# No Adhesive Method Viv Build



## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

Hi Guys,

I thought I would post some pictures of a build I am doing and share a method that I have used for my last 3 vivs.

I'm not saying it is better than any other method, its just different and has a couple of advantages for me. I started doing it this way because I wanted to do a cork mosaic but I couldn't ever figure out how to silicone the cork to the back wall without making a complete mess.

I don't have a name for it. I just stack the cork and fill in the gaps with a bunch of wet sphagnum.

Basically I start with the bottom row of cork and I support the bottom with ABG soil mix. Then I push clumps of sphagnum into the gaps. I just try to fill in any gap that a frog might use to get behind the structure. I don't try to fill in all the air space behind the cork, just the gaps, but you need to pack the sphagnum tight. Then I do the same with the next layer and then the next. I usually only build the wall about 3/4 of the way up the back and it helps to use large pieces of cork. I have used as few as 3 pieces of large cork and as many as 10 medium pieces.

I then usually use some cork or malaysian driftwood on the floor to help brace the bottom and ghostwood branches to help brace the top.

My first tank built this way has been up for 2.5 years without any problems. The second has been up for over a year. All tanks have been 18x18x24 ZooMeds.

The benefits are that you don't have to wait for any glue/silicone/GS foam to dry and there is nothing that is toxic to the frogs. Every speck of the background will grow plants. If you had the materials ready to go, you could be frog ready in a weekend.

The down side is, it takes some practice. It also helps to have an over abundance of cork and wood, because no matter how much you like that one piece of cork or wood, sometimes there is just no way you are going to make it work with the other pieces.

I will post a couple pictures of the sides of the tanks later so you can see what they look like.

Anyway, here are a couple pics of my recent build









This is as far as I got this weekend. 









Here are a couple pics from the first one.









Early planting. It looks a lot different 2.5 years later.


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## unc-usf-fsu (Jan 30, 2006)

Very nice, I did somewhat the same using a clay/sphagnum mix instead of just sphagnum. I like the fact that these types of builds can be done quickly, I don't have to hear about all the viv items being a mess from the girlfriend.


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## Broseph (Dec 5, 2011)

I'm not exactly an anti-artificial-everything hippie, but this is pretty cool. I always take pride when people ask "Are all those plants and wood real?" But secretly I'm ashamed of all the silicone and polyurethane they don't see.

Would love to see a matured viv of yours.

How large of a gap do you tolerate between cork pieces? The gaps look bigger than I typically see for the traditional cork mosaic.


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Cool concept, Phil. I'm going to try it out with a couple 18g verts that I'm working on, one of which is for the Colon group I got from you a little over a year ago!


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

Dane said:


> Cool concept, Phil. I'm going to try it out with a couple 18g verts that I'm working on, one of which is for the Colon group I got from you a little over a year ago!


Nice! A few big pieces of cork works better than a bunch of smaller ones and remember to pack the sphagnum tight!

Oh, I haven't forgotten about posting pictures. For some reason they wouldn't load onto PhotoBucket last night and I didn't have time to figure out why.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

This is a really interesting approach, Phil. Good job thinking of it. The only thing I would worry about is that some of my frogs (I am looking at you, auratus) like to kind of burrow down into the substrate. I would worry that frogs could worm their way back behind the cork. Have you seen anything like that yet? I would think that, if you pack the sphagnum tight enough, it would be great for smaller-bodied frogs, for sure.

Mark


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## JoeDigiorgio (Nov 30, 2015)

I like this method. Reminds me of building an aquascape in a fish tank. 

Please post pictures of the 2 year old viv as it is now, I'm curious how these mature.


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

The first pic is my 2.5 year old basti tank. (this is the first tank I built with this method) Please excuse the dying brom in the middle. I don't remove any plant material from my pumilio tanks until it falls to the floor for fear of removing tads or eggs. The lance leaf plant in the upper left corner is Begonia squamulosa.

The second tank has been going for a year. It is mostly orchids and ferns and houses leucomelas. No broms in this one because they tend to shade the orchids and the leucs don't need them to breed.

Both tanks were built with the above method.


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## dirtmonkey (Feb 10, 2007)

I've collected a couple boxes of matching rocks and driftwood I'd like to do something like this with. I was planning to paint the back glass and leave the nooks and crannies open, except the ones needed for planting pockets, but maybe stuffing moss into at least the furthest back parts against the glass would be a better idea.

Thank you for the inspiration bump.


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## RabidSimian (Sep 25, 2015)

I do this with all my vase vivariums, except I use a light soil as the back layer. Once I've stacked the cork bark and sticks properly I'll fill in the gaps with the moss. Makes a great quick build in tight spaces while allowing you to make mistakes. You can sometimes also update an established vivarium and remove/replace some pieces. Also if you have established Orchids or ferns mounted to cork bark or tree fern you can work them in. 

