Natural look on great stuff

[samuel]

after asking and reading a lot i tried to make my own tank for my incoming species but first i had to try it. firs i got my material, then clenaed my old tank the one i posted with two sotres (kinda) and put some great stuff, forgot to take pictures of that step, then i added water based waterproffing paint usualy you find it in white color

i strongly recomend to cover the glass with black silicone in the area where youre going to add the great stuff, also use egg crate or other material because after a while the foam start to lossen off the glass because humidity

Moved photos - Mark

(Message edited by aartse_tuyn on December 16, 2006)

 

[samuel]

continuing the subject, this is a frotn view, the one before is the upper view

in this picture ive only painted one coat, i did 3 coats ( no pics finished and this is why you should cover the glass

 

[samuel]

sorry for not psoting all togehter but couldnt make pictures smaller,

well after the waterproofing coats i add to the waterproofing paint tempera, i used brown and black until i like the color

then i painted two coats one light an the upper coat a bit darker, and then i used the light left overs to make light details after 24 hours of driying and this is how it looks finished

after i painted i add some THING, dont know the name, its called chipe in spanish is some orchide substrate, with the paint, and then i plce the moss i found, dont know what kind either, but it wasnt enogh, if you see there are two holes on the top part, one to palce a little dish to feed the sals and another hole to plant a little plant, after adding the moss and living the tank filled with watter for 3 weeks the color still the same and didnt colored the water

im still doing more thing to the tank , ill post more pics when its done

 

[coen]

That's starting to look pretty cool Samuel, have a look at my thread, I've used similar techniques as you did:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/7618/73680.html?1166083273

 

[samuel]

i actually looked at yours already, mine wont be big as yours, but just wanted to share that you can add colour to the great stuff, not only white, i did it brown-gray, if you want you can use any other colour, my next tank would be bigger, hope i cant find more materials to work with.



Coen i just have one question what other material i could use instead of cocopeat, the one i used its ok but its not enough i think, also the coco fiber, we dont have it here, any sugestion!?!?

 

[coen]

You can use sand in any color, I don't know if the moss will do well on in though. Plus, I don't apply color to the expanding foam, but on the tile glue I put on it, this way the cocopeat will attach much better.

I can't suggest using regular peat, as it mostly contains chemicals. You can ask the people at the garden centre if they have safe peat though.

As an alternative for the cocofibre, you can use something that's called "fern roots" here in holland. It's used by people that have dart frog terrariums. If you need details for the materials used, you can maybe search for a forum/website on dart frog keeping in your area/country.