# Supporting large driftwood



## Lisa67 (Oct 28, 2015)

Hello everyone, my name is Lisa. I'm new here (1st post), but I've been doing a lot of reading and learning. I am going to use my old 72 gal fish tank to create a vivarium. I plan to use black Great Stuff foam to create the background. I would like the centerpiece of the background to be a large, beautiful piece of Malaysian driftwood that I previously had in my fish tank. My concern is the weight of the driftwood. What is the best way to support it? Will silicone and foam be enough to hold it? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Lisa, I build a LARGE exo terra 3 years ago. The entire background is tree fern with a giant 3 foot tall 80lb peice of malaysian driftwood as the centerpiece. This was the question thread I started to seek answers and ideas. http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/80198-mounting-heavy-malaysian-driftwood.html After that I started a build thread on the tank. I used a variety of tecniques to make sure that peice of driftwood stayed secure. http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/80412-build-pics-exo-terra-24-x-18-x-36-a.html Not sure I listed all those tecniques in the build, so I will here.

#1 I used a chain saw to cut off the back of the wood to make it flat to get the maximum amount of space exposed for flush mount/glueing.

#2 Drill 1/4" holes in the wood and make sure silicone goes in there, will act as an anchor.

#3 in some areas where I could not get the wood flat where it was concave, I screwed pieces of aluminum lathe for construction to the back of the wood using aluminum screws. This took up the dead space and gave silicone somethign further to grab onto.

#4 Remember that great stuff is good for only one thing....filling in gaps and cracks. It has VERY little shear strength or bondign strength and will not act as a glue. That is what your silicone is for. USE LOTS OF SILICONE


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## Lisa67 (Oct 28, 2015)

Thank you so much for all of the information. After looking at your photos I'm thinking maybe I'm wrong about mine being Malaysian drift wood. It looks different. I tried to get a decent photo but no matter where I put it, there's a glare from the window. I'm going to take some of your suggestions, particularly sanding the back of it for better contact. Since my original post I read that some people put silicone on the glass prior to the foam so that it, (the foam), adheres better. Any thoughts? Do you just spread a thin layer and then spray the foam while the silicone is still wet? I only want to do this once if possible. Thanks again.


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## Rushthezeppelin (Oct 6, 2015)

Let the bonding layer of silicone on the glass cure fully before putting great stuff on it. If it's not cured beforehand it won't cure at all as you have cut off it's air source to release the vinegar based cure agent. It's basically like putting it back in the tube.


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