First attempt: DIY rocky caves

what if you just silicone that bad boy to the bottom of your tank?

also how long will the fiberglass resin have to cure for? I built a diy background using similar technique but afraid to put it in the tank. :)
 
to be safe I reckon around 72 hours - until you can't smell it anymore at least. I used the remaining resin to fix a crack in my indoor pond and it seems fine after 36 hours. If you put it in water too early it gets a white film over it...

the "turd" actually looks pretty good hidden amongst the flowers and thingies in our front door flower bed! not a total loss after all! :)
 
you know it's the funniest thing - I was reading this from the beginning and thinking how is he going to stop this thing from floating?

I think what they said (silicone or similar to the bottom of the tank) would be good, but it would be a nightmare trying to clean it underneath and inside.
 
You could silicone it to a slab of slate that way youre not losing too much of it beneath your substrate.
 
NinjaPenguin, you could layer on fiberglass until you have produced a sturdy shell then drill a hole into which you will pour acetone to dissolve the polystyrene. Thoroughly clean and dry the empty shell and fill with aquarium gravel to weight it down.
 
Thanks for the votes of confidence, problem solving ideas and humor! :)

My teenage daughter figured it out! I was hard at work on my 2nd attempt when she asked if she could cover the whole thing in a thick layer of quickcrete and start afresh... heres the result of her efforts:

gbr_cave_07.jpg


gbr_cave_08.jpg


She's very proud of her idea and handywork! :)

To solve the floating problem she removed some of the polystyrene from the bottom and filled it with pebbles then covered them with cement. This increased the weight substantially!

We are going to leave it to cure for another week or so before deciding how best to seal it... marine varnish? any ideas? We definitely won't be trying resin again! :headshake2:

We've decided to go out shopping soon and get another 30G which will use this rock as a paludarium centre piece. This will be her tank and she'll have the final say as to how it's stocked etc. Will look really kewl I'm sure! :)

And here is my 2nd attempt destined for my GBR tank...

gbr_cave_09.jpg


A bit more compact, less "busy/bulky" and it should compliment the substrate I have chosen quite nicely! I'll start another step by step thread when I get it right - can't stand the humiliation of another public failure! :grinyes:
 
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