Got caught up in the DIY background hype...

cvermeulen said:
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?
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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 :D
 
DarkSoul said:
how you gonna get them out when you need to net them for some reason ;)
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Yeah, I thought of that, too... it'll be a pain in the *** :p 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.
 
cvermeulen said:
Yeah, I thought of that, too... it'll be a pain in the *** :p 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.
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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.
 
ProjectMaro said:
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.
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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.
 
Neat idea! I think a dim LED in that cavernous cave would be saweeeeet looking....looking forward to progress pics!
 
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:
DSC02618.jpg


All trimmed up, another crappy picture...
DSC02619.jpg

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:
DSC02620.jpg

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:
DSC02621.jpg


Here's a sketch of what I've got in my head:
DSC02622.jpg


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.
DSC02623.jpg


While that cured, I sawed off a piece of styrofoam to play with and try to get the hang of shaping:
DSC02624.jpg


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.
DSC02625.jpg


Everything in the tank:
DSC02626.jpg


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.
DSC02627.jpg


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.
 
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