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A DIY background for the Small Tank
by John D. Drysdale (a.k.a. throw_this_away)
To date most of the DIY concrete backgrounds that I have seen have been for quite large tanks (generally 50+ gallons). Why was that I always wondered? The first thing that came to my mind was that maybe it was really hard to get good detail using Styrofoam/concrete so it kept people from making smaller backgrounds. I'm here to say that you should not be intimidated the technique works on small tanks, and looks pretty good (it just requires a little patience)!!!
STEP 1: Get Your Materials
I will start off by saying that I got all of my methods from the three excellent articles published on this forum. Though I did not follow any one of the articles exactly, I did read all three to get the general procedure, and just sort of did my own thing (I suggest you do the same). Still, the following was my list of materials
STEP 2: Designing Your Background
So what do you want your background to look like? Do you want round rocks or jagged ones? Big rocks or small ones? In designing my background I looked at pictures of rock cliffs in books, browsed the designs of commercial aquaria backgrounds, and looked at some of the other DIY backgrounds on this site. I basically got a rough Idea of how I wanted my rocks to look and then I just made it up. My key design elements were to have my background look very 3D, with large cracks between the rocks and rock overhangs that would create cool shadowing effects in the final product. I also decided that my background would extend along the left side of my tank, so it would not just be limited to the back of the tank.
With my general design vision in place in my head, I cut my Styrofoam box to match the back/side dimensions of the tank. I then used my black marker to draw out the general rock shapes/cracks on the surface of this Styrofoam "wall." You will have to use some imagination at this point, but it does help you to see what things will look like once carving begins. Remember that for small tanks, the smaller you design your rocks to be, the more the tank will have an illusion of being much larger than it really is.
by John D. Drysdale (a.k.a. throw_this_away)
To date most of the DIY concrete backgrounds that I have seen have been for quite large tanks (generally 50+ gallons). Why was that I always wondered? The first thing that came to my mind was that maybe it was really hard to get good detail using Styrofoam/concrete so it kept people from making smaller backgrounds. I'm here to say that you should not be intimidated the technique works on small tanks, and looks pretty good (it just requires a little patience)!!!
STEP 1: Get Your Materials
I will start off by saying that I got all of my methods from the three excellent articles published on this forum. Though I did not follow any one of the articles exactly, I did read all three to get the general procedure, and just sort of did my own thing (I suggest you do the same). Still, the following was my list of materials
- Paint Brush (3 inch wide)
- Paint Brush (1/2 inch wide)
- Quikrete Hydraulic Water-Stop Instant Plug Cement (Note this contains no fiberglass fibers. I used about 3 kg for my 2 15 gallon tank backgrounds)
- Empty Yogurt container (for concrete mixing)
- Newspaper (for the floor)
- Black marker
- Large toothed knife
- Fine Penknife/box cutter (for finer cutting)
- Sandpaper
- Styrofoam cooler box (2 1/2 inches thick, large enough for your tank dimensions)
- Aquarium safe silicone
- Water softening salt
- Black paint
STEP 2: Designing Your Background
So what do you want your background to look like? Do you want round rocks or jagged ones? Big rocks or small ones? In designing my background I looked at pictures of rock cliffs in books, browsed the designs of commercial aquaria backgrounds, and looked at some of the other DIY backgrounds on this site. I basically got a rough Idea of how I wanted my rocks to look and then I just made it up. My key design elements were to have my background look very 3D, with large cracks between the rocks and rock overhangs that would create cool shadowing effects in the final product. I also decided that my background would extend along the left side of my tank, so it would not just be limited to the back of the tank.
With my general design vision in place in my head, I cut my Styrofoam box to match the back/side dimensions of the tank. I then used my black marker to draw out the general rock shapes/cracks on the surface of this Styrofoam "wall." You will have to use some imagination at this point, but it does help you to see what things will look like once carving begins. Remember that for small tanks, the smaller you design your rocks to be, the more the tank will have an illusion of being much larger than it really is.
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