# How To Build A Live Planted Vivarium Step 2:



## MantellaMan (Feb 3, 2012)

Hi again,


So, you should now have all the stuff you need to start building your set up, if you don’t have everything thing then just make sure you have the first 6 items on my little list!


Now its time for Step Two, which is of course the most important part to get right!

Step Two “The Aquarium & Expandable Foam”: 


First of all make sure that you have your glass tank all clean and ready for the first stages of your set up, just clean it carefully with a damp cloth (please make sure that you use an un-used cloth which has not been contaminated by cleaning products or disinfectants of any kind, as Amphibians have very delicate skin) which has been soaked in plain and simple water. Also while your cleaning the tank, make sure that the inside edges of the aquarium have been properly sealed and aren’t damaged, because being a Amphibian your tank is going to be very damp and you don’t want to finish the set up only to find that its leaking water!


Right now you have checked it over and cleaned it thoroughly, its time for the application of the foam. Make sure you read the can first, shake it very well to ensure that the chemicals are all properly mixed. It will have a “Corrosive” Symbol on the can but dont worry, this will not harm your frogs, as it just means its corrosive while its in its liquid form.


Before applying the foam, lightly spray plain water over the side you will be putting the foam on, it will state this on the can (or should do). After you have done that, its time to get messy, so make sure your put on the plastic gloves you get with the product. You can apply this is anyway you think will look good, i thought it worked best spraying it in a up and down line across the glass. Try to use it sparingly, as dont forget it will expand and grow in size even if its a tiny bit you have sprayed!


Here is some photos to give you an idea of what it should look like:



















Now that’s done, leave it to dry and set for 

24 hours before doing anything else to it, I like to play it safe and make sure its properly set………..


*24 HOURS LATER*

…….And now here is what you should have as a result of leaving it!












You Will notice a few things that I haven’t written about yet, which i shall now. I used my Stanley Knife to cut and shape the foam background to how i want my tank to look, this can be anything that gets in the way of what you want to do and where you want to put something or simply, it could just not look natural to you. I was also going to put in a foam base water section which you can see in the bottom left hand corner of the tank, i carved that to how I wanted it to look ready for the next step (I finished the water bit in the end but ended up ripping it out because I wanted more land for the Frogs.


Here is a close up picture of the final outcome.












Right now if you have some foam left over in the can then good because your going to need it to put in the wood branches that are going to come out of your background (I lost the photos i took of this bit so you will have to look out for my example in later pictures.


Anyway I shall post Step Three soon.

Many Thanks

MantellaMan


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