My DIY PVC Cave Project

[MikenDanielle]

Supplies:

3 Inch PVC T Connector (?)
1 tube of GE Silicone 1 100% Silicone Rubber
1 bag of polished black rocks
1 Cup of substrate from my tank
Some sand paper


Roughed the surface of the PVC up to help the silicon adhere better

Section by section covered the PVC with silicon then added the rocks

Waited for section to become non tacky (About 30 mins)

Repeated on other sections

Once it is cured totally about 24-36 hours from now I will cover all the empty spaces not covered by rock with silicon and then sprinkle substrat on it to cover all those ugly holes up.

[Rbishop]

Nice.

[mee-mee]

Now thats an original...looks really cool....cant wait for more pix on the progress.....:dance2:

[H3D]

Cool.

[Astramorgaine]

Your fish will love it!

[MikenDanielle]

Everything is completed on my first ever PVC Cave, just have to wait another 36 hours so that its totally cured and into the tank it goes. Here's the final product pics if anyone is interested.

[will74]

very nice! Ever think of using concrete on the pvc and making a tower of caves?

[MikenDanielle]

Yeah that is my eventual plan, well a tower of PVC anyways, this was my first try at it and just wanted to start small to see how it turned out before spending more than $10, and im quite pleased with it so I am going to begin thinking of plans for a tower structure. About the concrete... is there any specific types one would need that would be safe in an aquarium or just any old concrete?

[jamthoyoung]

Very nice. Post more pics once its in the tank!

[Mgamer20o0]

very good job.

[J double R]

wow! what a good idea! i'll add it to my list of things to do in the future.

[ddyerfamily]

great idea !
I will try this in future.:thm: :thm: :thm:

[MikenDanielle]

Althought its felt like a month, the 36 hours have pased, the cave is totally cured and into the tank! Let me know what yas think.

[MikenDanielle]

I would say im home free. Been in the tank now for 36 hours and all water tests are still showing the same results as before, the fish are just as active, so im happy so say everything worked out! Lets just hope it stays that way!

[African Dick]

Not too bad. I thought it was cheap looking at first but it turned out ok.

[MikenDanielle]

lol atleast your honest. I have to be honest also, during the first stages I was thinkign of scrapping the whole idea, but now i am happy I stuck it out.

[ThirdEyE]

Is pvc safe in itself inside the aquarium?

[mee-mee]

The tank looks cool...great job...:dance2:

(maybe some driftwood or more plants???just a thought...but tank turned out cool.)

[mellowvision]

the sandy floor makes it.

[dbcb314]

looks pretty **** cool inside the tank man

[Reefscape]

looks just great for me...glad there has been no adverse effects on the water params....nice work

Niko

[Rbishop]

Great job! Looks fine in there!

[lucid_boy]

I am so glad I looked at this, I am trying to find the best way to get/make caves for my albino sharks. I am definitely going to make a tower of different sizes. what would be the best way to incorporate 5 or 6 "caves" together so that all could wind around eachother a bit. I wanted to make a mountain in the middle of my new 55gal, but I wanted to have some caves going throughout it. I am so glad you posted this, now all I have to do is figure out how to make it all look like one "rock".
paper mache? lol:eek:
any ideas???

[MikenDanielle]

I am so glad I looked at this, I am trying to find the best way to get/make caves for my albino sharks. I am definitely going to make a tower of different sizes. what would be the best way to incorporate 5 or 6 "caves" together so that all could wind around eachother a bit. I wanted to make a mountain in the middle of my new 55gal, but I wanted to have some caves going throughout it. I am so glad you posted this, now all I have to do is figure out how to make it all look like one "rock".
paper mache? lol:eek:
any ideas???

Theres a couple options that come to mind for your project. First you could get a bunch of pvc pipes and glue them all together on top of each other to build a "mountain", then once that has cured you could cover the entire thing with substrate or rocks as I did to give it uniformity.

Secondly, but probably more time consuming as I am now figuring out. I am building a whole 3D background underwater filter system out of styrofoam. You could get a block of styrofoam, carve out what you want, then cover it with cement, even add in some cement paint when mixing the cement, then after the cement has dried completely cover it in marine epoxy to seal any toxins inside. Here's a link on doing this type of work if your interested. (http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_background.php)

Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck and can't wait to see what you come up with!

