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36x24x48 Protean Palu Build

3K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  ndame88 
#1 · (Edited)
I posted this on another forum, so thought I would post it here since the best builds are on this, the enclosure is for RETFs.

The Protean Enclosure



Cut and shaped foam, stacking layer upon layer





Added net cups, GS around and shaped



Added 3 layers of mortar with my kids




Purchased some clear Pond Armor to waterproof the mortar, after applying and allowing it to dry it turned the grey into dark grey/black and left it VERY shinny, it looked fake, hated out it turned out, decided to apply 2-3 more coats of mortar to cover up the Pond Armor.



No pics, but applied a coat of DryLok Natural.

Next is to figure out how to transition to the water area since this is a Palu build, from the bottom of the background to the bottom of the tank leaves me 12 inches to play with, looking at have a water height of 9 inches. I purchased this piece of driftwood off of Ebay.



The driftwood is H17X L25X W21, its free standing, will have to trim the bottom branches so that the main horizontal bean is just in the water, this will create a land area to attach epiphytes and grow some moss, still not convinced this is the way to go without having a true land area.

Thoughts? Feedback?
 

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#6 ·
I posted this on another forum, so thought I would post it here since the best builds are on this, the enclosure is for RETFs.

The Protean Enclosure



Cut and shaped foam, stacking layer upon layer




Added net cups, GS around and shaped


Added 3 layers of mortar with my kids





Purchased some clear Pond Armor to waterproof the mortar, after applying and allowing it to dry it turned the grey into dark grey/black and left it VERY shinny, it looked fake, hated out it turned out, decided to apply 2-3 more coats of mortar to cover up the Pond Armor.

No pics, but applied a coat of DryLok Natural.

Next is to figure out how to transition to the water area since this is a Palu build, from the bottom of the background to the bottom of the tank leaves me 12 inches to play with, looking at have a water height of 9 inches. I purchased this piece of driftwood off of Ebay.


The driftwood is H17X L25X W21, its free standing, will have to trim the bottom branches so that the main horizontal bean is just in the water, this will create a land area to attach epiphytes and grow some moss, still not convinced this is the way to go without having a true land area.

Thoughts? Feedback?
 
#7 ·
#8 ·
So after long wait I got back at building this viv, then I realized that I messed up by siliconing the back side of the drop in background. Not sure why I did it, but if new silicone will not stick to old silicone, how get it to adhere to the glass? My initial thought was to cover the back side of the background with Gorilla Glue or TB III, let it dry then silicone in. Any ideas?

Thanks
 
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