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37 Posts
Hello,
First time posting here and im new to making dart vivs so please forgive my inexperience.
My Setup:
Exo Terra 12 X 12 X 18
Advanced Mist King Setup
Hydroton/ABG MIX/Live Moss/Live Oak Leaf Litter (from ne herp and joshs frogs)
Some Cork rounds for hiding
Bunch of broms from ne herp, some korean rock fern, maiden hair fern, and a ton of Air Plants i found at a tropical plants store in NYC (uploaded a pic of my plants waiting for my viv to finish they are all flowering now. Pic is a couple weeks old).
I used the silicone and great stuff (window and door the green bottle) technique but had some trouble covering all of the great stuff and in some places along the bottom of the background there are some exposed pieces of the great stuff. Would it be ok for me to go ahead and build the viv without going back with more silicone? If i go back I will need a lot of silicone which will probably take forever to cure. I already have had to wait almost a week for the work i already did to cure to the point where there is absolutely no acetic acid smell. I was able to patch the visible pieces with a glue gun (is this ok?) so I'm not worried about looks(it actually looks great) but I am more concerned that the great stuff will be toxic if it is exposed. I have a mist king system and no water features so it won't be sopping wet but will be getting misted a couple times a day.
Should i go over with more silicone and lose another week or so or can i start to assemble the tank and not worry about the exposed great stuff. I litterally have everything i need just waiting for the tank background to finish. Very frustrating! I plan on building a larger viv soon (possibly from scratch or a large exo terra) but I really want to get this one up and running. In the future i can use it as a quarantine or something to put them in if i ever need to clean or disassemble the larger one. I only plan on housing one or two darts for now in the 12x12x18 (propably Dendrobates auratus "Hawaiian" or any other extremely active dart. Recomendations please!).
List of mistakes i wish i could take back:
Using the green bottle great stuff: Its Yellow and doesnt say its OK for use with fish. Should have used the black bottle fish save stuff. Its comes out black, is safe for fish and i wouldnt have had to lay down a base coat of black silicone (saving time and money).
I used clear silicone over the yellow great stuff. Its hard to see if you covered everything and if you dont get enough coco fiber to stick to it you can see through to the yellow great stuff.
I used the wrong coco fiber that wasnt fine enough which caused the coating over the clear silicone to be patchy so i had to go back with a glue gun to fix (took forever).
Learn from my mistakes!
Thanks in advance for any replies.
.
First time posting here and im new to making dart vivs so please forgive my inexperience.
My Setup:
Exo Terra 12 X 12 X 18
Advanced Mist King Setup
Hydroton/ABG MIX/Live Moss/Live Oak Leaf Litter (from ne herp and joshs frogs)
Some Cork rounds for hiding
Bunch of broms from ne herp, some korean rock fern, maiden hair fern, and a ton of Air Plants i found at a tropical plants store in NYC (uploaded a pic of my plants waiting for my viv to finish they are all flowering now. Pic is a couple weeks old).
I used the silicone and great stuff (window and door the green bottle) technique but had some trouble covering all of the great stuff and in some places along the bottom of the background there are some exposed pieces of the great stuff. Would it be ok for me to go ahead and build the viv without going back with more silicone? If i go back I will need a lot of silicone which will probably take forever to cure. I already have had to wait almost a week for the work i already did to cure to the point where there is absolutely no acetic acid smell. I was able to patch the visible pieces with a glue gun (is this ok?) so I'm not worried about looks(it actually looks great) but I am more concerned that the great stuff will be toxic if it is exposed. I have a mist king system and no water features so it won't be sopping wet but will be getting misted a couple times a day.
Should i go over with more silicone and lose another week or so or can i start to assemble the tank and not worry about the exposed great stuff. I litterally have everything i need just waiting for the tank background to finish. Very frustrating! I plan on building a larger viv soon (possibly from scratch or a large exo terra) but I really want to get this one up and running. In the future i can use it as a quarantine or something to put them in if i ever need to clean or disassemble the larger one. I only plan on housing one or two darts for now in the 12x12x18 (propably Dendrobates auratus "Hawaiian" or any other extremely active dart. Recomendations please!).
List of mistakes i wish i could take back:
Using the green bottle great stuff: Its Yellow and doesnt say its OK for use with fish. Should have used the black bottle fish save stuff. Its comes out black, is safe for fish and i wouldnt have had to lay down a base coat of black silicone (saving time and money).
I used clear silicone over the yellow great stuff. Its hard to see if you covered everything and if you dont get enough coco fiber to stick to it you can see through to the yellow great stuff.
I used the wrong coco fiber that wasnt fine enough which caused the coating over the clear silicone to be patchy so i had to go back with a glue gun to fix (took forever).
Learn from my mistakes!
Thanks in advance for any replies.
.
