rawdeakka
Members
Anyone in here have experience making DIY 3-D backgrounds. Would be interested in getting some info about a build.
3-D background
- Thread starter rawdeakka
- Start date
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- Tags
- background
Hawkman2000
Members
I have tried a few different methods.
One was backsplash tile on 1/4 inch hardy board. Looked great. Just be sure you use a tile with a rough texture and seal it with something like pond armor.
Another method, which seems to be most popular, is to get a sheet of foam (polystyrine/ white kind) and carefully cut away chunks and or carefully melt it down with a heat gun. Then coat it with tinted drylok.
One idea I had was to tint some non-shrink grout, pour it on to a 1/4 sheet of hardy board, shape it, let it dry and seal it.
Others here have made some great ones.
One was backsplash tile on 1/4 inch hardy board. Looked great. Just be sure you use a tile with a rough texture and seal it with something like pond armor.
Another method, which seems to be most popular, is to get a sheet of foam (polystyrine/ white kind) and carefully cut away chunks and or carefully melt it down with a heat gun. Then coat it with tinted drylok.
One idea I had was to tint some non-shrink grout, pour it on to a 1/4 sheet of hardy board, shape it, let it dry and seal it.
Others here have made some great ones.
Cleanwater
Members
I've built two over the years. The first one was for shell dwelling cichlids. I made it very simply by buying a bunch of shells and attaching them to the back of the tank with silicone.
While it looked stunning, functionally it was kind of a nightmare to clean. I ended up using a turkey baster to blast a jet of water into each opening to flush detritus out. I never did get my nitrates down to 0 in this tank. The shell dweller fish were only interested in the shells on the floor of the tank and never used the ones I had siliconed to the back.
The other tank I sadly don't have a photo of. what I did was buy closed cell styrofoam insulation board and laminated about four of them together. Then I carved out a rocky landscape with a knife and and melted it here and there with a propane torch. Once I had a pleasing shape I painted the entire backdrop with a layer cement (Portland and sand). Once the cement had cured I painted the backdrop again by hand with nontoxic acrylic paint. I put it in the tank and started filling it with water and it was so buoyant it tried to climb out of the tank on me. So I ended up siliconing the backdrop to the back glass of the tank. Then I super glued aquatic plants into the rocky crevices and so forth. The end result was quite pleasing. This project took me about four days.
While it looked stunning, functionally it was kind of a nightmare to clean. I ended up using a turkey baster to blast a jet of water into each opening to flush detritus out. I never did get my nitrates down to 0 in this tank. The shell dweller fish were only interested in the shells on the floor of the tank and never used the ones I had siliconed to the back.
The other tank I sadly don't have a photo of. what I did was buy closed cell styrofoam insulation board and laminated about four of them together. Then I carved out a rocky landscape with a knife and and melted it here and there with a propane torch. Once I had a pleasing shape I painted the entire backdrop with a layer cement (Portland and sand). Once the cement had cured I painted the backdrop again by hand with nontoxic acrylic paint. I put it in the tank and started filling it with water and it was so buoyant it tried to climb out of the tank on me. So I ended up siliconing the backdrop to the back glass of the tank. Then I super glued aquatic plants into the rocky crevices and so forth. The end result was quite pleasing. This project took me about four days.