DIY 3D rocks

[perrush]

Hi all,

new here straight from Belgium, seems a very active forum you guys have :)

Have a question about making a 3D DIY rock.
http://cichlidinspiration.net3services.com/show_articles2.asp?id=7

This guy made a mould out of silicon. Unfortunately I didn't finished the article (only part 1).

So my question :
What should I use to fill that mould ? How should it be painted that it looks natural ??

[125gJoe]

Welcome to Aquaria Central!!

Looks like good plans on the 3-D rock!

I had a website marked that had 'caves' for a background - it looked interesting..

[125gJoe]

I found it..

Link: Cave background (http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNdiygrotto/bndiygrotto.htm)

[sunnygirl]

i have the cave grotto plans printed out, and was planning to make it, but decided that it just didnt look natural enough for me. so heres what i did, i went to menards and bought a 50 lb. bag of red lava rock which is used for landscaping. that was the smallest bag they had, but it was less than 3 dollars anyway. then i bought some 100% silicone caulking and a caulking gun, they were about a dollar each. i rinsed the rocks very thoroughly because they had alot of dust on them, and let them dry ( i got sick of waiting and ended up drying them with a hair dryer). then i just used the silicone to glue the rocks together and built caves. my big structure has three caves on the bottom, three on top of them, and two on top of the second level. of course i could only build one story and then let it dry before building on top. my small stucture is just two caves side by side. i let them cure for three days before putting them in my tank. my cichlids love them, and they look really nice. though if i made anymore, i would use black caulking instead of clear. the clear sticks out like a sore thumb, but after awhile it developed salt scale, so it looks a bit better. sorry dont have any pics yet. once i get some i'll be sure to post them.;)

[125gJoe]

Sounds real good! I'll be looking for the pics... I like seeing different types of DIY projects..