Okay, this is going only be visible to mods until I can get it at least halfway done. Once I get it cemented, stained and started the curing, this week, I'll give a final edit and set it as visible to all.

I still have some shaping to do before I can even get it siliconed into the tank and ready for cementing. I guess I better get busy.....

So, you may have seen some VERY realistic looking 3-D backgrounds in pictures here and there. You may have even checked out how they were made and were immediately turned off by how complex and time consuming the instructions seemed. Let me tell you, it is much easier than it seems. It can be as simple as shaping, cementing/staining a couple of boulders here and there, in the tank, all the way up to incororating your filtration into the design. I will be building one design but will also generate diagrams of the MANY other ways to shape and incororate your filtration.



Materials needed:

Styrene foam blanks
Few different knives, razorblades, exacto knives and the like
soldering gun (optional)
Aquarium sealant
Great Stuff "foam in a can"
QuickCrete quickwall
Cement stains or dyes (optional)
Rocksalt and a Powerhead or filter for curing

Once cured, none of the materials used here are toxic or poisonous. You can do this for tanks that house any aquatic or terrestrial animal. However, remember that the volume the foam takes up will effectively reduce the gallonage, thus stocking density, of the tank.

The rest is up to you and your imagination. remember, you can do ANYTHING you want as far as sculpting, incorporating filtration, colors and more. Your imagination is your only limits.

Enjoy!

Paul, you surprise me again! Sounds like a great idea, and I can imagine how good its gonna look. So, this is gonna look like a rock wall?

Because this tank is only ten gallons, I plan on using an HOB filter on the back of the tank. So, to still be able to use the intake tube on the filter, I need to keep an open spot behind the background that is just big enough for the intake tube to fit into. Nopt only that, since most or all HOB filters have the intake on the left and the water return on the right, the intake void will need to be off-centered a bit to the left. In the pic below, you can see my plan for having 3 different panels that will be siliconed into place seperately. The first is the left panel (grey) the second is the right panel (grey) and the third will be to cover the intake void in the center. This way, I can get the background to completely cover the back panel of glass and part of the side panels of glass. The trick is to have the least amount of voids between the background and the tank. In my diagram below, the only void is for the intake tube. Of course, as I stated above, you can configure yours ANY way you like.

[attachmentid=7201]


In the pic below, you can see the styrene blocks I am using. They were found in a box that held ceiling fans and lights. Anyway, so far, all ive used is a serrated pocket knife and my fingers to shape the right side. I had to use the contour of the inside of this block as it is was already preformed. Once I have the whole thing rough shaped, I will sand the styrene to remove most of the small circular cells. The cementing will cover the rest.

[attachmentid=7194]



I decided right from the get-go to add some driftwood effect. So far, it is shaped into the right panel of background. You can see the roots coming from the base. The root going to the right actually masks a 3x3x2 pocket that will house roots of some plant. I plan on incorporating another pocket somewhere into the left side panel as well. Maybe even one hidden behind the rock that comes jutting out from under the tree stump/branch.

[attachmentid=7195]


(continued very soon)

Thanks Andrea!

Yep, rock wall with a treestumpish branchish looking thing growing from it. Its only a ten gallon so I don't really have anything to lose. Once I get it done, Im going to get some tropicals for it.

I eagarly await your updates!!!!!\
Oh, goody goody goody!!!!

Pau, aren't you worried, that despite the sanding those little particles come loose from the foam? Most of the packaging foam material I have seen looses that crap no matter what you do. Although I can imagine that the stain that goes over it at the end might hold it better. Or do you plan on putting some sort of a sealer on when all done?
I like the idea with the driftwood appearance....
In a 10 gl tank, how many inches are taken away from the gallonage of the tank? Looks like at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches?

yes im wondering what you would use to seal it up hun?

Quickwall

This stuff is mixed like grout and painted on the styrene in a couple thick/thin layers, on the final layer, you add the concrete dyes with dry paintbrushes. The wood will be brown w/black marks while the walls will be like fissured rock, darker in the fissures. Its perfectly fine to use once its cured for several weeks to a month. One of the best things about this stuff is that is has bits of fiberglass fibers in it that give it a bit of texture. Perfect for planting javamoss, growing green algae and stuff.

