Next step was to make the background and false bottom. I first glued the pvc spacers in place, so that they would not fall when the tank was moved vertical to make the background (after learning the hard way that this was necessary). This show was from directly above the tank.
I next installed the false bottom, and taped it into place, then added the PVC for my air flow system. This was somewhat difficult, because the pvc was sticking out the bottom that the tank needed to rest on. I solved this by putting some old text books to use as stilts for the tank. I should note here that I had previously covered the PVC end in the plastic mesh used to make the false bottom.
Next I covered the back in GS, then placed my wood into the foam in a predecided position. It was a good thing that I took a picture of how I wanted them, because otherwise the position of the wood would never have been remembered correctly. I also used a cut up empty paper towel roll to keep the wood in position and to prevent my vent from being obscured by GS.
A word of warning for anyone who hasn't yet used Great Stuff... Cover all of your wood in plastic and tape before GSing, otherwise you will end up with a huge mess (like I did). And its a pain.
A few hours later, the GS felt like it was setting well, so I started trimming it up. Perhaps I was a tad impatient. I quickly cut into a huge air pocket, and the background started deflating :shock:. When I woke up the next morning, I found that the hole a found had refilled with foam, which had then extruded out of the hole and onto my background (like one of the "snakes" at the forth of july). This was easily cut off. Another note. I used 2 bottles of GS for a relatively small area. Overnight, the GS got into my false bottom and would have occluded my drain had I not put a foot long tube inside my false bottom. So be careful with that.
Here is an image of the tank after GS and with the supports removed.
And here it is from the top, before trimming.
Next it was time to trim up the background and remove the excess silicone from the glass. I started trimming with a razor blade, but it quickly became clear that would not due. MY fiancee got me a scalpel and some tweezers, which worked awesome for trimming. I used a razor to remove excess silicone from the background, which worked just fine, mostly. One major problem presented itself, which was silicone on the glass adjacent to the wood. My hands were just to big to get in there. I got most of it off with the scalpel blade, but it was an unpleasant experience. I attempted to create a plateau above the wood, and another below the wood. This turned out well, but the lower plateau would eventually become covered in dirt anyway. :?
Next up is substrate...
