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My practice DIY background

43K views 45 replies 17 participants last post by  ob1_kinobe 
#1 ·
After doing much reading on diy backgrounds I decided to practice the various techniques on my 20 gallon tank. Since there are many detailed how-to's posted already i will try to stick to the unique things i experienced. So here is my background completely carved out[/img]
 
#4 ·
For the rest of my layers i used Quickcrete Quikwall, Quickcrete Masonary mix, and Quickcrete Hydraulic cement. I supplemented all of my mixes except the last with Quickcrete Acrylic forifier. Portland cement is the base for all of the above mixes. This is w

Here is a summary of what i experienced with the various different mixes:

Quikrete Hydraulic cement dries fast, grey in color, smooth finish, can be applied in water making it perfect for touch-up or small tanks.

Quikrete Masonary mix light grey in color, coarse finish, no need to add additional sand, looks natural, needs to be applied in thicker coats.

Quikrete Quikwall comes in grey or white, mixes well with colored sand, fiberglass reinforcement to help resist cracking, designed to be applied in thin coats or even sprayed with appropriate equipment.
 
#5 ·
As John D. Dryssdale points out in the DIY library article, it is possible to get good detail using styrofoam/concrete it just requires a lot of patience. Because detail is so important with small tanks you must take the time to carve out the fine details even though much of them will be filled in with concrete. In order to maintain as much detail as possible I chose to use Quikwall since it is designed to be applied in thin layers. The trick is to apply cement with old paint brush and just before it finally sets do all of your fine detail tooling with wet brush, screwdrivers, putty knifes, etc. whatever it takes to reach the tight areas.
 
#7 ·
I decided that i wanted round rocks with overhangs and a pronounced 3d look. As Lomax stated in Trammel's prject it is very important to stay away from straight lins and symetrical shapes for a real 3d look. So as you can see from the following photos i tried to make sure that i had alot of overlaping rocks with different shades and colors.

http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... ndcoat.jpg
moderator edit: same picture, tags removed.
 
#8 ·
I will have algae growing on my background before I know it so I decided to stay away from the color dyes and pigments.I was able to create various different colors by mixing different cement products, colored sands, and acrylic fortifier. I will list my mixes from lightest to darkest below.

Quikcrete Mason mix, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Mason mix

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), playsand, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), playsand

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey) , playsand, black marine sand, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Hydraulic cement

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), black marine sand, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), black marine sand
 
#14 ·
#16 ·
looks great... kinda what I am going for.

I was alittle worried.. cause some mentioned it might look like a 'built wall' ie man made/not natural.

But that looks nice!
 
#19 ·
My UGJ's and Filter are now complete. Many people would say that UGJ's are not needed for a small tank, however since this is practice for a larger tank I decided to set every thing up as if it were a large tank. Besides the obvious reasons for using UGJ's dead spots and filtration I wanted to move filtered heated water from behind the background to the foreground. I used one pump with two outlets one under log and another behind rock.





 
#21 ·
For those curious on how the curing is coming along here is a time line. All water changes are 100%.

Jan 9 Background siliconed to tank
Jan 11 Rocks siliconed to tank bottom
Jan 14 First tank filling straight water
Jan 18 Second tank filling salt water
Jan 21 Third tank filling straight water
Jan 23 Fourth filling salt water
Jan 27 Fifth filling straight water
Jan 30 Sixth filling mild vinegar water solution (Mistake :x)
I did not have severe problems like others however even though it significantly reduced Ph levels it did start to breakdown concrete. Fortunatly i caught it soon enough thank god for forums like these :thumb:
Feb 1 Seventh filling straight water
Feb 5 Emptied and completed final round of concrete work (just touch-ups)
Feb 7 Eighth filling straight water
Feb 9 Ninth filling straight water
Feb 13 Tenth filling straight water
Feb 16 Eleventh filling straight water
Feb 19 Twelveth filling straight water
Feb 20 Thirteenth filling straight water

Well I think I am almost there or at least at the point were my family and friends have confirmed that yes i have gone over the edge with my fish hobby as stated in John Drysdale's library article.

"Then do a 100% water change… and repeat. And then repeat, and repeat, and repeat… until the pH in your tank is basically the same as what comes out of the tap after a few days (i.e. until the concrete no longer buffers up the pH). This can take a while, and you may never think your pH will go down… but just keep doing 100% water changes until your family and friends confirm that, yes you have gone over the edge with your little fish hobby ;)" :lol:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_aquarium_background3.php
 
#22 ·
looks great the shapes are cool

what i would do if you wanted to match the real lake bottom.

mix the rock shapes a bit more. most of the rocks are rounded but there is always a few that have split. also the rocks on the bottom tend to be bigger then the ones higher, but there are alway exceptions. last is the color, i feel that it looks better to push the colors more. i looked at real pictures of the lake bottoms and rock walls and i was freaked out at all the rock colors. some are yellow, some are redish others are grey with streaks of black brown.

still i am stating the above as a way to match nature the closest, not what will look great. yours looks very good and you did a great job of creating natural stone shapes.
 
#24 ·
Timeline continued...

Feb 23 Fourteenth filling straight water
Feb 25 Fifthteenth filling straight water

Hopefully i am done with 100% water changes. I will begin daily 50% water changes today. If I am lucky i will add my substrate and some water from my buddies 125g to begin the cycling process next weekend. :)
 
#25 ·
Hey, Lov2hop, On my background I made , when I was all done installing it I filled mine with water and a 15 lbs bag of salt for a week or so having a power head circulate the water. Then I emptied and refilled with fresh water quite a few times over another week or so until the Ph stayed the same and leveled out. The first week the Ph was off the charts because of the cement and it slowly lowered and then became stable. Thats when I started my cycle. So have U been testing your ph? Once it levels out and stays the same your background should be cured. Looks great by the way. :D
 
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