All in all the texture, surface water moving and the lighting will create moving shadows throughout the background.

But, I am getting ahead of myself, I still have to finish shaping it for glueing into place......

I have come very close to finishing the rough shaping of my background. After carving a few more details into it to highlight rocks in the wall, I will only need to glue the peices into place and spray some filler foam to help with the final shaping. Then, its to the cementing phase of the project.

I shaped the right side and realized I was going o need to make it a little shy of being wide enough. Only because of the pre-shaped forms of foam I am using. But, thats just fine, the spray foam comes handy for the finishing touches.

Here is a front view:

[attachmentid=7221]

Here is a view from the right-side of the front:

[attachmentid=7222]

And heres from the left:

[attachmentid=7223]

From this view, you can see several of the design I am implementing into the background.


A- plant pocket
B- plant pocket
C- intake tunnel
D- filter intake pocket wide enough for a heater as well.

[attachmentid=7224]

C will have a small plastic canvas grating to cover the hole at the base of the intake pocket. The rock formed in front of the intake tunnel will impede viewing of the non-organic looking grating.


So far, I estimate that the foam is displacing 2 gallons of water, so I will only be able to house a few small fish in this tank before it becomes a little crowded. I have been thinking of trying some killifish.....


So, All I have to do is carve some more rocky deatil into the styrene and spray foam the joints and creases, give it a final shaping and cement it. So far, I have spent a total of 1 or two hours working on it.

And here we have a bottom view of the background:

[attachmentid=7231]

You can see the channels I am cutting out so that water will be drawn into the intake from both sides of the tank. Since there is a boulder in the middle of the tank, effectively removing debris and uneaten food would be better on one side than the other. The filtration channels reduce this effect and will keep the gravel and bottom cleaner.

You can shape your entire background first, if you like. But, keep in mind the filter you plan on using. Design channels and recesses into the bottom and back of the background to allow filtration to do its job efficiently. Again, you can design them into the background as you go, or right before you go to glue it into place, just have the filter there so you can make sure it fits correctly into place.


More to come soon.

I think that this is sure turning out to be quite an awesome DIY! As much as I love it,I don't know if I'd have the patience to do each of the steps it takes.How much time have you invested so far Paul? I'm really excited about seeing the final finished product! As for Killifish,that sounds like a great idea.I was tempted to ask a friend to send me some of her eggs to hatch. Hurry up,I wanna see it all done!

I too am very excited to see this thing done.


The most time I will be investing into this project (manual labor) is the actual shaping of the background. Thus far, only 2 hours was needed to shape what you see. Cmenting it will take less than an hour, staining the cement, wich is optional, will take around 20-30 minutes. The bulk of the time needed to complete it is curing the cement; filling the tank, adding lots of salt and running a powerhead will take a week or two.

This doesn't even have to be an intricate design like mine. You can easily take thin sheets of styrene (2-3 inches thick), draw an interlocking pattern of "rocks" on the sheet and then cut them out. Once cut out, you can shape the rocks a bit more and add texture. Then just glue the interlocking boulders into place, on the tankwalls and cement them.


I agree that this project could become tedious if it were attemted all in one day. So, To keep from pulling my hair out, I work on it when I have a spare 10 minutes or so. When its all said and done, I garauntee this project wont take me any longer than 3-4 hours, possibly 5, tops.

In that case,that's really not too bad at all,is it? eBay/Aquabid....One of them were selling those types of Backgrounds for a small fortune! I remember a while back actually finding the site where the Original Co. made them.It's amazing what they want for those things!Grant you,they're sweet,but who wants to invest in that type of money for a Background? Anyway,that's where this DIY comes in .You seem to have figured out qite a simple way to have a pretty cool background for only a few cents!

Imagine how it must look as background of a 125 gl tank, with those pockets for plants and whatnots!

Sorry guys, I've been a little backed up lately. What, with chilodonella and Spud AND tetrahymena with Lurch.....


Everyones doing good though.