# DIY slate stone background



## oldcat

I'm new to this forum, although have been writting quite a few articles on my local sites (im Polish) Generally I like structural backrounds in tanks, but I find those available in stores too ... plastic. I have a tank with Malawi cichlids 150x50x40h giving 300 liters. Also the fact that I have a sump, and the overflow chimney (how the **** is it called in english?!?) makes it difficult to use off the shelve backrounds. I decided to make one myself. I purchased a sheet od foam PVC, black 150x50, and 2 pices 25x50 cm.










This was the base of my background. The main material is slate stone. Chiping it from 20 - 30 kg rocks was quite a task, but with a kitchen knife (unusable in the kitchen since then ) and a hammer i managed to split it in to thin plates. 
I glued the stones to the PVC using silicone.










The chimney is also covered by the stone bakcground. Take notice that the water inlet is at the bottom. This way although the overflow combs takes the water from the syrface, my sump sweeps the water from the bottom. I made a small coumb on the top of the chimney cover, to gather any dirt from the syrface too, but there is a sliding "door" to close that.



















An attempt to fit the finished background.










And the final product in the tank.


















And at last...










I bought 150 kg of slate stone, but ended up with half of it left behind. The background ways about 70 kg. I used 6 large tubes of aquaric silicone. Now the tank is already covered by algies, and looks like this:


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## Deeda

Very nice, natural looking tank. I like your idea of using the chimney pipe (or flue) as your overflow chamber. I've been trying to figure out how to make one cheap. What kind of sand are you using for the bottom? Its a nice color.


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## oldcat

It's just simple river sand from Vistula. There is a large sand store for construction purposes, where they sell sand in tons. They were quite surprised when I walked in with a sack, but still managed to buy my self 50kg's for a few cents.


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## CrazyFishGuy

That looks great, thats what I want to do with my new 80G. What fish are in the tank?


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## oldcat

Maylandia esterae red red, Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos 'maingano', Labidochromis caeruleus 'Yellow', Labeotropheus trewavasae Thumbi West OB. The Yellow Labs didnt really work out. two females is all thats left. Im preparing to replace them with Labidochromis chismulae.


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## Fishyfan

I think that this is one of the best DIY backgrounds that I've seen so far! I might do something like this for my 180. 2 thumbs up :thumb: :thumb:


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## trigger

Looks absolutely great!


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## sysgone

Nice jobs Starykocie !


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## oldcat

Just found a pic of the flue cover. you can see the holes at the bottom, and the little comb on the top.


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## salty toes

Because of the way you designed your "chimney" with inlets at the bottom, if your power goes out, doesn't it draine the entire tank?


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## PauloSilva

oldcat said:


> Maylandia esterae red red, Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos 'maingano', Labidochromis caeruleus 'Yellow', Labeotropheus trewavasae Thumbi West OB. The Yellow Labs didnt really work out. two females is all thats left. Im preparing to replace them with Labidochromis chismulae.


This is my exact stocking list


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## oldcat

salty toes said:


> Because of the way you designed your "chimney" with inlets at the bottom, if your power goes out, doesn't it draine the entire tank?


The chimney does not have inlets at the botom. its made of glass and looks like this:










The cover of the chimney has inlets at the botom, than the water goes up and over the comb. If the power goes out, 3 galons of water will go to the sump, and it has capacity to take it. The tank is designed to be able to take all the wated from the punp compartment of the sump, in case the outlet in the chimney is stuck (unlikely wonsidering the way the outlet is made, and considering that there is an emergency pipe additionally in the chimney) The sump has space to take all the water in case the pump fails.



PauloSilvia said:


> oldcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maylandia esterae red red, Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos 'maingano', Labidochromis caeruleus 'Yellow', Labeotropheus trewavasae Thumbi West OB. The Yellow Labs didnt really work out. two females is all thats left. Im preparing to replace them with Labidochromis chismulae.
> 
> 
> 
> This is my exact stocking list
Click to expand...

Nice stock you have there


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## The Kapenta Kid

Very impressive pan oldcat. I think I would call the chimney or flue an internal overflow box.


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## 7armz

That is a awesome background. That is the only way to go to get your background the same color and texture as your rocks. Make the background out of the rocks! Brillient. Something i will have to try one day.