[Madcrawdad]

Is pvc safe in itself inside the aquarium?

yessirree, bob

[lucid_boy]

so the acrylic paint, is that ok to use by itself on the PVC?
if I wanted to paint the inside black would I then have to cover paint with marine epoxy?

most likely I will just be buying the black pipe, but there will probably be a cool piece that is white, you know how it is...

anyway, I am a worry-wort so if anyone has used something and knows for sure I would be really happy.

thanks again.:)

[snickle]

Krylon Platsic Paint is safe once dried.

[MbunaFishKeeper]

Nice! post more pics when its all set in the tank.

[lucid_boy]

So I finally went to home depot to look at all of the PVC and what not in the plumbing section.
and well, since I am a new member to the aquaria hobby.
I already have the albino sharks and I don't think they will be much bigger (height-wise_ than 1-2" so I could get away with maybe a 3" PVC, OR would you stick to 4"?
also would it be bad if it was a particularly long cave? like 1-2' long? or just little shallw caves?
(I was thiking about a cave that was cutaway so you could see inside of it from one-side)

[MikenDanielle]

Pretty much anything will work for the different PVC peices, the only thing that I would be weary of in going for something over 6 inchs or so in lenght is the possibility of a fish going in their to die, depending what all you have in your tank this could present a big effort in order to get him out. But, like I said, anyhting will work.

[Mgamer20o0]

looks great in the tank.

[newsom00]

wow what did u use to glue the rocks on

[lucid_boy]

good idea I did not know fish did that when they are gonna die...
(although it does not surprise me much)
I think I am just going to start out a little more simple now.
I still want to have some cave action for my fishes, but I was thinking about how I would have to take it apart and drain it somehow everytime I needed to clean the gravel really good. I am going to start out with something more along the lines of what you have done.
but, I still am drawing up some more plans, I will maybe just stack them atop eachother biggest on bottom and smaller as I go up... anyway, thank you for that warning. :worthy:

[MikenDanielle]

Not a problem

[trouble247]

Nice job...
I have made similar caves for my Raphaels and gobies, but without using the bigger rocks... I just slathered on aquarium silicone and pressed handfuls of substrate on to it, what fell off fell off, what stayed on stayed on... Been thinking of sticking on some plastic plants too, maybe next time...

[aya7med]

Great and very easy

thank you

[DISCIPLE]

natural looking and perfect . thanks for the post.:thm:

[hope4peace]

that looks really nice. Im going to have to try it. :)

[AquariumNoob13]

those are for african cichlids right?

[typezero]

awesome

[hope4peace]

those are for african cichlids right?

I could be wrong, but I think you can use them for any fish.

[Lupin]

I could be wrong, but I think you can use them for any fish.
Loaches and cave dwellers most especially.

[captmicha]

I didn't read the whole thread, maybe some one already suggested it but I think it would look better if you grew some moss on it too.

[1oooop]

:iagree:
and you should also maybe make it a mountain :)

[DavidZ]

Great idea with the moss!

[excuzzzeme]

I used a 4-way connector and never covered it. My tiger barbs love to place chase through it! Good idea to cover it so it will blend in. Since I didn't, it sticks out like a sore thumb!

[nagukush]

Friends, sorry to ask this here... Just wanted to know where I can an aquarium safe adhesive. My lfs doesnt have it and I want to make a similar cave for my Fronts...Kindly advice...

[traelman]

I found some at True Value, my local hardware store. Most of them should have it, as long as they have a good selection of adhesives.

[oscarluvr]

sweeet

[AcydFlames]

Friends, sorry to ask this here... Just wanted to know where I can an aquarium safe adhesive. My lfs doesnt have it and I want to make a similar cave for my Fronts...Kindly advice...

Just about any hardware or home improvement store; heck, maybe even some auto parts stores.

Just make sure it's 100% silicone, without any anti-mold chemicals in there. Anything that says "Anti-####", or "####-Resistant" will most likely have extra chemicals in there.

I use a tube of GE brand "Silicone I*, 100% Silicone Rubber Sealant". It's labeled as "Window & Door". I've done a few rock cave structures with this stuff, and it works like a charm.

[Virtuoso2K12]

The moss idea was brialliant :)

[captmicha]

The moss idea was brialliant :)

I have my moments. Lol