Well since I had a horrible experience with my first false bottom i decided a redo was in order.
The main issue I had was substrate falling off the sides of the false bottom and the water not being accessible so that equals rotting STINK.
This time even though i didn't want to do a GS wall i did anyways. Instead of the cocoa fiber method I decided to use krylon fusion paint (deemed safe by lots of sources such as people with reef tanks and other viv builders)
I used a hammered black finish for the main paint, tomorrow ill spritz it with some of the cocoa brown textured paint to make it look kinda dirty and more natural
I solved the false bottom issue by laying down my egg crate, and my screen, then running a beat of GS around the edge of the tank. this way its impossible for any to get under the tank. It also makes it impossible to take apart, but if it gets to the point that I would need to im draining the water and throwing it in a dumpster.
On the far right side I made a false wall and thats where my pump will be for the waterfall, the tubing runs through the greatstuff over to the left hand side and it will run thru the globs of GS and down into the water feature. (cross your fingers on that one)
here are 2 picks of it as it sits right now. the light i have in the hood right now makes the background look much more metallic than it actually is. Ill have to get a different one if the addition of the brown paint doesnt help.
The main issue I had was substrate falling off the sides of the false bottom and the water not being accessible so that equals rotting STINK.
This time even though i didn't want to do a GS wall i did anyways. Instead of the cocoa fiber method I decided to use krylon fusion paint (deemed safe by lots of sources such as people with reef tanks and other viv builders)
I used a hammered black finish for the main paint, tomorrow ill spritz it with some of the cocoa brown textured paint to make it look kinda dirty and more natural
I solved the false bottom issue by laying down my egg crate, and my screen, then running a beat of GS around the edge of the tank. this way its impossible for any to get under the tank. It also makes it impossible to take apart, but if it gets to the point that I would need to im draining the water and throwing it in a dumpster.
On the far right side I made a false wall and thats where my pump will be for the waterfall, the tubing runs through the greatstuff over to the left hand side and it will run thru the globs of GS and down into the water feature. (cross your fingers on that one)
here are 2 picks of it as it sits right now. the light i have in the hood right now makes the background look much more metallic than it actually is. Ill have to get a different one if the addition of the brown paint doesnt help.