Charlene

My partner and I decided to do a DIY background and this is how it has turned out. No water in the tank just yet due to the silicon curing. Hopefully at the weekend we'll fill and empty the tank to get the pH right and have it cycling before the weekend is over.




The light we might not use.

iloveengl

Cool! That looks like it was kinda fun to make. I can't wait to see how it looks when the tank is all done.

Charlene

It was a lot of fun to make and a bit cold that day in the first pic. I'm excited about it as it looks so cool, can't wait for water and then (the pain of waiting to cycle it) fish to go in. We're just moving some of our tanganyikan cichlids from my 120L to this 4ft long. So excited

Charlene

Now we have got to the real exciting stage, the cycling has begun!! So excited, as I can't wait for the fish to go in.

Here is the progress



Full tank shot. We need to paint the sides and a little bit at the front as, you can see.

bolivianbaby

That looks fantastic! Great job!

nater

That does look cool, nice work.

Slug

Very nice background

peacemaker92

Beautiful! IMO, you could add some plants onto the background and give it a natural look It'll look so nice!

aquarist48

Great job Charlene! Looks beautiful.
Ken

Charlene

Thank you all for the nice comments.

As to plants, we're moving tanganyikan cichlids to this tank from my 120L as it's started to look a bit crowded as they are growing, I'm not a fan of plants as you have to trim and do all sorts to them and I don't have the time to do that with having 6 tanks to take care of. The easier the better for me but nice idea.

peacemaker92

You could add those hanging plastic/silk plants. Just an opinion.

Charlene

In Lake Tanganyika there are plants but not many. This is purely for show and both my partner and I thought about this carefully and decided that plants would look too much when the fish go in but it's an idea for another background maybe.

speed0factory

wow this look great

Beth1965

Looks great, impressive work!
Beth

Lucy

It looks great. What materiels did you use? Is this mounted inside the tank?

Charlene

Thank you.

All that is needed to make a diy background is;

Styrofoam of at least an inch thick. We used insulation boards
Ready made cement mix and water
Silicone
Carving knife
Lots of patience (this is very important)

Took a few day to carve and stick styrofoam where you think looks good (trial and error), wait for that to dry and cure for 4 days. Then the messy part, the first layer of cement of which should be a little runny then normal, just to get the second layer to have something to stick to, the second layer is more thicker than the first. The third layer will be even more thicker than the second. Wait for each layer to dry first before applying more cement about 24 hrs each layer. Once dry, you then stick it in the tank. This is stuck to the back and sides of the tank with silicone, wait for 4 to 5 days, to let it cure.

When it's time to fill the tank up you have to fill up at least 3 time and empty 3 times as the cement has limestone in which makes it very acidic (as we found out, went of the charts when testing!). Water may go cloudy as ours did but goes in a day or two. Then it's all about waiting for it to cycle.

Lifesabeach

Great Job. It's very rewarding to make your own masterpiece! As you say, you need lots of patience, but well worth it.

Charlene

Definitely lots of patience is needed. So worth it in the end. I'm excited not only to see the fish in the tank but the algae growth as well, that will make the rocks stand out.