[C.Joe]

I just scored a 150gallon tank for $75 and I will be getting a colony of tropheus. Now that things are in order i was thinking about a diy background. I was only thinking of it going up half the tank and then painted black the other half. Also I did not want to make it where it would stay on forever. Is there something other then silicone to keep the background up? Any input or comments. This would be a first attempt on a DIY background.

Thanks
Joe

 

[geoff_tropheus]

2-part epoxy.

Check out Marine Depot or Dr.Foster & Smith online or their catalogs and look for underwater epoxy's

The Silicone wil also work, but not as reliable in the longrun.

I would check out the DIY section, lots of ideas in there to help also.

 

[Mcdaphnia]

If you glue it on with waterfall pond foam, it will be easy to remove later, even if you fill all the gaps in back to prevent detritus traps.

 

[Mcdaphnia]

I have had better luck with Tropheus when there were no rocks to mark territories and fight over. I just put some fake plastic "driftwood" branches on the bottom for young Tropheus fry to hide under until the adults lose their curiousity.

 

[flynn]

A bit late on this one, but couldn't pass...
Have a complete DIY BG covering the back of my tank and my Ts do just great in there. 120 gal. (60x18x26"), 2 piles of rocks+ 2 very small ones, 1 very large piece of arched Zaïre wood... so lots of territories to fight for ! Fish are mature, spawning like ****, and I would say agression is at a very low level (on a Tropheus scale of course !!). From what I see, it's like the BG is not considered as a territory, so no fish tries to take it over, and my BG is very 3-dimensional (rocks arre really coming out and there are many caves in it)... 19 adults Ikola Kaiser in there and way too many fry/juveniles to count them (not talking about the 18 jumbo Cyps and the bunch of Juli.Transcriptus.... I guess one could say overcrowding may have something to do here :fish: )
IMO DIY background really give something unique to your tank, so I would say go for it!

 

[d_frag]

if you don't want to glue it in, try using rare earth magnets in the background and on the back of the tank, they should hold just fine. Yeah I know this is late in arriving.

I've not heard any drawbacks from rare earth magnets..