Hello all,
This is my first post here... so be gentle!
So for the past few months I've been collecting materials and spending a vast amount of time researching to build a naturalistic, bio active terrarium (using an exo terra 60x45x60) to house a group of 3 red eyes.
I aim to get them in roughly a month ... but as I'm starting the build now, and they'll be going into a quarantine tank for 4-6 weeks, I have plenty of time for the build... so I want to do it right the first time so it will last for as long as possible.
So on to my question...
I want to use the standard GS method to add some texture to the whole back and right side of the tank, with a little on the left... but I want to do it without taking too much space away from the frogs.
For the foam I have 'Touch n Foam black Waterfall foam' ... seems like the safest option I could find.
And for the silicone I've gone with 'Bond-It HA6 Marine' aquarium silicone - I've got brown for bonding the coco to the foam, black to go on the inside of the glass behind the foam ( to make it look less messy from the back of the tank), and clear to improve the exo terra door seals and vents.
I've been doing some small scale tests and have found that the foam really doesn't adhear well to the cured silicone... a slight tug when cured brings it cleanly apart? so I need a better way of getting everything to stick:
I did another test and found that applying the foam directly onto a layer of un-cured silicone worked well? but this may lead to the silicone not curing fully? so I won?t do this.
I've got some extra egg crate left over from the false bottom ( I couldn?t actually find this in the UK so I?ve gone with plastic grid for coral aquariums ? very sturdy stuff ) that I could press into the black silicone on the glass before foaming, but I'm wondering how much I need to use, and what the best placement is? Do I just need some 'strips' along the edges, with some small bits dotted in the middle, or should I use a whole sheet to cover the whole back?
Or does anyone have any other suggestions.
Many thanks,
Chris
This is my first post here... so be gentle!
So for the past few months I've been collecting materials and spending a vast amount of time researching to build a naturalistic, bio active terrarium (using an exo terra 60x45x60) to house a group of 3 red eyes.
I aim to get them in roughly a month ... but as I'm starting the build now, and they'll be going into a quarantine tank for 4-6 weeks, I have plenty of time for the build... so I want to do it right the first time so it will last for as long as possible.
So on to my question...
I want to use the standard GS method to add some texture to the whole back and right side of the tank, with a little on the left... but I want to do it without taking too much space away from the frogs.
For the foam I have 'Touch n Foam black Waterfall foam' ... seems like the safest option I could find.
And for the silicone I've gone with 'Bond-It HA6 Marine' aquarium silicone - I've got brown for bonding the coco to the foam, black to go on the inside of the glass behind the foam ( to make it look less messy from the back of the tank), and clear to improve the exo terra door seals and vents.
I've been doing some small scale tests and have found that the foam really doesn't adhear well to the cured silicone... a slight tug when cured brings it cleanly apart? so I need a better way of getting everything to stick:
I did another test and found that applying the foam directly onto a layer of un-cured silicone worked well? but this may lead to the silicone not curing fully? so I won?t do this.
I've got some extra egg crate left over from the false bottom ( I couldn?t actually find this in the UK so I?ve gone with plastic grid for coral aquariums ? very sturdy stuff ) that I could press into the black silicone on the glass before foaming, but I'm wondering how much I need to use, and what the best placement is? Do I just need some 'strips' along the edges, with some small bits dotted in the middle, or should I use a whole sheet to cover the whole back?
Or does anyone have any other suggestions.
Many thanks,
Chris