# Mounting Heavy Malaysian Driftwood?



## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

So, we bought this 24"W x 18"Dx 36"H Exo Terra tank a little while back. The plan all along was Tree fern root background with driftwood "braches" jutting out to mount small and medium broms onto. Well, we found such a spectacular single peice of driftwood (so large we had to trim several inches off in each direction just to make it fit) that we knew we had to have it and post it in an instant. Well, now a little buyers remorse is setting in as we realize this thing weighs at least 30 pounds, and the the heck are we going to get this thing glued to the back of the tank in a manner that there is no risk of it ever falling and damaging the tank or its inhabitants. We already spent hours using a chain saw to get the back of the peice as flat as possible to glue onto the glass. Does anyone have any doughts about silicones ability to SOLIDLY lock this peice onto the back wall? Any tips, tricks or advice? I want to do this once, and do it right. I'll take all the feedback I can get. I was even thinking about attaching some sort of metal "mesh" (much heavier that window screen) to the wood with aluminum screws, so the silicon would not seperate from the wood because the silicone would actually be embedded into/onto this mesh. Any advice appreciated! Thanks


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

The "mesh" I was considering, and couldn't think of the proper name of is actually called hardware cloth. If your not familiar with it, check out McMaster-Carr about halfway down the page is an image. As I think glavanized might be toxic, i would only consider using stainless steel. safe?


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## mcaiger53 (Jan 3, 2011)

I have been pondering the same question, thank for posting. What I have been thinking about doing is using screws to mount the wood to a large piece of acrylic (only because I have a lot of 1/4" and 3/8" laying around) then using gorilla glue or shoe goo to attach the acrylic to the glass. I have had awesome results using shoe goo to mount various things to glass. I used it to glue an aluminum cabinet knob to a glass lid for my 40 breeder. The glass is roughly 36"x10" and 1/4" thick, pretty heavy, and I have complete confidence lifting the lid off the tank by just the 3/4" round knob. I actually can't get it to come off. I have found it to work much better than silicone for mounting acrylic hinges and such to glass. 
I also would like to hear if anybody has any tried and true ways. 
Mike


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Nobody else has any recomendations? Common folks, I need ideas!!


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

I mounted many heavy pieces of Malaysian driftwood to the back of a few tanks now, and I just use great stuff. I do it with the back of the tank on the ground and great stuff in layers. I also put a heavy weight on the great stuff and make cuts in the "skin" layer so air pockets can deflate. For very heavy pieces I great stuff around sections of the wood to make "brackets" 

I also try to great stuff into any crevices etc to give it a stronger bite into the wood. Once dried the foam will support a substantially heavy load. I would perhaps use tree fern on the back under the wood to give the great stuff more bite to the wall of the viv. I did this on my last viv and it seems to have worked extremely well. 

Keep in mind the weight of the wood shouldn't be so heavy that your glass might be compromised. It is after all still glass. 

Hope this helps.


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## GRIMM (Jan 18, 2010)

You should post a picture of the wood sitting inside the tank. Maybe that will spark some ideas on what you can build around it for support. If the mounting point has a large surface area, I think silicone/foam will hold it just fine though. You can also use long pvc supports underneath the wood and hide them with foam. They look like roots once covered anyways, plus they actually support the majority of the weight.

And Tachikoma gave you good pointers. Use multiple small layers of foam to avoid large air pockets. The foam becomes much denser and stronger this way.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

gorilla glue the flat piece to the glass, then add additional support with a great stuff "collar" around the edge to hold it in place.


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## mcaiger53 (Jan 3, 2011)

thanks for mentioning the pvc GRIMM, I dont know why I never thought about it before. 
when you do multiple layers of the great stuff, do you need to peel the "skin" off to get the next layer to adhere, or will it hold fine as is? when doing backrounds, I have just layered over eachother as is. sometimes I slice the skin and push the air out, it does make a very dense/hard layer. 
thanks, mike


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

No need to peel the skin off. It will adhere fine as is.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Here's a picture of the terrarium with the piece of Malaysian driftwood inserted approximately where it will be mounted. Notice I have it propped up with an aluminum bar. Any further thoughts or ideas guys?
Thanks!