Yours look great. I'll post some of mine later.


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

Broseph said:


> I'm not exactly an anti-artificial-everything hippie, but this is pretty cool. I always take pride when people ask "Are all those plants and wood real?" But secretly I'm ashamed of all the silicone and polyurethane they don't see.
> 
> Would love to see a matured viv of yours.
> 
> How large of a gap do you tolerate between cork pieces? The gaps look bigger than I typically see for the traditional cork mosaic.


Sorry I skipped over your question. I try to keep my gaps no wider that two of my fingers. The gaps look bigger because you are not just filling the gaps, you are packing them tight. Since you are compressing the sphagnum in the cracks, anything not in the gaps expands out a bit.

Here is a pic of the back corner behind the cork. As you can see the sphagnum is packed almost as tight as in the dry cubes it came it.

As far as frogs digging through it, unless your frogs have claws, I don't see them digging through 1.5" of tightly packed sphagnum. To go under the cork, they would have to get through 1.5" - 2" of ABG mix.

I had some Mancreeks that found a small hole that I had not noticed (oops, I guess I have done 4 tanks like this). They could go in and out as they pleased but it sure made it tough to catch them. Once I realized it was there, it was easy to plug.


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

I think I am done and ready for frogs at this point. Something Ed said about most dart frogs living in a field of leaf litter with very few other plants around, made me think I tend to over plant the foregrounds of my tank. This tank will only have epiphytes


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## Disquiet (Dec 22, 2013)

I'd be interested to see this method used in conjunction with a clay background. The clay could offer something "sticky" for the cork to adhere to, for more usable vertical space, but you could still alternate that with packed sphagnum to create the mosaic look. I'm definitely digging the all-natural route, thanks for sharing!


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Nice variation on the cork mosaic...

Here is my original thread since it's related...
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...-mosaic-living-drip-wall-pond-method-how.html

Not trying to steal the OP's thunder, just trying to make it easier on someone who wants to do more reading

You can combine these methods, and/or throw some real or fake rock/wood into the mix also. Drift wood siliconed to the back of tank with the cork mosaic surrounding it and sphagnum jammed all in spaces works nicely.

If trying to silicone raw pieces of cork that dont have a flat back to them it is a matter of just putting the silicone on the points that will contact the glass and trying to hide that as much as possible. For pieces that have a arch in them or otherwise irregular back you can kinda fiil it in with foam and then cut the foam so the tile has a flat back then silicone that to the glass, or the foam itself is usually enough to stick it there.

I find you can make your gaps roughly proportional to the thickness of the tiles edge where you will be packing the moss in. So if it is a zoo med tile with rough front but nice flat back: those are usually an inch or less thick, sometimes only about a centimeter so that's about the biggest gap I usually try to fill. Thicker tiles and/or rough tiles sometimes let you get away with larger gaps, but even small gaps allow the plants to root, grow up the wally then branch out so that you get the "map" or "mosaic" look when things grow in.

Oh cork rounds cut in an angle on one end and siliconed to glass to make planters or perches/hides for frogs are also cool. Also starting with large rough cork front tile with nice flat back like the zoo med pieces makes the orignal method easier to do IMHO. Because when you break up that big tile you can basically take the complete tile, break it into manageable pieces that are already in the basic configuration they will go on the back wall in, you just have to move them a little to leave the gaps that you pack with moss. Makes corners especially easy when you start with a nice rectangular tile since you already have the right angles to go in the corners of the tank once you break the larger piece into the mosaic pattern.

Good job OP!!!! Nice to see someone doing the mosaic that isn't filling the dang gaps with foam, negating the awesome planted wall effect possible with this method


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

Disquiet said:


> I'd be interested to see this method used in conjunction with a clay background. The clay could offer something "sticky" for the cork to adhere to, for more usable vertical space, but you could still alternate that with packed sphagnum to create the mosaic look. I'm definitely digging the all-natural route, thanks for sharing!


I made a couple vivs with this method as well. It works great if you have the right mixture of clay. I have one that is about 3 years old with no chipping or sliding. The downside is, Plants don't grow that great on the clay and mixing and applying the clay is a bit messy.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

Phil that is how I have done it for about the passed 10 years, sphag and cork bark, so simple, easy tear down, lots of weird surprise growth, a great method no doubt.


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

Thanks for the input Mark. Its reassuring to know that you have been using this method for that long and haven't found something that you like better.

I used sphagnum from Chile this time instead of my usual New Zealand moss. I noticed that some of the sphagnum might be red, so I it will be interesting to see if it regrows and what kind of hitchhikers I might get.


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