# General Topics > Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion >  Textured background

## rjm2653

Hey everyone its been a while but im back! I wanted to do some sort of background more interesting than just a plain. Aquarium background on the other side of the glass. But I dont want to use great stuff because its permanent. This is a 29 gallon. It really doesn't have to be a texture background but I don't want my tree frogs forced stay on the glass. 

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## rjm2653

I also wanted to know what I could use to hide my false bottom

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## Heather

Such a pretty paludarium! And so nice and clear/clean. Great job! 

You could use 100% aquarium silicone to add decor to the back wall if you'd like. It takes a good few days to dry/cure, so you'll need to move them to another temporary tank while the time passes.

To hide your false bottom you can paint the front of the tank at the bottom with a mixture of acrylic paint and Titebond III glue or you can fill that area with hydroballs or gravel.

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## rjm2653

But what kind of decor would need the silicone?  I've used branches and stuff with suction cups but that doesn't cover much of the glass what would u suggest

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## Heather

Suction cups are find also. What kind of "look" would you like?

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## rjm2653

Naturalistic. I dont want them on the glass itself so much. And I also wanna cover that false bottom

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## Heather

You could carve a foam background and cover with silicone and substrate or Titebond glue, paint, substrate. The only bad thing is without sealing it to the back they may climb behind it.

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## Heather

What about siliconing some pretty wood for them to climb on?

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## Heather

If you ever want to remove it you can use a razor blade to get it off.

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## Heather



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Hypnofrog

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## rjm2653

What kind of wood? Branches? Wood paneling?  Not sure what you mean and if I do that what will all my vines attach to if the glass is covered? And do I have to remove everything to do this or just the animals? 

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## rjm2653

Thanks for all the advice by the way. I tried a cork round once and it didn't hold with silicone

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## bill

Go with wood paneling! The '70's rec room look! Lol

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## Heather

You would want to empty the tank and then put it back together after it dries.

You can use any natural wood such as drift wood, branches, maponi wood. You can add the vines around the wood as you have it or with silicone. You can even add plant pots.

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## Heather

I've found that aquarium silicone seems stronger than the colored GE brand.

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## rjm2653

Well if I do one of these cork board background im looking I'm wondering two things. Can I get it off if I decide to change it even though I silicone it?

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## Heather

I once thought about siliconing tiles to a background. Still might. I have other projects to complete first.

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## Heather

You can use paneling so long as there are no mildew-resistant chemicals or preservatives in the wood layers. Natural cuttings are best.

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## Heather

Lol! Bill's going retro :P.

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## rjm2653

So my gravel and substrate needs to come out to do this?

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## Heather

You can remove silicone with a razor blade.

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## Heather

Yes. Best thing to do is to empty the tank and dry it thoroughly before installing anything new.

All wood should be rinsed and baked at 250'F for at least a half hour, bake until dry. This will kill and bugs, eggs, or pests in the wood. I also do a 10% bleach dip, then neutralize the bleach with dechlorinated water at 4x the usual amount of dechlor in the water. It is not necessary to do both though.

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Hypnofrog

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## rjm2653

In that case I might just do the cork board. I just made this take a few days ago and it took hours. Not sure if I feel like starting over again

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## Heather

:Wink:  Petco is having a $1 per gallon sale right now.

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## Heather

Great time to pick up one much cheaper for trial tank.

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## rjm2653

Nice. I just bought a 29 gallon with a 200w heater for $25 so I got a great deal

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## Heather

That's awesome!

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## Heather

Make sure you rough-up the back of the cork before you silicone or foam it in. It will stick better.

Maybe you should have a second tank for more frogs, hehe!  :Smile:

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## Heather

I still really love the look of your paludarium. It's so pretty. I love the clear glass effect. I'd love to etch the corners with scrolls.

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## rjm2653

I like the clear Effect 2 but I wanted to look more natural and I don't want the blinding Sun light to bother them if I open the window

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## Heather

Ah, yes.

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## rjm2653

So should I silicone my vines to the board or is there an easier way

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## Heather

You can silicone or hot glue them. I like silicone better.

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## Heather

You can get brown silicone. Bill is my master builder friend. He builds even more than I so I will ask if he knows of any other options.

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## rjm2653

You guys are great here! I turned the old tank into a semi aggressive aquarium. Gonna add catfish and stuff to it. Still working on it 

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## bill

Silicone may pull away from the cork, and it would look a bit unslightly. If I were doing it, I would most likely use a clear 2 part epoxy.

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## Heather

Thanks Bill! I knew you'd know  :Smile: .

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## Heather

You should check out a pick of Bill's old mantella tank.

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## Heather

He'll have you doing fancy fish tanks too, with live plants  :Smile: .

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## rjm2653

But isn't that permanent? 

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## Heather

The vines to the cork if epoxy'd, yes. But maybe you'll just love it.

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## bill

Not really. Nothing is truly permanent when working with glass, except drilling holes. Most materials just scrape off with razor blades.

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## rjm2653

So how would I get the epoxy off? One day im gonna put the frogs in something larger and my fish will go in this tank

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## bill

> He'll have you doing fancy fish tanks too, with live plants .


I do build some killer planted tanks, if I must say lol

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## bill

The epoxy would be glued to the cork. Scrape the cork off with a razor and you're clean again.  :Smile:

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## TKexotics

> You could carve a foam background and cover with silicone and substrate or Titebond glue, paint, substrate. The only bad thing is without sealing it to the back they may climb behind it.


You could carve out some holes in the back of the foam background and glue in some magnets, that way you can make it stick to the background without silicone and the frogs can't get behind it, you could make it the way and shape you like and put it in the enclosure when it's done since it's easy removable.

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## rjm2653

So I would need to completely disassemble my tank and glue the epoxy to the cork and stick on the glass?

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## Heather

Not a bad idea, TK.

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## rjm2653

I like that idea. Where is the best place to buy the cork board

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## bill

Just remember, when doing a one piece background, especially in an aquatic tank, to account for the rim of the tank. You're gonna have to angle and massage it into place.  :Smile:

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## rjm2653

So the magnet idea may be my best bet.

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## bill

Possibly. If it were me, I would be tearing the tank down and starting from scratch. That way, I
Would avoid contaminating any soil with foam flakes and such.

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## bill

It all depends on your comfort level of what you want to do.

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## Heather

You can buy cork board at Petsmart and Petco.

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## Heather

And you can probably get it online at www.joshsfrogs.com

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## rjm2653

Im gonna have to do magnets. So will I still need to rough up the back? And if so how do I do that? I dont want the frogs getting stuck

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## TKexotics

The panels you can buy overhere are flat at the back, all you need to do with them is cut them to the size you like, carve out holes for the magnets so they are sunken in, and install them in your enclosure.
Don't realy understand what you mean with roughing it up but if you do it like that there is no way they can get in between.
Only thing is finding magnets that are flat enough.

We do agree that starting from scratch is always better though.

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## rjm2653

Decided to just go against the glass. Here is day 1 progress. 

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## rjm2653

Making progress. Silicone yesterday and did missing spots today. Still concerned about how the reptofilter will affect the background. Made ledges out of a turtle dock I didn't need and stacking stones

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## bill

It's looking good Robert!

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## rjm2653

All done. 

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## bill

Looks good robert! Nice job!

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## rjm2653

Thanks! Besides the touch up spots im doing I love it. Do you have a false bottom how to? I made one but when I had to take the gravel back out it mixed with the substrate and I'm not sure about the whole pump thing.

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