I guess its offical... an upgrade?

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aussieJJDude
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by aussieJJDude » Sun Feb 17, 2019 8:47 pm

Mwahahaha

I have pots! Finally, I can now start on the background.


Stay tuned folks, the build will definitely start tomorrow on my day off - so roughly in the next 16 hours from time of posting!Image

Another non-build related issue, what am I going to do with 150 pots - i only need like 10 at most!
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|| Avid Aquarist Addict (2007) || Crazy Crabbing Connoisseur (2012) || Amateur Aroid Admirer (2014) ||

"She’s there, she’s upright, and she’s wigged" ~ Trixie
Infrequently on due to studies

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Overmountain1
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by Overmountain1 » Sun Feb 17, 2019 9:53 pm

Resell them in small batches since the rest of the sellers can’t seem to get their stuff together! Might even make enough to pay for themselves that way.

I love seeing everyone’s builds! And of course seeing the beautiful exotics too- so pretty! Mind. Blown.


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RiNiKy506
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by RiNiKy506 » Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:57 pm

So cool! The glass doesn’t need to be perfectly straight across, it’ll make it more natural looking. Ponds and creeks aren’t perfect, it’ll make it even more unique than it already is. I’m so excited for you!


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»-♡-> Our Purple Pinchers <-♡-«

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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by aussieJJDude » Mon Feb 18, 2019 8:01 am

I really hate when life give lemon...

Or in this case... another 50 or so pots in the mail! Was a very nice surprise for me to come home from work to.

Image
(Soz for the burries! But its like 12am here, and I just wanna go to bed after a long day at work!)
Overmountain1 wrote:Resell them in small batches since the rest of the sellers can’t seem to get their stuff together! Image Might even make enough to pay for themselves that way.

I love seeing everyone’s builds! And of course seeing the beautiful exotics too- so pretty! Mind. Blown.


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I was thinking of that... or setting up a plant nursery for my aquarium plants to grow up and sell... and make some coin that way.... but I have enough that I could theoretically do both...
RiNiKy506 wrote:So cool! The glass doesn’t need to be perfectly straight across, it’ll make it more natural looking. Ponds and creeks aren’t perfect, it’ll make it even more unique than it already is. I’m so excited for you!


Rod♡Salty♡Bob♡Squirt♡Crabina♡Who
»-♡-> Our Purple Pinchers <-♡-«
True. But my OCD is really annoyed about it, so I hope once its all ser up I dont notice it... but I like the way you're thinking - even though its not placating my OCD!

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"She’s there, she’s upright, and she’s wigged" ~ Trixie
Infrequently on due to studies

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odelayheehoo
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by odelayheehoo » Mon Feb 18, 2019 8:11 am

Awesome, looks like an awesome project! Remember, things in the wild and in nature are not perfect, the terrain is not flawless with dirt perfectly laid out, or the beaches that hermits come from aren't perfectly constructed either. I learned how to make a natural environment by just putting things wherever my mind felt best about putting them, and I went from there.

You'll be happier with your tank if you let your creative flair take control, and the crabs are sure to enjoy it as long as the parameters are stable :)
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Overmountain1
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by Overmountain1 » Mon Feb 18, 2019 8:57 am

I totally understand the nursery part: to the degree that I am getting my own greenhouse this spring- yay! I’m so darn excited. I seriously love my plants, and having a greenhouse will open up sooo many more options for things to raise!
Whatever you decide, I’m sure you’ll have fun with it! I do a lot of organic gardening, and I try to control my pests with other bugs etc. I have even been nuts about it enough to release nearly 500 ladybugs in my home! They only ever congregated on windows/doors, and of course the plants so it was no issue- many walked straight into the line of bug killer along the bottom of a door I hadn’t thought of. Which was ok really as it kept only the calm, less likely to fly ones on the plants, so that I never found them anywhere else in the house (oddly enough... and Now you know, lol!)

Can’t wait to see how this build turns out- love the idea of connecting the two. Great work!


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RiNiKy506
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by RiNiKy506 » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:24 am

I hear you on the OCD, aussieJJDude! When you finally get it together I don’t think it will bother you, you’ll be happy with your outcome. Tell yourself that, for the crabs, nature isn’t perfect, so being imperfect, is perfect.


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ciaraalston
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by ciaraalston » Mon Feb 18, 2019 9:18 pm

Was the second shipment of pots a mistake, or you forgot you ordered??? If you end up selling some, holler!
4 purple pinchers & 2 ecuadorians living a life of luxury in south west Louisiana.
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by aussieJJDude » Tue Feb 19, 2019 6:07 am

Well.
Foam is in. And in my typical fashion, it couldn't of gotten better!

First was zip tieing all the pots I wanted to include... that was an effort, but I did well!
Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image

Then came the fun part. FOAMING
The bad thing is I only brought one can - online research said 2-4 cans will be needed... so of course one should suffice. Well, as anyone would of guessed... i ran out of foam.
Image

So a quick trip to a local pick up more expanding foam... didn't have the exact same type/size, so two more cans should do it...
Image

Haha. Those two cans barely did anything. So decided to go to Bunnings - basically an Aussie Lowes - and get the brand I first used. And it was all done.
Image Image Image Image

So letting it 'dry' before carving tomorrow... which I have to do for two reasons:
1. The expanding foam... expands. A lot. So a good lot has to go.
2. The smooth outer layer makes it hard for materials to stick onto it. While I'm not doing the silicone and pressing EE into it, I am going to put a cement layer over it... and a rough surface will help.
ciaraalston wrote:Was the second shipment of pots a mistake, or you forgot you ordered??? If you end up selling some, holler!
Well. They didn't come in so I contacted seller. Things were looking south, so I decided to order from somewhere else. But it turned out they actually forgot to send to package... so they did... and the second 'shipment' showed up.

