This is my new background i just made. I had made a previous background for this same tank(one like it) seen here: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167076
I did this one alot different than my past backgrounds for a number of reasons.....
Firstly, i wanted to get rid of the styrofoam as it is far too boyant, and displaces alot of water volume. I also didnt want to use cement as it was too messy, had a bad effect on the water for a long period of time and some of it tended to crumble if it wasnt thick enough or if it was the wrong cement or concrete. I also wanted ALL equipment conceled.
I wanted this one to be light weight, very durable, and inert.
so after searching everywhere, i came across the use of fibreglass. I got most of the info i needed from plane model sites, surfboard sites, and car model sites. I also got alot of info from people who built their own tanks that were waterproofed in fibreglass.
So fibreglass seemed the route for me to go. It can be light weight, very durable, and somewhat easy to work with.
I still used styrofoam as the mold. Fibreglass resin eats threw styroam though, so i read that some sort of barrier between the two had to be made, or it would melt my mold.
I figuered i wanted to see how badly it would melt it, so i added some resin and hardener to styrofoam and it did melt it, but it was not that bad. So i decieded to not use any barrier and just fibreglass right over the styrofoam. Which in the end made the styrofoam easier to remove.
Here were the supplies i used:
2 Paint brushes
3 cans of spray paint(black,grey,brown)
1 old tuperware container
a spoon
3 litres of fibreglass resin and 70ml of hardener
fibreglass cloth..... not mat
lots of rubber gloves
a sheet of styrofoam
1 litre of acetone
1 tube of GE I silicone
1 can of great stuff foam
blow dryer
Since i have a corner bowfront tank, i wanted it to go into the corner of the tank. I also decieded i wanted it to be a a tree with its roots extending out.
so on with the carving. I used just a basic knife(with a serrated edge) for all of the carving. I first did the trunk, which as i carved it, i kept changing my mind on the outcome, so i did just a basic half cylider and figuered i'd do the rest once i see how the roots look.
I also used great stuff foam to hold all of the styrofoam together as it does a great job at that. But i would recommend adding it to your tank.
So after i did the trunk, i just cut up a few pieces of styrofoam and glued them together then set them in front of the trunk to get a better idea.
i did forget to take pics of some of the steps, but i got most.....
after i was done that, i did some further carving to all of it, and glued the roots to the trunk.....
I also did a bit more detailing to it, and then sanded it all down to get a better finnish to it for the fibreglass. and so the fibreglass would have as many deep pockets to seap into and melt even more.
after all carving and sanding was done. I fitted the whole background into a corner of my house to insure a snug fit into my tank.
The carving and gluing took 3-4 hours over 2 days to complete. Which was the most labour intensive part....and its not all that bad.
So on with the fibreglassing. This stuff really stinks!! I use fibreglass cloth, which is suppose to be alot easier to work with. Directions say to use 10ml of hardener for every litre and it will cure within 3-4hours.... well i used double that and it hardened in one hour. I would not use anymore than that though as it produces alot of heat, and may harden too fast and become britle. directions say to aplly the mixture to the part your fibreglassing over, then put the fibreglass over that, and then paint or smotth more resin over that. that seemed like alot of work, so i just dipped my strips of cloth into the mixture and put it on the styrofoam by hand, smoothing it and shaping it with my hand. i did find that cutting the cloth into strips rather than trying to do it in big pieces worked alot better and easier. I cut mine into 3X8 inch pieces. I also made sure to where gloves! that is a must.
after getting it all covered, i waited until it almost hardened and did it all again.
this was the first layer... forgot to take a pic of the second...
I then waited a couple of days to remove the styrofoam as i was going to use acetone to remove alot of it. This stuff also stinks, but not as bad as the resin. I removed most of the styfofoam by hand and with a knife, and then the rest with acetone.
heres a pic of most of it gone.... i cleaned it out so it was as smooth as the front.. no styrofoam left at all.
on to the painting. I used krylon fusion spray paint for the paint. I did the first coat in black, and then the second in brown. I then combined them both for a more mixed colour. then i did a light mist in grey.
