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Concept: Small circular lagoon terrarium, four parts terrestrial, one part aquatic. Stripped and resealed the bottom portion of silicone for an Exo-terra 18x18x24h. Without any decoration, at highest possible water volume, gives just over 5 US gal for a pool. In the back right, a column for outgoing water to the filter is siliconed to the sides. Three areas are fortified with a mesh material, and will be the only exposed areas. Closeups showing cable ties to keep the tighter mesh material flush with the light diffuser panel. Three cans of "Pond and Stone" Great Stuff spray foam to cover all three sides, careful to create crude ridges, ledges, and crevices where possible. Most important is the waterline, a specific outward bulge that will create some dark areas near land. Moss will be growing from these surfaces, and can creep into the terrestrial portion, but also continue to grow into water. Next is the waterfall on the left, which needs to be able to carry most of the water down into the pool without creating a major current. Spray foam takes a long time to fully cure. During that time, I took the opportunity to order some moss from a local online provider for dart frog supplies. This moss looked relatively generic at first, but there were about 5 varieties. Each of these have flourished in the viv. I ended up keeping the moss in containers for about a month or longer while the rest of the background was being carved. This was achieved primarily with my rotary tool and a series of different attachments. Black foam dust is actually quite heavy and vacuums quite easily. I tried to keep the natural shape of any ridges, and kept in mind the flow of water for both the waterfall, and the dripwall down the back and right side. I'm using a product called Spyra, by Folius, for the pool area. This is a water wicking fabric, and moss can adhere safely to it. Gorilla glue and pins, holding in place to ensure some water and moss will be directed onto land. There will be no soil in this vivarium at any time, so water is free to go wherever it pleases. Once carving is finished, I began to use an additive-free grout to create rocky textures throughout. I added black acrylic paint, to give variety and contrast, but chose against using any other colours to enhance the rock effect. This grout covers about one third of the foamed surface area. The waterfall and dripwall are both coming off a Turtle Clean 15 canister filter meant for turtle tanks. They can pull water up a great distance, and in this case, more than 24". The pump is at the very top, and sends the water back in the vivarium with a short 8" return tube of the same diameter. It splits immediately, half going to the waterfall, and the other half is sent down tubes that go around the top, and are foamed into place. After a successful first water test, with all plumbing working as hoped, I moved onto the substrate phase. The rest of background material is two parts peat moss, one part dried green moss, which itself was a mixture of two or three different mosses. This was all put into a blender, and turned into a very fine substance. In small patches of about 4" square, Gorilla Glue was spread out using a cheap black foam paintbrush. After 5 minutes, I generously heaped the substrate onto the glued area and pressed down firmly. This phase took almost as long as the carving phase, for the small patches. After about 5 minutes working time, Gorilla Glue begins to become very tacky and is about to cure. In a larger patch, the first part would be curing before the end is getting tacky. This stuff doesn't spread very fast, moves like honey, and sticks to nearly everything. It expands 3 times during the curing process, so once it becomes tacky, it will grab onto the dry peat moss mix easily. Gorilla Glue is also fully waterproof, so this is a perfect application for a dripwall. I was able to add plants after the background had cured, which was just 24 hours after the last patch. This is the waterline showing where moss will wick up from the pool onto land. I chose a lighter coloured gravel to simulate a river bed, but in hindsight, my shrimp would be more visible (thus more comfortable) on something dark like Fluval Stratum. I've since added small round black stones, and the shrimp seem to swim from rock to rock during the day. Both of those Anubias pictured are sparkling clean now. This is a very short .gif of the dripwall at the base, dripping into pool. I let the entire tank cycle for about 2 months before adding shrimp, and there are no other animals in the tank, aside from microbacteria. There was a decent amount of algae at that time, much of which is now long gone. The java moss is starting to take over, and needs a trim, but that's where many of the shrimp spend the daytime and graze off it. I feed with Omega One Shrimp and Lobster for now, so I need to pick out some different foods and treats at some point. I don't feed them too often, as they seem to prefer the tanks natural nutrients anyway. Thanks for reading! I encourage questions and comments! I have terrific water test readings, though I don't test for TDS. I've had some successful molts but no one is berried just yet. Only been a few months, so I know I have some time for that.