But, if you're willing to pay for an arm or a leg for shipment.... you'll definitely find some local to you online, check amazon or ebay!!!!



Edit: As for the 'order doesn't happen in nature' one thing that a few have mentioned I do want to clarify is that I want to emulate aspects of nature, but make it nice and orderly. But plans change, and ultimately a few mm will not impact much overall - or so i tell myself!

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|| Avid Aquarist Addict (2007) || Crazy Crabbing Connoisseur (2012) || Amateur Aroid Admirer (2014) ||

"She’s there, she’s upright, and she’s wigged" ~ Trixie
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by RiNiKy506 » Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:33 am

Looks amazing! Thank you for sharing your work with us. I love seeing how everyone’s tanks take place, especially something like this!


Rod♡Salty♡Bob♡Squirt♡Crabina♡Who
»-♡-> Our Purple Pinchers <-♡-«

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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by Motörcrab » Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:35 am

That's looking great. I can't wait to see it with the cement oiter layer.

I know what you mean with the OCD it's got to be perfect thing. I will pull something apart several times trying to make thing how I think would be best.
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odelayheehoo
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by odelayheehoo » Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:41 am

I just saw the update this morning, it is looking great! I cannot wait to see the substrate and plants added! :)
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by Hermiesguardian » Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:47 am

Wow! I want a new tank! Lol. My dream/goal is at least a 130gal or bigger. 😁
raising son's dog, Dante. Husky/hound.
Raising daughter's hermit crabs, Shelder, Paras and Derek. Added 2 more of my own (of course) Pete and Stryper. Former mommy to 2 guinea pigs and beloved cat, Nissi

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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by aussieJJDude » Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:51 am


RiNiKy506 wrote:Looks amazing! Thank you for sharing your work with us. I love seeing how everyone’s tanks take place, especially something like this!


Rod♡Salty♡Bob♡Squirt♡Crabina♡Who
»-♡-> Our Purple Pinchers <-♡-«
Thank you! Unfortunately, there's a lot more updates left, meaning I'm gonna be spamming the forum a lot. Im also interested to see how it turns out, as well as how well it holds up in the crabitat.
odelayheehoo wrote:I just saw the update this morning, it is looking great! I cannot wait to see the substrate and plants added! :)
Likewise! Glad you're enjoying it!
Motörcrab wrote:That's looking great. I can't wait to see it with the cement oiter layer.

I know what you mean with the OCD it's got to be perfect thing. I will pull something apart several times trying to make thing how I think would be best.
Well you'll find out.. right now - ish!
Hermiesguardian wrote:Wow! I want a new tank! Lol. My dream/goal is at least a 130gal or bigger. Image
Same here! Unfortunately for now, I have to keep things compact.

~~~~~~~~

First up was carving the foam. I carved some of it yesterday, but unfortunately some areas weren't to my liking so I touched it up overnight and then carved the rest today. Was fun.

Some word of advice, expanding foam can easily fall/expand through eggcrate, but I didn't realise the damage of how much it can fall/expand until I had to carve out the solid chuck of foam in the 'hiding tower'... took around 4 hours to do last night, but I was determined to see it through - even though it was very (very very) tempting to throw the towel and not do a hidy tower.... they better enjoy it! (And on the related sidenote, managed to sprain my wrist carving it all out!)

Note for next time, do either a solid backing on top of the eggcrate so it doesnt fall through - like dart froggers do - or maybe use fly screen since its a lot smaller so it shouldn't expand that much through...

Here it is after carving....
Image

LHS
Image Image

MID
Image
Image

RHS
Image
Image
(As you can see, also decided to bring down the foam into the salt water pool... a good climbing point, and also the cement will help with pH which is nice...

Top view
Image

Then came the cement. I decided to just cement the levels, since I wanna see all the 'real estate' and also give a little visual guide for you guys where the levels are.... and also i placed the tank upright to carve, and didnt want to move it again ... I'm lazy at times OK?

(It also turns out that concrete and cement are different things.... the more that you know. I got concrete as it turns out... but I dont mind, the rocks/gravel mixed in really helps add dimension to the background)

ImageImageImageImageImageImage

I may tip it over and cement the rest, depending on if it dries tonight.... if not, I may do a bit tomorrow....

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|| Avid Aquarist Addict (2007) || Crazy Crabbing Connoisseur (2012) || Amateur Aroid Admirer (2014) ||

"She’s there, she’s upright, and she’s wigged" ~ Trixie
Infrequently on due to studies

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RiNiKy506
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Re: I guess its offical... an upgrade?

Post by RiNiKy506 » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:13 pm

I’m loving your progress, it’s definitely turning out great! Your doing an awesome job!


Rod♡Salty♡Bob♡Squirt♡Crabina♡Who
»-♡-> Our Purple Pinchers <-♡-«

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