After painting it all, i sealed the whole thing in one more coat of fibreglass resin and used the blowdryer on a low setting to help with curing.(i did this on every coat)
then i put it in the tank. but once in the tank(as you can see below) it was far too shiny i felt.
so out it came. i had to wait for the sylicone to dry first so i didnt make a mess. Giving it a light sanding took the shine away. i then put it back in a siliconed it in place.
As for filtration,heating, ect..
This tank is drilled with two holes. so i capped off one of the holes and only used the other hole as the intake to my canister. the intake to the canister is on the outside of the background, so i didnt have to drill a hole in the background for that. Heater is a hydor 300watt inline heater, so i didnt have to mod anything for that as its already on the output to my canister.
The out put of the canister runs on the out side of the tank and down behind the background. i Did drill a hole in the background for the return. Since the background is hollow, i put a powerhead back there with the return beside the canisters return threw another hole. so the water is also circulated back there as well.
as you can see, the background doesnt really take up that much room.
I let the tank sit with water into it and a power head for a few days, with daily 100% water changes just to be safe.
I did have white sand in there at first, but i thought black sand would look nicer, so i picked up 66 pounds of fine black sand. I also thoght some live plants would look nice. so i picked up 6 plants and threw them in. im not sure if they'll live, but its worth a shot. I have 96 watts of T5HO over this tank, so im hopping they'll live.
i also noticed that since i was only using bare hoses as the outputs for the canister and powerhead, there wasnt alot of flow. So i also picked up a couple of Maxijet 400's as well(i didnt want a whirl pool, just more water movement), and placed them in the front of the tank for more flow. Im still debating on how to hide them.
so heres the finnished product. I did a water change on the tank befor the pics, so excuse the bubbles.
Im sure this tank will look alot better once the plants fill in.(if they do)
heres the tank with the front lights on only.
rear lights only
LED moon lights on
and a closer pic
thats it. i'll update with more pics down the road. I dont think i left anything out .
any comments, questions, or suggestions?
I did this one alot different than my past backgrounds for a number of reasons.....
Firstly, i wanted to get rid of the styrofoam as it is far too boyant, and displaces alot of water volume. I also didnt want to use cement as it was too messy, had a bad effect on the water for a long period of time and some of it tended to crumble if it wasnt thick enough or if it was the wrong cement or concrete. I also wanted ALL equipment conceled.
I wanted this one to be light weight, very durable, and inert.
so after searching everywhere, i came across the use of fibreglass. I got most of the info i needed from plane model sites, surfboard sites, and car model sites. I also got alot of info from people who built their own tanks that were waterproofed in fibreglass.
So fibreglass seemed the route for me to go. It can be light weight, very durable, and somewhat easy to work with.
I still used styrofoam as the mold. Fibreglass resin eats threw styroam though, so i read that some sort of barrier between the two had to be made, or it would melt my mold.
I figuered i wanted to see how badly it would melt it, so i added some resin and hardener to styrofoam and it did melt it, but it was not that bad. So i decieded to not use any barrier and just fibreglass right over the styrofoam. Which in the end made the styrofoam easier to remove.
Here were the supplies i used:
2 Paint brushes
3 cans of spray paint(black,grey,brown)
1 old tuperware container
a spoon
3 litres of fibreglass resin and 70ml of hardener
fibreglass cloth..... not mat
lots of rubber gloves
a sheet of styrofoam
1 litre of acetone
1 tube of GE I silicone
1 can of great stuff foam
blow dryer
Since i have a corner bowfront tank, i wanted it to go into the corner of the tank. I also decieded i wanted it to be a a tree with its roots extending out.
so on with the carving. I used just a basic knife(with a serrated edge) for all of the carving. I first did the trunk, which as i carved it, i kept changing my mind on the outcome, so i did just a basic half cylider and figuered i'd do the rest once i see how the roots look.
I also used great stuff foam to hold all of the styrofoam together as it does a great job at that. But i would recommend adding it to your tank.
