My DIY flagstone background

[fastforward]

I've been looking around for a while for a background I like and but all the stryo ones looked too fake to me and I didn't think I had the artistic game to make a good one. That and the fact that I wanted to keep the backgrounds footprint in the tank small.

So, here's what I ended up doing. $25 in flagstone, a sheet of 3/16" black pvc which I already had, and 4 tubes of GE Silicone I Door and Window. The background is in three separate pieces that fit together to hide the seams. Overall it took me about 2-3 hours total. I've got pieces for the sides in the tank, though you can't really see them and I'll be building pieces to cover the overflows soon but that will have to wait for a while. Anyway, enjoy. Sorry the picture is so dark btw.

 

[KSRG]

That looks really nice, that's what I was looking to do with my tank. I am using slate tiles myself.

NICE...

 

[Asthrou]

wow that look really nice! Can you give us a run down on how you went abouts doing it?

 

[fastforward]

wow that look really nice! Can you give us a run down on how you went abouts doing it?

Sure. I took a 4' by 8' sheet of black PVC and cut it down to the size of the tank between the overflows. I then cut it into three equal length pieces so I could get it into the tank. After it was cut I scuffed both sides with 40 grit sandpaper so the silicone would bond a bit better. Then I just fit all three pieces together just like they'd be in the tank.

After that it's just laying the rock on. The rock I used was 3/4 minus flagstone in large chucks that I got from a local rock landscaping yard so I didn't have to split them down into smaller pieces or anything. I simply laid all the rock on the plastic making sure that the rock always overhung the seams where the three sheets were joined so they wouldn't be visible. Once I had the layout I wanted I took the rocks off one section at a time, siliconed them, and layed them back on the plastic. Silicone's cheap so use plenty of it and make sure not to silicone the separate pieces of plastic backing together.

Nothing to it really. I should have taken pictures along the way but I didn't think of it. I might end up doing this again for my 60g and if I do I'll do a write up of it.