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## redzebra24

good old poland btw nice background


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## Mcdaphnia

Very neat! Any chance of seeing it in person? My wife and I will be in Poland in July.


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## oldcat

Why not  Send me a PM and we will arrange a beer and barbecue 

Cat.


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## corbypete

one question, how did you get it in the tank without 
a) flopping over and smashing your tank, and
b) getting it passed the glass brace int he middle, did you do it in sections?

ps, nice work, braver man than I!!!


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## oldcat

If you look at picture no1 you will see that the PVC is cut just under the glass brace. Also the flue cover is a separate bit. In other words the background consists of 3 sections. On pic no2 you can see tha smaller bit of the main background separated. I arranged the slate on the PVC joint together, but made sure norock is siliconed to noth halfs. You cant see the joint, even if you try verry hard.
Anyway, putting a 35kg largest section of the background I was a bit worried, not that I'll drop it, but that a stone will fall off the PVC. Putting the limestone rocks was as pleasant. The bigest one is 35 kg. The background, rocks and sand ways twice as much as I do


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## jwmustang

Nice, I will have to do that to my 55gal.


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## oldcat

I highly recomend  I have already done a few smaller to my other tanks, even to my 3gal MacQuarium which I keep in the office.

















Cat.


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## DallasTx

Amazing backgrounds, looks really great! :thumb:


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## CrazyFishGuy

where did you get the PVC? and is it actually PVC? I looked today at Home Depot and couldnt find any :-?


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## Mcdaphnia

CrazyFishGuy said:


> where did you get the PVC? and is it actually PVC? I looked today at Home Depot and couldnt find any :-?


 You can order PVC sheet from many sources, such as

http://freckleface.com/shopsite_sc/stor ... sheet.html

Very popular in other threads here is styrofoam sheet. It's much thicker but helps reduce the weight of the background on the tank bottom. The coarser stiffer grades of pond filter pads can be used too. Spray foam used in pond waterfall construction is another option. I've also seen rock backgrounds set into a bed of resin, or thermoplastic, but they price out higher than the more commonly used materials.


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## matthew112687

That really is awesome.. Good job!


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## oldcat

I'm afraid my details about where I got my PVC from wouldnt help, as I bought it in Poland where live. Its exactly foamed PVC. its verry light and elastic. Also verry easy to work with, as you can cut it with a knife blade. I know people who siliconed slate to acrylic sheets, to styrofoam, or directly on the rear pane of the tank.
For the foamed PVC i like working with this material. I made my overflow comb from it:










I also made a cover for a breader tank:


















and manny other smaller details.

Cat


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## CrazyFishGuy

thanks, I already got a acrylic sheet to try, so that should work


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## RedKestrel

MacQuarium?! HILARIOUS!!! The backgrounds you've done are lovely: when the hubby and I finally get around to doing our DIY Front tank, we'll probably be following your lead. Nice work.

:::still giggling about the MacQuarium:::

~ Amanda


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## FiLtEr FrEaK

hey man nice job they all look FaNtAsTiC !!!! "Pass'es a beer your way" ...


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## wobbletop

Pics no workie.


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## oldcat

Sory for the picks but the my hosting server is out. To see the pics of the flate stone background czeck out the link:

http://starykot.ovh.org/tlo.html - the text is in polish, but the pics are allright. You can see pics of the tank here:

http://starykot.ovh.org/malawifoto.html

I would have edited the links in the post but no edit option available. If you click on the images on page 2, they will open in a new window. freeimagehosting.com has removed the direct posting option so thats th eonly way now.

Cat.


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## trigger

Was able to fix most of the links...


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## girthvader

just out of curiousity, what lighting are you using? looks fantastic.


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## Nina K

It's fabulous! Only one question:

Is there any concern that the background may be too heavy? I'd be concerned that the entire tank could tip over towards the back as the weight is so heavy on only that one side of the tank.


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## Mcdaphnia

Nina K said:


> It's fabulous! Only one question:
> 
> Is there any concern that the background may be too heavy? I'd be concerned that the entire tank could tip over towards the back as the weight is so heavy on only that one side of the tank.


