ladder or picking off flies from the pothos and top side walls where they are now. With the monkey ladder and plants going in I think they will use more more than whats available going up.

The wood was something I found at Zoo Creatures and I believe was for an aquarium. Super light weight so I'm hoping it won't deteriorate fast.
The lowest piece is angled out to create a somewhat larger overhang and once the substrates in and sloped up towards the left back it should make a nice place for them to start climbing since I plan to do most of the plants center to top in this one.

We'll see. If not, then I can build them a 20 Long... I love building ..... hehehehe

[LilyPad]

Patience is right! It's looking good already, I can't wait to see the finished product.

[Voltage]

The tincs I saw today were climing up and down in a 10 vert... But it's looking good and I hope your foam doesn't shrink off the glass

[DonLisk]

Thanks Voltage. I just finished putting the silicone and substrate to it so I'll add more later tonight. I was amazed the Great Stuff was completely dry to the glass in 12 - 14 hours.

[DonLisk]

Part II

Below are photos of the foam and accents in place prior to the addition of the GE Silicone II and Substrate.

I applied the GE Silicone II Black to the foam which took a total of 2 1/2 tube to completely cover. I completed the applying of silicone and addition of substrate materials by dividing top, center, and bottom into separate sections.
Below are some pictures of the three sections once the substrate was applied.

And here are some pictures of the tank with the background completed.

I will allow this to dry and will rinse down multiple times by spraying down with the mister to ensure loose substrate particles are removed.
I will note here that once I have the substrate applied to the silicone, and pressed in firmly, I allow to dry overnight, then brush off excess substrate with a stiff bristle paint brush to break loose substrate that has not attached well.

I will also note here that I noticed the Great Stuff Foam did slightly shrink on the right side of the tank and slightly detach from the glass, but this was filled in with the addition of silicone and substrate for the background covering.

Hope you find this useful.

[John]

Thanks for this, Don. One aspect of terrarium building that I never expected is that everyone has their own design ideas, and even when we borrow the ideas of other people we always have our own spin on them. This is definitely a Don Lisk terrarium. Even if I tried to imitate it really carefully I know it would never be a Don Lisk original .