So after i did the trunk, i just cut up a few pieces of styrofoam and glued them together then set them in front of the trunk to get a better idea.
i did forget to take pics of some of the steps, but i got most.....
after i was done that, i did some further carving to all of it, and glued the roots to the trunk.....
I also did a bit more detailing to it, and then sanded it all down to get a better finnish to it for the fibreglass. and so the fibreglass would have as many deep pockets to seap into and melt even more.
after all carving and sanding was done. I fitted the whole background into a corner of my house to insure a snug fit into my tank.
The carving and gluing took 3-4 hours over 2 days to complete. Which was the most labour intensive part....and its not all that bad.
So on with the fibreglassing. This stuff really stinks!! I use fibreglass cloth, which is suppose to be alot easier to work with. Directions say to use 10ml of hardener for every litre and it will cure within 3-4hours.... well i used double that and it hardened in one hour. I would not use anymore than that though as it produces alot of heat, and may harden too fast and become britle. directions say to aplly the mixture to the part your fibreglassing over, then put the fibreglass over that, and then paint or smotth more resin over that. that seemed like alot of work, so i just dipped my strips of cloth into the mixture and put it on the styrofoam by hand, smoothing it and shaping it with my hand. i did find that cutting the cloth into strips rather than trying to do it in big pieces worked alot better and easier. I cut mine into 3X8 inch pieces. I also made sure to where gloves! that is a must.
after getting it all covered, i waited until it almost hardened and did it all again.
this was the first layer... forgot to take a pic of the second...
I then waited a couple of days to remove the styrofoam as i was going to use acetone to remove alot of it. This stuff also stinks, but not as bad as the resin. I removed most of the styfofoam by hand and with a knife, and then the rest with acetone.
heres a pic of most of it gone.... i cleaned it out so it was as smooth as the front.. no styrofoam left at all.
on to the painting. I used krylon fusion spray paint for the paint. I did the first coat in black, and then the second in brown. I then combined them both for a more mixed colour. then i did a light mist in grey.
After painting it all, i sealed the whole thing in one more coat of fibreglass resin and used the blowdryer on a low setting to help with curing.(i did this on every coat)
then i put it in the tank. but once in the tank(as you can see below) it was far too shiny i felt.
so out it came. i had to wait for the sylicone to dry first so i didnt make a mess. Giving it a light sanding took the shine away. i then put it back in a siliconed it in place.
As for filtration,heating, ect..
This tank is drilled with two holes. so i capped off one of the holes and only used the other hole as the intake to my canister. the intake to the canister is on the outside of the background, so i didnt have to drill a hole in the background for that. Heater is a hydor 300watt inline heater, so i didnt have to mod anything for that as its already on the output to my canister.
The out put of the canister runs on the out side of the tank and down behind the background. i Did drill a hole in the background for the return. Since the background is hollow, i put a powerhead back there with the return beside the canisters return threw another hole. so the water is also circulated back there as well.
as you can see, the background doesnt really take up that much room.
I let the tank sit with water into it and a power head for a few days, with daily 100% water changes just to be safe.
I did have white sand in there at first, but i thought black sand would look nicer, so i picked up 66 pounds of fine black sand. I also thoght some live plants would look nice. so i picked up 6 plants and threw them in. im not sure if they'll live, but its worth a shot. I have 96 watts of T5HO over this tank, so im hopping they'll live.
i also noticed that since i was only using bare hoses as the outputs for the canister and powerhead, there wasnt alot of flow. So i also picked up a couple of Maxijet 400's as well(i didnt want a whirl pool, just more water movement), and placed them in the front of the tank for more flow. Im still debating on how to hide them.
so heres the finnished product. I did a water change on the tank befor the pics, so excuse the bubbles.
Im sure this tank will look alot better once the plants fill in.(if they do)
heres the tank with the front lights on only.
rear lights only
LED moon lights on
and a closer pic
thats it. i'll update with more pics down the road. I dont think i left anything out .
any comments, questions, or suggestions?
