I'd seen several peoples threads about their styrofoam/cement = rock backgrounds for fish tanks and from reading all the "anyone can do it! even my 1 armed pet monkey make a work of art" so I figured I could do it!
I got these things at home depot:
Pack of white styrofoam boards (5$ish)
Butane torch (5$ish)
Quickrete Cement (50lb = 5$ ish)
PlaySand (50lb = 5$ish)
Cement dye (1 bottle = 5$ish)
Clear silicone caulk (1tube =5$ish)
2 pails for mixin (2$)
2 pairs rubber gloves (2$)
For a whoppin total of 32$
First thing I did was to fit one of the styrofoam boards to my fish tank then i cut several of the other boards (pack came with about 8) to the same size and then I caulked them together (for added thickness).
I smeared the caulk across the entire boards for greater adhesion, then let them dry/cure for 24 hours.
I had read that cutting the styrofoam would not be necessary and that I could do the "forming" with the torch alone. This proved not to the case very quickly as I realized the torch wouldn't penetrate the layer of caulk very easily.
So I did my best and blow torched the hell outta the thing. I was impressed how easily the flame went through the styrofoam and how, if held from a distance it would speckle to smooth boards giving a very rock like and pourous appearence. In hindsight I would have cut the boards before hand because as it turns out I only managed to penetrate the first 2 boards anyway and ended up ripping off the back 2 boards because they were just useless at that point!
I then mixed up the cement. I put 3 cups of the white powder into a pail and added about 64oz of water which ended up having the consistency of...water *LOL* way to much it turns out! in hindsight I probably would have been better off with about 32oz of water and 3 cups of the powder for my first application. I mixed by hand (without gloves) and did the application by basically dripping the mixture onto the formed boards. The application went quick and I washed up and let the boards to dry for the next 48 hours.
In hindsight I shouldn't have been mixing or applying by hand. I read the bag a few hours later after noticing discomfort in my hands and read that the chemicals in the cement are very toxic and can cause sever alkali burns...which wasn't comforting, so after washing my hands about 100 times everything was ok. I had a lot of dryness the following few days, but nothing "severe"
I used rubber gloves for the rest of the applications! The 2nd coat of cement went just as smoothly, I made the solution a little thicker by using about 5cups of cement and only 32 oz of water...it was still fairly runny but got the job done and I just slathered it on covering all the piece (front and top portion only)
for the 3rd and final coat I decided I wanted the cement to get some of the color from my gravel (red flourite) so I used a strainer and basically shook out as much of the gravel dust and sediment as I could, into the pail that i would mix, this turned out to be a paltry amount so I tossed a few handfuls of gravel into the pail for good measure. In hindsight this was a bad idea.
I mixed up the gravel, about 6 cups with 32oz of water and applied it.
The gravel gave a chunk appearence that looks kinda retarded...it doesn't look natural at all and I wish I had skipped that addition!
For the very last bit I took the scraping from the pail, added about 20oz of water and put in a squirt of the black cement dye, which I applied by hand by just smearing onto the cement surface. a little dye went a LONG way, so I have 99.999% of the bottle remaining.
I let everything cure for about 48 hours after each application. Then when it dried I put it into the tank, my problem was I had torn off the back 2 sheets (out of 4 I had initially used) and there was a small area where cement had gone through (because of a hole I made) and it caused a lump so the board would not be able to be applied flush against the back wall of my tank.
I did my best to caulk the bottom and back of the piece and slapped it onto the tank. I have my doubts if it will stay afixed once the tank is full of water, but its only a 15 gallon tank and redoing this wouldn't be the end of the world, I know I can do better!
I also built a rock looking piece to sit in the middle of the tank, and a ledge type piece to give some layers to the tank.
Remember its just a small 15 long so nothing crazy can happen!
Anyway, I caulked everything down and added 2 plastic plants, even though I will put live plants in the tank...Here are the pics!
I got these things at home depot:
Pack of white styrofoam boards (5$ish)
Butane torch (5$ish)
Quickrete Cement (50lb = 5$ ish)
PlaySand (50lb = 5$ish)
Cement dye (1 bottle = 5$ish)
Clear silicone caulk (1tube =5$ish)
2 pails for mixin (2$)
2 pairs rubber gloves (2$)
For a whoppin total of 32$
First thing I did was to fit one of the styrofoam boards to my fish tank then i cut several of the other boards (pack came with about 8) to the same size and then I caulked them together (for added thickness).
I smeared the caulk across the entire boards for greater adhesion, then let them dry/cure for 24 hours.
I had read that cutting the styrofoam would not be necessary and that I could do the "forming" with the torch alone. This proved not to the case very quickly as I realized the torch wouldn't penetrate the layer of caulk very easily.
So I did my best and blow torched the hell outta the thing. I was impressed how easily the flame went through the styrofoam and how, if held from a distance it would speckle to smooth boards giving a very rock like and pourous appearence. In hindsight I would have cut the boards before hand because as it turns out I only managed to penetrate the first 2 boards anyway and ended up ripping off the back 2 boards because they were just useless at that point!
I then mixed up the cement. I put 3 cups of the white powder into a pail and added about 64oz of water which ended up having the consistency of...water *LOL* way to much it turns out! in hindsight I probably would have been better off with about 32oz of water and 3 cups of the powder for my first application. I mixed by hand (without gloves) and did the application by basically dripping the mixture onto the formed boards. The application went quick and I washed up and let the boards to dry for the next 48 hours.
In hindsight I shouldn't have been mixing or applying by hand. I read the bag a few hours later after noticing discomfort in my hands and read that the chemicals in the cement are very toxic and can cause sever alkali burns...which wasn't comforting, so after washing my hands about 100 times everything was ok. I had a lot of dryness the following few days, but nothing "severe"
I used rubber gloves for the rest of the applications! The 2nd coat of cement went just as smoothly, I made the solution a little thicker by using about 5cups of cement and only 32 oz of water...it was still fairly runny but got the job done and I just slathered it on covering all the piece (front and top portion only)
for the 3rd and final coat I decided I wanted the cement to get some of the color from my gravel (red flourite) so I used a strainer and basically shook out as much of the gravel dust and sediment as I could, into the pail that i would mix, this turned out to be a paltry amount so I tossed a few handfuls of gravel into the pail for good measure. In hindsight this was a bad idea.
I mixed up the gravel, about 6 cups with 32oz of water and applied it.
The gravel gave a chunk appearence that looks kinda retarded...it doesn't look natural at all and I wish I had skipped that addition!
For the very last bit I took the scraping from the pail, added about 20oz of water and put in a squirt of the black cement dye, which I applied by hand by just smearing onto the cement surface. a little dye went a LONG way, so I have 99.999% of the bottle remaining.
I let everything cure for about 48 hours after each application. Then when it dried I put it into the tank, my problem was I had torn off the back 2 sheets (out of 4 I had initially used) and there was a small area where cement had gone through (because of a hole I made) and it caused a lump so the board would not be able to be applied flush against the back wall of my tank.
I did my best to caulk the bottom and back of the piece and slapped it onto the tank. I have my doubts if it will stay afixed once the tank is full of water, but its only a 15 gallon tank and redoing this wouldn't be the end of the world, I know I can do better!
I also built a rock looking piece to sit in the middle of the tank, and a ledge type piece to give some layers to the tank.
Remember its just a small 15 long so nothing crazy can happen!
Anyway, I caulked everything down and added 2 plastic plants, even though I will put live plants in the tank...Here are the pics!
