3D Fish Tank Backgrounds

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acroholic

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Has anyone ever made a 3D in tank background for their FW tank? I have been looking into doing this vs buying one. Here are some videos about it.

DIY:

<div class="gc_ifarem_title">YouTube - how to make a DIY aquarium background PLEASE RESPOND</div><iframe style="width: 70%; height: 400px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_5Ng6GeF9mA&feature=related"></iframe>

<div class="gc_ifarem_title">YouTube - DIY Aquarium Background "How to"</div><iframe style="width: 70%; height: 400px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yFn69PmcmfA"></iframe>

Pre-Made:

a>
 
I would do it my self.I like diy part of the fish hobby.Cool video find.
 
I haven't done it with styrofoam yet, but I plan to do this next week with my 10 year old. He is getting his first tank for Christmas. For a reasonably sized tank, it looks pretty simple and I love the look for a planted tank. I saw one example online where someone included a "scream" mask into the background. Very cool.

I tried doing a full background for my 120 reef with aragocrete DIY rock, but it didn't come out quite like I wanted, and even including 50% salt in the concrete it was HEAVY.
 
The one downside for the DIY styro/concrete one is that you have to change a water in the tank a bunch after you make it because of the residue of the concrete raises the pH a lot.

I want to use a 3D background for some Discus I just got, but I don't want to wait that long. This is a 265 gallon tank as well, so the cost of all those WCs could add up.
 
That's a big tank... I'm assuming you would do the background in pieces. Could you "cure" the background pieces in a smaller tub? In the instructions online I've seen, they say 8-10 water changes before it is stable. In a 50 gallon tub that wouldn't be too bad.

8-10 changes is better than 60 days for the DIY aragocrete rock.
 
You can take the background and put it into a creek for a couple of weeks, no cost in water changes.
 
How would this change the color? I could see it picking up some algae and having that over it to make a change in it's coat but not a color change in the concrete.

Fish Scales2;592194 wrote: You can take the background and put it into a creek for a couple of weeks, no cost in water changes.
Click to expand...
 
The only hard part about it is if you are using the spray foam that stuff floats very very well. I added about 10 coats of concrete mix to a background one time I was going to add to one of my reef tanks my plan was to spray foamboard with spray foam concrete mix over it. Let it soak in my bath tub for about a month and do that repeatidly until the ph cure was done. Also you can add either vinegar or bleach to speed up the curing process cant remember which one it was.

Any way after several heavy coats of cured concrete mix had been applied when I added it to the tank I couldn't figure out how to adhere it and it floated still very well to feel like it weighed over 100lbs with the concrete mix. I think you would have to spray it directly to the back of the tank, carve it out, concrete mix it. cure it with fresh water then run salt.

Only other product that you might look into is habacrete, and they also have cured fiberglass resin molds for fishtank, aquarium backgrounds but this isn't really do it yourself if you go this route.
 
I'd be more inclined to attach rubble to eggcrate myself.
 
Dave,

post a link or take a picture of your tank background... IT's AMAZING..
 
Here is the Background installed and the tank in place, filled with water.

3D.jpg
alt="" />
 
MorganAtlanta;624270 wrote: Is that concrete or fiberglass?
Click to expand...

Neither. It is a high density polyurethane foam that is molded, then hand painted. Whole thing weighs about 8 pounds.

This installation is not for the faint of heart. I bought a 180 gallon, removed the top trim. Installed the background, had two holes drilled in the back of the tank (a la Grouper therapy), then installed a new top trim piece. Sounds easy enough, right? But there is a bunch of silicone removal, and a bunch of silicone use when you install the background. Not easy. Plus, you have to drill water level holes in the background, and mesh those holes, custom trim the background, etc. Lot more time consuming than it may seem. Siliconing the background in place was probably the worst, for the stink of it more than anything else.

The most risky part was the removal of the top trim on a 180 gallon tank. Here is an installation how to for these type backgrounds. The DIY makes trim removal look easy, but it is not. I developed my own way of getting the trim off that worked pretty well, but it was not fun. Maybe it was just the thickness of the top trim on a large tank like this. A smaller tank might be easier.

a>
 
Acroholic;624261 wrote: Here is the Background installed and the tank in place, filled with water.

3D.jpg
alt="" />
Click to expand...
That's gorgeous!!

I knew you'd have it up and running quickly, surprised you didn't start filling it while we were there.. (er, well, I left early.. maybe you did).

as always, top notch !
 
What kind of paint did you use and what was it sealed with. Is this going to bea sw tank?
 
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