DIY background for turtle tank

Dragonmatt

Dragonmatt

AC Members
Jun 30, 2009
8
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Minnesota, USA
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My mom works at Children's Hospital IT Support. One of her coworkers died and left behind a turtle. The turtle has been swimming in this tank for a while but it was empty, just water. I wanted to give the people at her work and the turtle something to enjoy. Now they wont have to stare at their cubicles anymore.


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I made him a ramp up to a basking area on the right side of the tank. He is a small red eared slider so this tank has lots of room to move around in. I think it is an 85 gallon so no lacking of swim space :).

I have more pictures in an album on my profile. I hope you all like it. C&C welcome.

I used the same process as many others on here. Foam and cement. pretty easy and fun project.
 
Chcek out your local petstore for some backrounds. Just measure and try to find one that fits your tank. You usually cut to your size but just make sure its the right height.

I actually just put a backround on my 127g RES turtle tank. I love how it looks now! I also highly recommend using the product called Seaview. Its a oil that you put on the background that holds it onto the tank. All you do is have to get the air bubbles out by rubbing them out. I have it on my tank and it looks amazing and holds it up great! One tube will do you fine, it says one tube will work up to a 75g tank, but I used 1 tube perfectly fine on my 127g tank.
 
Thanks bonne46 for the info. I don't need a background, I just built this one. That oil stuff sounds pretty handy though. I just used silicone to put mine on after everything was carved out. Thank you again.
 
wow... VERY VERY VERY nice!!! what is that on the right side... i saw you said basking area, what is the hole shaped thing? or is it covered? hard to tell from a pic
 
Sunshine, it is a hole area to put gravel into for the basking area. I don't have my camera right now but i will this week sometime. I will post better pictures. I am currently in my 4th layer of cement. Next i am going to use some pigment to give it some depth. Probably dry brush it on. It currently has a dark charcoal color to it.

I also tested the pump and filter I have for it. The center pump trickles out of the center archway and the filter flows down the left side rock wall. I will keep you updated.
 
I started with a 4'x8' sheet of blue foam board from Lowes. It costs around 8 bucks. It was more than enough for my 85gallon tank. I cut out pieces in a layering fashion and glued them together with hot glue. after that i carved out more of a rock shape from the stack of glued together pieces. when everthing was ready I siliconed it to the back of the tank. I let the silicone dry for a day and then proceded with cementing.

If you need more detailed information look for DIY foam backgrounds on google, these forums or http://www.dendroboard.com/index.php. Let me know if you have any more Q's.
 
What a nice thing for you to do!
 
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