Need help. With DIY cave and background.

[hmotorsol]

Hello,

I was wondering what kind of sealant/paint i could use to make the styrofoam look natural and hold together.

I know some people use concrete. Does that take along time to cure and will it change my water parameters?

I also read where someone used fiberglass and paint.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Notophthalmus]

A quick and easy way: use an epoxy or silicone (be sure to use an aquarium safe variety) and then sprinkle it, while still wet, with sand or small pebbles. This will create a stone-like surface.

Check out this thread: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136377&highlight=ohbly

Post 10 (bottom of page 1) shows you what I'm talking about.

 

[smyke]

I used cement, tile grout, spray paint and sealed everything with fiber glass resin. It looks natural enough for me and after few months in use no fish have died so it must be OK.

 

[Easydoesit]

whats that big squiggly thing to the left of the tank in the BKG ms?
i love how natural the color of the bkg looks, great job.
i also have some caves that need painting/sealing. they were made out of greatstuff foam though

 

[Notophthalmus]

That looks great, Mszumins!

I think the fiberglass resin is the key there, sealing everything else away from the water. Cement usually has a lot of lime in it, which will raise your pH. I don't know about grout, but I wouldn't risk exposed grout in my tank.

 

[smyke]

I used grout because it was easier to apply than cement. to the left of the "squigly thing" I used cement (first piece I worked on) and grout to the right.
As far as the squiggly thing itself - the black that you see is the window screen mesh and this is the compartment where I hid the heater and the filter intake. it sticks out about 2 inches.
I just couldnt find a more creative way to finish that off, looks a bit cheesy, I know. Lets blame that one on my wife.

I used pink styrofoam available at home depot or lowe's and I took the blow torch to it to give it some texture.

 

[hmotorsol]

Thanks for the ideas and info. The sand idea looks quite nice. Mszumins the wall looks sweet how long did you wait before you put in in your tank.

One more question what should i weigh the cave down with? The wall i can silicone to the tank.

 

[smyke]

I waited for a long time. I first let it air cure for about a month as the fiberglass resing smells pretty bad. Then I installed it in the tank (lots of silicone, make sure water cant get behind the background), filled it with water, added some salt (I read that salt helps things cure quicker) and let the bubble wand run.
I changed that water every couple of days for about 2-3 weeks. I was so afraid to put fish in there but then figured that I will never find out if I dont try. so I set everything up and here we are. few months have gone by and no casualties.

I read somewhere that epoxy cures quicker but I have no personal experience with that.

I thought about the sand over the whole thing too, but read somewhere that you should seal the sand in as well and do couple of layers of that and decided it was too much hustle.

As far as caves go I have never done that but I would probably silicone that to a piece of slate

 

[hmotorsol]

I'm not sure how im going to do it. I have fish in the tank already and have no other place to put them for a prolonged time. I really want to add something to the tank but i have a small budget (luckily the styrofoam is free). With the fish being in the tank do you have more suggestions or recomendations.

 

[smyke]

I would say anything that would have to be siliconed to the walls would require your tank to be emptied and dried.
I had very few fish in my tank so I housed them temporarily in a 10g.

I know that if I didnt do the DIY background I would try to make the moss wall. these look very nice and you could pull it off without tearing down the tank.