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need input on cave thingy
#1
Ok so I am making a new viv using great stuff background and some plastic pot/cup things from the store to make planter areas. anyway I put one of them in just totally stupidly and the top opening of the cup is just facing the front of the viv so really it would look pretty dumb with a plant in it at this point.

[Image: vivbuilds085.jpg]

[Image: vivbuilds086.jpg]

My girl came up with the idea to make it into a cave using half a cork round, which I think is totally sweet because its going to be over a small water area.

[Image: vivbuilds088.jpg]

[Image: vivbuilds089.jpg]

[Image: vivbuilds087.jpg]

My question to you the reader of this post is... Do I remove the plastic cup and shave down some gs to shove the cork round in there and silicone the gaps... OR do I place the cork round OVER the plastic cup thing and gorilla glue it into place before I silicone the whole thing and cover in fiber. The idea behind the latter would be having a larger cave, and a bigger outcrop of the cork round which I think looks cooler. If I do the second option should I cover the inside of the plastic part with some coco fiber before I place the round over it because it will be too difficult after it is glued on? Im wondering if it would present a future issue as far as me needing to get a frog out of there (from what ive read here if they can get into it they can usually get out...) or maybe even some eggs? Which I probably wouldnt even be able to see... but im thinking having fiber glued on there instead of just the bare plastic would prevent them from wanting to lay anything in there?

Sorry if this is a bit confusing. I am just trying to figure out the best way to proceed. Basically take cup out put round in hole, or glue round on top of hole... which would you do?
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#2
Wow....it's gonna be hard for anyone to comment on your setup because we have no idea how much water ect , that you are going to be pumping thru / around it.

Try to make EVERYTHING..."frog safe" so that frogs cant get trapped behind stuff or in stuff and die. THAT much I can tell you.
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#3
No water pumping its just a part in the false bottom where its lower and there will be gravel instead of soil. Like a puddle. Sorry should have been more clear. My main concern is that it will be too deep. I will secure all areas. Basically do you think a 6 or so inch tunnel is too deep for safety or has has it been done?

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#4
Need more input!

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#5
From what I can figure out, you are going to need to move that up a few inches. By the time you get your drainage layer in, and substrate, the cork tube will be in the dirt (I think), unless that is what you want.
I would consider cutting that portion of the Great Stuff out and re-doing it, this time foam around the cork tube, and possible put the cork tube angled with the opening pointing up. This could be used as a planter pocket.

Do you have drainage holes in those cups?
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#6
Me, I'd lose that whole piece of GS that has the hole in it. It's very close to the egg crate. By the time you add substrate it will be touching it and look chunky. You could just carve it down too.

Best
Glenn
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#7
Just a mad thought,taken i'm a beginner and don't utilise your eggcrate type substrates but use a different format,but i'm pretty sure you could actually go back to your original idea and plant it,with one of the ficus,a well grown quercifolia (so it dosen't fall to bits on planting), might just work, planting it wouldn't be the easiest thing but i think its doable,
stu
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#8
Cindy Dicken Wrote:From what I can figure out, you are going to need to move that up a few inches. By the time you get your drainage layer in, and substrate, the cork tube will be in the dirt (I think), unless that is what you want.
I would consider cutting that portion of the Great Stuff out and re-doing it, this time foam around the cork tube, and possible put the cork tube angled with the opening pointing up. This could be used as a planter pocket.

Do you have drainage holes in those cups?

Good point it may end up in the dirt or close to it... That area with the "ramp" is going to be gravel going down in a slope fashion so it wont be quite as high but some parts would come up to the GS without any trimming. I was just going to silicone and cover that part tho. I may need to trim it up as it does look rather close now that I am thinking about it. Trying to avoid a redo on it seeing what I can make work with what I have but that might just be what I do anyways, seeing as how a planter pocket is what I was going for in the first place. Right now just trying to see if making it a cave would work and avoid any potential egg laying going on in that crevice. One suggestion from someone was to take cup out, shave it down a little and place the cork inside the foam and smush sphagnum moss into the gaps to hold it there, that way it is removable in the case of any crazy situation my frogs might find themselves in.

Yes I heated up a screwdriver and drove it through the cups and foam several times to make drainage holes.
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#9
Stu&Shaz Wrote:Just a mad thought,taken i'm a beginner and don't utilise your eggcrate type substrates but use a different format,but i'm pretty sure you could actually go back to your original idea and plant it,with one of the ficus,a well grown quercifolia (so it dosen't fall to bits on planting), might just work, planting it wouldn't be the easiest thing but i think its doable,
stu

Yes that is still a viable option. Im not too worried about the eggcrate. Just the hole and the size it would be if I were to make a huge tunnel, but I am thinking thats a bad idea and I will regret not having access to the deepest areas of the tunnel. I was kind of wanting something like that quercifolia to creep and bush over the side anyways and fall downwards towards the "water area"... thanks for the plant suggestion!
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#10
JakkBauer Wrote:
Stu&Shaz Wrote:Just a mad thought,taken i'm a beginner and don't utilise your eggcrate type substrates but use a different format,but i'm pretty sure you could actually go back to your original idea and plant it,with one of the ficus,a well grown quercifolia (so it dosen't fall to bits on planting), might just work, planting it wouldn't be the easiest thing but i think its doable,
stu

Yes that is still a viable option. Im not too worried about the eggcrate. Just the hole and the size it would be if I were to make a huge tunnel, but I am thinking thats a bad idea and I will regret not having access to the deepest areas of the tunnel. I was kind of wanting something like that quercifolia to creep and bush over the side anyways and fall downwards towards the "water area"... thanks for the plant suggestion!
i love the way this plant sits tight to the background,gotta say mate i'm never happy with places i can't can't access in i viv,we build lots of hiding places into ours...but they are always accessable,good luck with it mate
Stu
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