# 37 Gal Fake Vines Pumilio Tank



## bmasar (Dec 13, 2007)

Recently completed this 37 gal acrylic tank I built for some Cristobal pums. I used the silicone thinning method for the first time. Unfortunately, the process is too sloppy to be able to take pictures throughout, so you will have to settle for the finished product.

I started with several large ABS pipes to create the bases for my three vine clumps. I then heated several smaller PVC pipes of various sizes in the oven and bent them into different shapes. Once they cooled, I sanded them to roughen the surface, arranged them and used clear silicone and gorilla glue to adhere them together.

Next, I bought several tubes of brown GE window and door silicone, peat moss and Klean-Strip Industrial Maintenance Coating Thinner (available at Home Depot and Lowes) and mixed in a big bucket. My mixture was about 2:2:1, or until the mixture was firm enough to shape but still pliable. My tip is to have plenty of disposable gloves on hand because they will start to stretch out and the mixture will stick to the gloves after a few minutes of use.

For the smaller vines, I bought two different sizes of rope and cut them to varying lengths. To achieve the same look as the pipe "vines", I dipped the ropes in thinned brown silicone, rolled them in peat while still wet and allowed them to dry. I then used a paint brush to apply more thinned brown and a touch of black silicone to match the pipe vines (which dried darker than the color of the brown silicone due to the peat in the mixture).

Once all was dry, I placed the vine structures in the tank and foamed in the background, adding a few more bent PVC pipes to give more depth to the background areas between vine structures. Next, I let the great stuff cure a few days, carved it so no outside "skin" was left (very important!), and allowed a few more days to fully expand (also important). Once cured and carved, I made more silicone, peat, thinner mixture and covered the background. Lastly, I added my rope vines throughout the vine structures and background, securing them where necessary with a staple gun (and covering the staple with mixture). I let the whole tank dry for at least 3 weeks with a fan blowing across it non-stop.

Once I was confident the thinned silicone had fully cured, I added my LECA, ABG soil mixture, long-fiber sphagnum moss and grape leaves. I'm using screw-in LED lightbulbs for the first time, which still get hotter than I anticipated. I put a lot of miniature tropicals, but many of them rotted not long after. Hopefully they come back. The Mist King is set for two :15 sec and two :10 sec daily intervals. 

I will do a hood update with my circulation system, lighting. etc. in a day or so.

Enjoy! I'll try to answer any questions. 




























The frogs explore every inch of the background, including climbing the vines constantly.























































My favorite is last: the female came out of the middle of the rosette to enjoy the mist.


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## B-NICE (Jul 15, 2011)

Nice set up, its too late to read everything though.....


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## dendrobates (May 11, 2009)

Lookin good Brenden. Seriously one of the nicest tanks I have seen.


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## *Self_DeFenCe* (Jun 12, 2010)

Very nice!


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## ConFuCiuZ (Jul 13, 2011)

Awesome Tank!!!!!!!


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## bmasar (Dec 13, 2007)

dendrobates said:


> Lookin good Brenden. Seriously one of the nicest tanks I have seen.


Thanks Brad! The male calls all the time and they are starting to court.


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## bmasar (Dec 13, 2007)

Here's an updated look at the tank. Most of the moss growing like crazy sprouted from the sphagnum.


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## TreeBear (Dec 9, 2012)

Hey, What type of Sphagnum moss are you growing in your tank/ how did you get it to grow? Did this start out as a dried product in a bag or did you buy it somewhat alive? Also, how long did it take you to get it to spring up?


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Very nice! Could you post a larger pic of the viv? Cristos are very active and funny frogs.


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## snugglewuggums (Jun 2, 2014)

what are the names of the plants on the back wall?


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Looks great! What are the dimensions of the viv?


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

snugglewuggums said:


> what are the names of the plants on the back wall?


I believe what you're looking at are his bromeliads. Different varieties but their specifics are unknown to me. Maybe OP can chime in?


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## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Beautiful design!

Do you have much venting for airflow? I find that in fully glass tanks you can mist 10 seconds/day or even every other day and it is fine. The humidity really gets to be too much for most plants without good ventilation.

Great job!


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