Beautiful Destruction (My 2nd Build) **Pic Heavy**

[Josh]

SOOO after my first Terrarium i knew i was hooked..even before i was done with the first i was thinking of what i could do better the next time...

Well here it is. I had a 20Gallon Long just sitting around..i cleaned it and got my brain moving on ideas..and i came up with something that ive never seen before.
The main theme is going to be a mini rainforest being cut down...u will get the idea when you see the pics...Anyway i dont have a hole lot done..so dont get to excited just yet...

Im going to be making a False bottom..i really like the idea of having a false bottom as apposed to just having gravel or clayballs...it gives me the ability to really create the landscape that i want...

What i might do with the cut down tree is cut a hole in the Trunk(for the tube) and then cut out a groove in the tree...and then have that fall into a little pond of some sort..OR i might just build a Waterfall in the back left corner...idk yet so we shall see.

Anyway here are the pics of what i have done...you can see the current inhabitant of my tank...its my cat "Ninja" lol O and dont mind all the bottles of Alcohol...

[Josh]

I just relized that the proportion of the trunk and tree are WAY off so im gonna sand it down some more...plus when i add the last layer of Grout ill be able to add more width were needed..O and im also going to be making some Roots for the trunk tonight..and also try and find a way to make fake vines in the tree...im thinking just like some wire tubing or even air line tubes could work...

[Josh]

Little work on the trunk today...I made some roots...now it looks a little funky..but once it drys im gonna try and sand it down to blend in more..and also when i put the grout on it will do more to blend everything together...hopefully



**EDIT PICTURE**

Hated the way it looked after it was done...sooo i changed it...looks alot better imo

[eos]

Cool... I'll be following this build

[TheHamr]

Great start!

[Josh]

Wed/thur to do list

1) Mortar my Tree and trunk... 3 layers...1 thin layer 1 med layer and 1 almost puddy layer in which i will carve in the bark and add more detail to it...o and make the Trunk a little more wide....O and then a layer of acrylic sealant..which i will have to sand out all the bright shiny spots.

2) Design my F/B and my waterfall

3) start my Background

4) start thinking of plants

5) go buy a glass top

ALOT of work in the next two days..but i dont work wed or thur so ill have plenty of time...

[Adam Kenny]

Pretty original! I'll defo be following this too...

Also, you know you could mix the acrylic sealer into the mortor to help reduce shine? That's what I'm doing for my rock background...

[Adam Kenny]

Also, are you supposed to wait for the mortar to cure between coats, or just dry? Cuz I'm just applying my first coat now...

-A

[Josh]

Thanks Adam and yes you are supposed to wait between coats...how long? i dont know lol...but if i had to guess if u didnt wait it would crack later on

*edit*
i didnt know that you can add the sealer into the mortar....thats actually a really good idea

[Josh]

SOOO i went on a shopping spree and spent about 100-140 dollars worth of stuff for my tank...
i got LOTS of stuff.. O and i finnaly found Great stuff Pond and Stone...which btw is twice as expensive as the regular stuff...AND walking around Lowes i found brown Silicone...i didnt get it cuz i already have a huge tube of it but for future projects ill be getting that..
anyway if anyone wants to see what 140ish dollars gets you here u go



Foam is really expensive 20 bucks for that..wasnt to happy about it since i have no experince in carving out in foam..sooo hope it works out lol....lets see what else...great stuff was 11 dollars hot knife is 10...grout 10ish...etc etc u get the point..its all cheap tell u add everything up lol