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

So, I guess in a day or so, after I figure out how I'm going to Mount this beast of a piece if Driftwood and the treefern and have some build photos, I will start a build thread. I'm going all out on this one. I already got a second hand pro-products Pro-mist system which is nice, But the mist nozzles really have no way to mount, so I think I'm going to order some dual and Quad mister nozzles tomorrow to swap in. I'll post the link to the new build thread in at the end of this thread possibly tomorrow or so.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Oh yeah great stuff will hold that no problem. It even has support on the bottom of the tank. I have suspended pieces smack dab in the middle of the back wall of huge tanks and it held fine.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Hmmmmm, I bought some great stuff last week. Gaps and cracks I think. I was going to cout some of my plants in it andbreak up the outline of the pots and then either polyurethane it, or brown silicone/bark/tree fern root it. I never really thought to use great stuff as an actually adhesive, but if everyone says it will work, I guess I'll give it a try. Thanks


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## chin_monster (Mar 12, 2006)

Weld-On 45 is yer huckleberry when you need something MEAN


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Personally, I would drill some 1/4" holes in the back. Don't go all the way through, you don't want to mess up the look. Drill them at different angles. Only drill in about a half an inch to an inch. Now I would use GE silicone 1 to silicone it to the back. Make sure the silicone fills the holes. This will really give it an anchor. Use rubbing alcohol to make sure the glass is perfectly clean for the best bond.
After it is completely cured, you could consider using great stuff as a reinforcement but if you do it with the holes, I really don't think it would be necessary. 
I used black Pond Great Stuff to try to adhere a bunch of cork bark to the back wall of a tank. Some very light stuff. After about three weeks of being exposed to high humidity and daily misting, the entire wall collapsed. The great stuff had completely released from the back wall. It released so completely that it didn't even leave any residue.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Pumilo said:


> I used black Pond Great Stuff to try to adhere a bunch of cork bark to the back wall of a tank. Some very light stuff. After about three weeks of being exposed to high humidity and daily misting, the entire wall collapsed. The great stuff had completely released from the back wall. It released so completely that it didn't even leave any residue.


This is very strange, did you notice any difference in the great stuff's consistency than usual? I only ask because I have been using it pretty much for this purpose for 10 yrs or so and I have never run into this problem. I have heard the horror stories though of people's entire backgrounds sloughing off in one massive gs and wood pillow. I thought this is why people started using silicone on the back to give it more to adhere to. It would be nice to be able to pin down the cause of this.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

tachikoma said:


> This is very strange, did you notice any difference in the great stuff's consistency than usual? I only ask because I have been using it pretty much for this purpose for 10 yrs or so and I have never run into this problem. I have heard the horror stories though of people's entire backgrounds sloughing off in one massive gs and wood pillow. I thought this is why people started using silicone on the back to give it more to adhere to. It would be nice to be able to pin down the cause of this.


No, I didn't. My glass was cleaned with rubbing alcohol and it was fully cured at room temp. It didn't slough off which would imply coming off while wet. It fully dried, seemed good to go, and slowly detached over a few weeks time.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

mcaiger53 said:


> thanks for mentioning the pvc GRIMM, I dont know why I never thought about it before.
> when you do multiple layers of the great stuff, do you need to peel the "skin" off to get the next layer to adhere, or will it hold fine as is? when doing backrounds, I have just layered over eachother as is. sometimes I slice the skin and push the air out, it does make a very dense/hard layer.
> thanks, mike


If you carve off the outer layer of smooth 'skin', the next layer of great stuff will meld/adhere much stronger than great stuff sprayed onto cured greatstuff 'skin'.

Jake


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Pumilo said:


> No, I didn't. My glass was cleaned with rubbing alcohol and it was fully cured at room temp. It didn't slough off which would imply coming off while wet. It fully dried, seemed good to go, and slowly detached over a few weeks time.


I've had the same thing happen. I don't think the great stuff really sticks/bonds to the glass the way silicone does, I think people spray so much foam into corners that when it expands it locks into place. I experimented with siliconing thin strips of spare epiweb to the back so the great stuff would have something to hold onto, that seems to hold up a lot better.

Jake


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

pdfCrazy said:


> Here's a picture of the terrarium with the piece of Malaysian driftwood inserted approximately where it will be mounted. Notice I have it propped up with an aluminum bar. Any further thoughts or ideas guys?
> Thanks!


The first thing I thought was weighted base since you can't screw it into the back wall. Just throwing that out there. No idea what you could use though.

Jake


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## Shinosuke (Aug 10, 2011)

I'm a big fan of egg crate and used it in my background as well as the false bottom. I made my GS background on a cutout of eggcrate and then put it into the tank, but you could just put the egg crate into the back of the tank and then spary the gs on that. It gives the GS a rigid framework to adhere to so it doesn't slide off.


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