Got caught up in the DIY background hype...

[DarkSoul]

I thought of using just concrete over the foam and then dissolving the foam out, but I think the FG will be less prone to break or crack... it was actually your mentioning that idea in your thread thad gave me the idea.

I also saw a plastic background at the LFS that has a lot of space behind it... I thought why not take advantage of that space and let some timid fish hide in there?

how you gonna get them out when you need to net them for some reason

I was very worried about displacing alot of water, I really only have a small tank for the most part, and I didnt want alot of it "missing" due to the BG displacing it.

I dont think i lost that much, but i tried to keep my BG from protruding too much into the tank, and tried to keep it flat so to speak.

yours would displace quite a bit of water I think, so its probably a better idea in your case, plus that much foam might eventually tear away from the tank because of its natural need to float

as for which is better to prevent cracking...... Im on the fence really, im aware of the properties of each material, but im really not sure which would be better.... i guess that depends on the case as well

 

[cvermeulen]

how you gonna get them out when you need to net them for some reason

Yeah, I thought of that, too... it'll be a pain in the *** the background will just sort of slip fit into place, and be held down by it's own weight plus maybe a rock or three, so if I need to move it to get at some stubborn fish, I will be able to.

 

[DarkSoul]

Yeah, I thought of that, too... it'll be a pain in the *** the background will just sort of slip fit into place, and be held down by it's own weight plus maybe a rock or three, so if I need to move it to get at some stubborn fish, I will be able to.

thats my disadvantage.... the fish can swim over the top of my intake/spraybar notch and into the water channel behind the BG..... its quite comfortable for the small white clouds... i think many of them go there to sleep at night, and one is always hanging out back there, which means i need to get my hand behind the tank and sort of herd him out of there for feeding time sometimes.

he has been out alot more lately though.

 

[cvermeulen]

Shy fish would like to hide there but make sure you get water movement. I hid my filtler intake behind the wall i built; insures water flow and a hiding place.

The tank will be equipped with a RUGF, so it should get some water movement in the caves. I think I sad somewhere above too that I'll probably put a filter pickup in each large cave.

 

[hatcheridiot]

Neat idea! I think a dim LED in that cavernous cave would be saweeeeet looking....looking forward to progress pics!

 

[cvermeulen]

Alright, so I did a whole lot of messin' around tonight. Here's the update:

Pulled the partial mold out. Crappy picture, sorry:


I HATE fiberglass dust. it makes you itch, it clogs your nose, makes your eyes scratchy... etc... so I usually gear up like this when I'm going to generate a lot of it by cutting it with an angle grinder:

All trimmed up, another crappy picture...

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k281/vermeuliscious/FGBG/DSC02616.jpg
Re-fit into the tank with the tape removed, etc, to check all the edges and stuff:

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k281/vermeuliscious/FGBG/DSC02616.jpg
Added a couple of braces, because despite the fact that I did 4 layers, it's still wobbly. I didn't want to make my front shell part, attach it to the back part and then have it not fit because it warped or something:

Here's a sketch of what I've got in my head:

You can see I'm approaching the other side of the tank a bit differently: live and learn! I used 3/4 pine plywood for the long flat parts, so it won't be as bendy when I remove it. This is also much faster... and plywood is cheaper than FG.

While that cured, I sawed off a piece of styrofoam to play with and try to get the hang of shaping:

I carefully heated parts of it with a torch to get this lava-rock like texture, and then misted it with black barbeque paint. I'm pretty happy with the outcome! I wish there was a good way to capture this texture and then melt out the foam, but I don't think it's going to work out that way. Oh well, it'll look good with concrete and epoxy, too.

Everything in the tank:

I stacked up some styro blocks and used some expanding foam on the RHS... I would have thought the expanding foam would go a LOT further... the stupid can is still half full, it's just out of propellant . Oh well, it's all I need fo rthat side, I can accomlish the rest by stretching fabric/tape, and glueing in small chunks here and there.

Aaaand I'm spent. My 2 800gph pumps arrived tonight, so I think I might spend some time figuring out htf I'm going to build my sump, and work on that a bit tomorrow. I'd really like to get the background to a good stopping point though, so I can finish up getting the tank ready for the glass... it ought to be here any day now and I really don't want a 100lb chunk of glass kicking around my disaster of a shop.

 

[MikenDanielle]

Looking awesome so far man, can't wait to see the final product.

 

[hatcheridiot]

Looking great, good progress pics!

 

[Reefscape]

really impressed, looking good so far..

Niko

 

[cvermeulen]

Oi, looks like I'm missing a photo under how I suit up for FG dust: