Collapsible soft Caves

[FINWIN]

This piece took about half an hour to complete. I had 2 left over scraps of silk plants in decent shape, not too perfect but still good to use. I used a previous plant weight bottom that had holes in it. I pushed the stems in a hole, glued them in along with rock and gravel to fill in the exposed areas. Plant weight provided by my oscar Brick, who ripped all the stems out leaving white stumps with holes.

 

[FINWIN]

This is a larger log piece (14" x ~6") I may add rock to as well. It has great texture and detail already. Stay tuned.

 

[FINWIN]

These are the last projects I'm doing before finishing the soft caves. I decided to go for a 'mossy' look with sand over the log hides. The smaller log has a combo of lime/avocado green sand. The large log has the avocado green sand only.

 

[phreeflow]

These are the last projects I'm doing before finishing the soft caves. I decided to go for a 'mossy' look with sand over the log hides. The smaller log has a combo of lime/avocado green sand. The large log has the avocado green sand only.

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Very creative

 

[FINWIN]

The artist is back at work! I debated whether to use these large flat stones as weight for the soft caves but decided they'd make great mini walls for bottom swimmers to hide or play around. The rocks are 3 - 4 inches and the mini walls are 3-4 inches high each. Just one big glob of silicone does the trick. Wait 10 seconds, press rock together gently and you're done.

 

[FINWIN]

Detail of rock. I sprinkled sand into the joint areas for a more finished look.

 

[FINWIN]

Back to the soft caves! Phase 3 is done. The aqua gravel didn't work on the edges so I used the lime sand instead and glued it in patches on the walls. Sand wants to stick to the filter foam even without glue. The foam is too dense for the gravel to get a good grip plus it didn't look all that good in the jade color. Now the mossy look has 3D texture! I'll let this set up then add the rock last. It will 'fill in' the seam areas inside to make everything natural looking for the interiors.

 

[FINWIN]

The caves are done! Rock is all glued in place. I had to do a few last touch ups on the sand. The final test will be to check buoyancy by soaking. I think they're heavy enough at the bottom but you never know. I sprinkled some loose sand in the interiors.

 

[FINWIN]

This is a plastic plant I wanted to test Krylon on to give it a more subtle appearance. I used the moss green color. It looks completely different dry as opposed to wet. A work in progress.

 

[FINWIN]

One day when I'm feeling ambitious, I'll build a cave for my Oscar Brick. It will be a challenge but he likes caves. I could build one and set it up in his pit. It will probably be rectangular with sheets of Poret foam. To keep it from being too bulky I won't use the vines...maybe glue some silk plant pieces over it. Stay tuned.