# Root-stump Buttress / 18x18x18 Viv



## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

New tank I've been working on, in nowhere near completion but I've gotten the first part decently far with my foam-stump. This will be my second Vic which I'm really excited for, and It'll be housing 2-3 southern variabilis. I'll post in more detail once I go along but here's some pictures of what I have so far. The stump still has a lot of things I need to fix, (sanding, carving, water-proofing, and painting), so don't worry I'll be getting there.


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## bssknox (Apr 24, 2017)

Looking good so far!


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## Tweezy (Jun 9, 2011)

Did you do your first viv this way? If so, do you have any pics


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Nice job on the stump - it looks like this will be a great set-up!


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

Tweezy said:


> Did you do your first viv this way? If so, do you have any pics


My first vivarium was very simple, no customized background or anything. It was more of a test vivarium to acquire experience, so that in the future I would be able to create something such as this.


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

JoshsFrogsPlants said:


> Nice job on the stump - it looks like this will be a great set-up!


Thank you! Actually I'd love your opinion on plant options I could use to create a lush cover over the stump. I was thinking of a vine that would subtly creep up the roots and such. Perhaps, you would recommend cutting a hole in the top, putting in a plant pot, and planting some sort of vine that would flow downwards? Let me know!

Thanks


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

Got my first coat of DryLok Masonry Waterproof on, I wasn't able to get the bottom of it coated as otherwise the rest would have smeared, so I'll do that in a couple of hours once this is dry. For anyone who doesn't know the DryLok I'm using is completely safe and it's meant to create a waterproof barrier around whatever you're making. After this I'm going to put another light coat on (this was a very heavy coat), and finally I'll be adding my acrylic paint / DryLok mixture in order to make sure it's completely waterproof. I might eventually be carving a hole in the top, placing a pot with some abg soil, and planting a vine that will drape down.


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

I'm pretty close to being finished, not completely satisfied with all of this but it's my first time so hey, I tried. 

I put 2 coats of DryLok onto the tree, and have started to paint which to my "surprise" I still suck at. I'll be painting over a couple times until I find it relatively decent, so that might be another day or so. 

In the meantime I've started to make vines using burlap, silicone, and coco-fiber. It's not going all that great as it seems to be pretty hard to fully envelop it with the coco-fiber, and you can still see burlap to my dismay. 

My dads not going to be too happy about the mess either haha.


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

*Root-stump Buttress / 18x18x24 Viv*

I didn't like the paint job, so I've been touching up and dry-brushing a bit more. I'm fine with the way this turned out, for my first one at least. It's going to be going into the back-right corner of my 18x18x24, and I'm also planning on draping some vines across it once the background is done. I'll continue to post updates. Please feel free to comment, criticize, or whatever.


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

For some reason my picture didn't attach, this time it should be on here.


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## Gibbs.JP (Feb 16, 2016)

That turned out killer!


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

I've been able to work on the hardscaping of the tank, it should be done by the weekend. I'm waiting on a shipment of asi silicone so that I can get the background substrate on, and I also ordered some jungle dawn leds from neherp. 

I have absolutely no idea which plants to get, as I'm not exactly knowledgeable when it comes to them. I'm thinking about a 10 pack of bromeliads from glassboxtropicals, the only problem is I don't have a fan. I feel like it would be more of a hassle than what it's worth, I think it'll be fine. 

The inhabitants are going to be 3 ranitomeya variabilis southern.


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## Grimsrude (Apr 6, 2017)

I've never had an issue with broms and no circulation, in fact, one of my best broms is almost sitting in a water feature, and another is "dripped" on by a waterfall and is doing great as well. YMMV of course! 

Also it looks great so far, eager to see what the background looks like siliconed up and substrated* (it's a verb now!).


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

I made a little bit of progress, I've been able to carve the foam, even though it was a bit hard due to all the cork bark, etc. Here's a better shot of the viv standing upright, and a picture of the false bottom I made. Another picture is where I'm going to place my other larger cork piece, basically I'll stick it into the soil.

I made a stupid mistake by not placing the false bottom in before I put in the background, as I can't even fit it in anymore! I don't want to use stones as they can be quite heavy, plus I left a little space on the perimeter of the egg crate false bottom for nice looking gravel. I'm most like going to cut it up into 2 separate pieces, and create some sort of brace ( I'll figure something out).


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

I finished the final hard-scaping step today, which was siliconing and substrating (s/o to grimsrude for introducing this new verb) the background. The foam tree and the cork bark were a bit of an obstacle when it came to putting down the silicone, I smeared some of it on the wood (accidentally) but it's probably not going to make the biggest difference. 

I don't think I put enough silicone on the back, are touch-ups after the main portion cures difficult or a nuisance to do? My plan is to wait around 24 hours, then wash it down with a hose to get all the loose substrate out, and do the touch-ups I need to do.


Otherwise I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out otherwise, and I'm pretty excited for the planting portion. My next few steps will look like this:

*1.* Touch-ups on the BG, make sure any cracks and such are sealed off. (I'll probably use terrarium putty and/or sphagnum moss.) Check out Reptiliatus on youtube for how to make terrarium putty.

*2.* Insert my false bottom along with some pebbles on the perimeter, and add the ABG substrate.

*3.* Create the rest of, and add the vines to the vivarium.

*4.* Buy plants from glassboxtropicals, and some of the moss slurry from NeHerp.

*5.* Wait a while, set up and maintain my springtail, isopod, and fruit fly cultures.

*6.* Introduce 3 R. variabilis southern around the end of July.


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

I haven't posted in a while which I'm sorry for, but I'm pretty much finished! All I need to do is add some sphagnum here and there, some mosses, and the springtails/isopods which I'm currently culturing. I'll be getting the frogs July 27th-ish, I'm looking very forward to it. 

Here are some pictures, hopefully these are better and more clear than my past images. For a tank that just got planted (which was super tedious), it already looks pretty filled in.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet


My only concern throughout all of this is that I was working in my garage the whole time, and sometimes let things sit out there. I reaaaally hope and pray that nothing bad got in the viv somehow someway, I really should have worked in more a sanitary environment but we'll see how it goes. 

Here are my other threads relating to this build (mostly just questions)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/321634-14-plant-ids.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/beginner-discussion/321602-problem-please-help.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/beginner-discussion/321305-silicone-background-issue.html


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## spikeizzy77 (Nov 8, 2016)

Looks great!


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## Wolf Guy (Feb 18, 2017)

That stump is really creative. Turned out nice- good work!


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