Just finished the first outside skin. The skin is a very thin plywood that was stained then bonded to the tank with a removable adhesive. This allows me to change the skin out to a new theme every once in awhile. That includes the bamboo ends.
The "moat" around the base was filled with black river rock. I didnt like how the rock was loose and falling all over the place so I bonded the rock to wooden sticks. This keeps the rocks in place and allows simple removal of the rock as a single sticks. Also keeps kiddie fingers (and most adults) from the natural tendency to picking at the rock.
I added the greenery as an experiment to see how it looked. It's not bonded in...yet.
On the bottom of the last pic you can see the other skin which is a bamboo theme.
Next is the canopy. Any ideas welcome.