Another Other DIY 3D Background Thread

So I got my new tank (1.5m x 0.55m x 0.55m) the other day, and had already built the cabinet and canopy for it.
I've been planning to do the 3D background for it from the start, and below are some of the pics of the process and what I did.
I wanted a sort of dark slate look, as I will be using fine crushed coral for the substrate which is almost white in appearance.

Either way, I'm not finished, and will update as I got along but I thought I would share some pics of where I'm at right now.

The tank with the cabinet and canopy test fitted.



Below is my "workspace" I created in the garage after kicking my wifes car out for a while.....


The pieces as I cut and stacked them up...



After everything was siliconed together and allowed to cure for 24 hours, I the coated it using RB10 cement based pond sealer (3 coats). I still have to apply the acrylic paints to colour the background, but the general idea is to keep it with a black slate look with some flashes of brown etc.

 

this really looks awesome so far. i'll be following..

 

Looks very promising

 

That looks great

 

Just a thought - How do you plan to get that baby not to float ? Are you going to silicone it against the back pane of glass, or, are you going to remove all the styrofoam out of it?

 

aybe carve some foam out from the back and stick some rock or cement or something in there then silicone it onto the back, but im sure silicone should be able to hold it by itself

 

silicone will work, just make sure you really like what you have done and that its permanent else it will be quiet a bit of scraping to get the silicone off.
knowing from my mood swings with my tanks i wouldnt attempt something like this. but don't get me wrong, you've done a gr8 job as i said earlier

 

Its being siliconed to the back and bottom of the tank.....the rear is a flat piece of polystyrene.
I've seen larger pieces of polystyrene siliconed inside tanks without any issues, so I'm sure this will be fine (knowing me, there will be a monumental amount of silicone applied to both surfaces).

@oupoot - ya, I'm pretty sure a generous amount of silicone will hold it

 

@Ammar - I hear you on the permanent thing, hence why I've been pretty damn obsessive about trying to do this the right way, and not rushing. Its also a reason why I opted to have a partial background instead of a full one, so I have some room to breath....the tank is 1.5m long, and this background at the longest point at the bottom is 1.2m long.
It also on goes up around two thirds of the tank height at the highest point, leaving me room to add or re-arrange a little later on if I want.

 

im sure you won't regret it, otherwise stick it full of moss and turn it into a moss wall if your a moss freak like i am

 

lol, I'll keep that in mind

 

Very nice,do you take orders

 

@oscar freak

lol, I wouldn't want to get ahead of myself here.....its not even in the tank and water tested.
But thanks for the compliment

 

Looking good. I still love my 3D background 2 years on! Looking forward to seeing it in the tank.

 

@DesertConvert - Ya I read your background thread sometime ago, your one came out really nice. Hopefully mine comes out how I imagined it.

 

If I were you I would seriously think of removing ALL of the styroam, just leaving you with the outline of the "mould",
Fibre-glass the inside of the 'mould' and that will make it incredibly strong - and fibre glass is so easy to do.You can then just weight it down with a couple of bricks that you place behind it on a base - you need to form a base then of course..
You might even find that the fibre glass is heavy enough on it's own and you wont need the bricks !
If you do this then you wont need to permanently silicone it onto the glass itself - and will make it easier to remove or lift out if you need to at any stage.

 

Sorry dude, but I disagree here. How would you remove "all" the polystyrene and keep the 2mm shell of concrete in tact?
EVen if you do, a thin shell like that would probably be incredibly hard to keep together while trying to fibreglass it.
Then there is the issue of a hollow back, where fish may be able to get into and get stuck, unless of course I silicone it in place, in which case I might aswell do it as it is now.
There are countless 3D backgrounds, made here by people on this forum (@DesertConvert) and all over the world that when done right last and have no issues.

 

As an update - Painted the water based epoxy primer on this morning, have to let it cure for approximately 4-6 hours until sticky....then I can paint first base layer of Acrylic based pond sealer paint, pics to follow.

 

I wouldn't completely discount what @eros111 suggested. The "normal" way of doing the background is probably the easiest, but that doesn't mean something else won't work. I agree though...2mm might be tough to keep intact. I did however see a background somewhere online where the guy used fibreglass, and to some degree epoxy (I think), and removed the polystyrene. you would still need to seal it off for the fishies sake, but you would use a whole lot less silicone in the end
I'm busy cycling my new tank...too impatient to do a 3D like the last one, but a "removable" 3D may not be a bad idea. I'll have to think about that a bit.

Looking forward to the progress pics

 

Found it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFn69PmcmfA