xylene & peat moss background

[titansfever83]

Has anyone done this method and had satisfying results with one application. I just finished mine and looks like I may need to do a little touch up work(my mix was somewhat runny, slightly thicker than ranch dressing, yummy lol). Also I think I should have screened my peat moss a little better or used a blender.

I like the look of it but I just hope it stands up to the pounding of my misters everyday since I have a very large water feature and don't want peat floating every where. I vacuumed the loose material the best I could.

[eyeviper]

Yeah I just finished mine. If its too runny then it doesnt work as well...as you noticed ranch is too runny personally. When I did my roots I had to re-do them because the peat wasnt sticking well. Think more like ketchup consistency. It should still be gloopy and supper sticky. It works awesomely, I used it to get the detail in the background which it does well...you can still see the vines anyway. Think ketchup! mayo is too thick, butter ranch too runny, honey to thick....cant think of any others but you get the gist.






40 breeder for D.azureus

[titansfever83]

Did you screen your peat moss?

I added some coco fibers i had lying around just to give it a little different look than my vines I already made.

[parkanz2]

I'm confused about what product you used. You said Xylene which is a solvent... are you saying you used silicone thinned with xylene?

Thanks for the clarification.

[titansfever83]

Originally Posted by parkanz2

I'm confused about what product you used. You said Xylene which is a solvent... are you saying you used silicone thinned with xylene?

Thanks for the clarification.

Yes, Xylene is practically the same as Toulene, just dries a little slower. It helps thin the silicone to make it thinner and easier to work with(somewhat).

This is my first time trying this method, though it is somewhat easily done, I'm not a huge fan of it. To me it seems that the durability of this method will be short lived.

[eyeviper]

Originally Posted by titansfever83

Did you screen your peat moss?

I added some coco fibers i had lying around just to give it a little different look than my vines I already made.

No I like having different sized particles in my background, if I find chunks as I am throwing the peat on then I just break them up with my hand. Once you get the consistency of the silicone/xylene right it is super easy to work with and makes details possible. With regular silicone, my vines would not stand out as much.

[parkanz2]

Thanks Titans, that's what I was guessing. Looks good!