 That would be a concern if the slate were a diorama attached to the tank on the back and unsupported underneath. With any water in the tank, the background weight should be insignificant.

BTY, sorry I didn't get to see your tanks when we were in Poland this summer. Our daughter's wedding in Bialystock was great.


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## mobiusnu

oldcat said:


> It's just simple river sand from Vistula. There is a large sand store for construction purposes, where they sell sand in tons. They were quite surprised when I walked in with a sack, but still managed to buy my self 50kg's for a few cents.


I have a friend who lives near a company that makes headstones and large, solid rock signs. When he brought in two 5 gallon buckets and asked how much it would cost to fill them with rock, the manager laughed, and said "I don't know, a dollar, I guess."


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## bface1212

I want to do this project! Nice work. What kind of slate is that. And can you go into more detail on how you split it in to thin slices like that?Can you buy it in thin slices already?Where is the best place to buy slate like that? :-? Thanks


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## Matt S

thats an awesome looking background. im thinkin about tryin it except with tank slate.


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## pturini

Very cool background!

some of our coleagues here in Brazil are very eager to start developing something similar.

I have few questions about the project

- the backgroung: before you install in the tank, I undestood you divdied in three parts and glued together? how did you do that? do you have any picture of this process

- the sump. can you place some pictures of your sump and the return line?


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## aidanmouse

This is the best DIY background I have seen. Good idea!!!! I bought the materials to complete this project, but I couldn't find PVC sheet either so I bought acrylic plexi glass from Home Dept. Now upon reading other threads, it says silicone will not adhere to the acrylic. Hmmmmm. Should I take back the acrylic and get something else (like styrofoam) or should I get a different adhesive??? Will the plexi-glass be strong enough to hold the slate or will it bow and bend the acrylic???? Thanks a million for any input!!!!!!


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## fosterthefishydude

oldcat, is that starphyre glass??


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## jfk

I just set up my 75 gallon and used slate. I went to the local landscape company and they let me pick through pallets of the stuff and chip off what i needed to suit my tank. I found a large piece about a centimetre thick and that became my background after trimming it with a hammer and a screw driver. Then i took some larger chunks and broke them up and stacked them a voila caves. Yours looks outstanding btw it looks very natural.


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## bibbs68

oldcat, absolutely gorgeous!

I have had some slate from a snooker table in my back yard for about four months trying to decide how to use it in my 75 gallon. You have given me some great ideas! Thank you, and now maybe I'll get it done.

I currently have river rock which is nice but I'm tired of it after a year.

Again, super job and thanks for sharing your project with everyone.


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## porksnorkel

aidanmouse said:


> This is the best DIY background I have seen. Good idea!!!! I bought the materials to complete this project, but I couldn't find PVC sheet either so I bought acrylic plexi glass from Home Dept. Now upon reading other threads, it says silicone will not adhere to the acrylic. Hmmmmm. Should I take back the acrylic and get something else (like styrofoam) or should I get a different adhesive??? Will the plexi-glass be strong enough to hold the slate or will it bow and bend the acrylic???? Thanks a million for any input!!!!!!


i currently have a piece of test featherock siliconed to acrylic and no probs so far. i can't pry it off. still dry though. also have a DIY water fall backround w/ small pieces of petrified wood siliconed to it. weighs over 20lbs,dry. everything is sticking fine so far, but it is still not in a tank. i bet if u sanded the acrylic, u could stick just about anything to it. i use DAP silicone for doors and windows.


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## max in montreal

oldcat...a bit off topic but what is the size of your big tank, and the size of your sump?


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## fish-photo-train

i do have a question,how much rock can you put in side your tank? because i would like to do some ting similar but i am afraid it may brake the tank,how much rock will be enogth?
or you just start putitng and putting until you think is cool


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## ziyad

really cool stuff, but the 70kg,s of dead weight really bugz me!
Has anyone ever tried fiberglass matting with epoxy resin, and than mixing some really fine sand in the final coat of resin?
I always wanted to try that, but never got down to it.


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## fishwolfe

lomax made rocks like your describing ziyad,half way down the post,
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... ight=lomax
nice back ground too :drooling: :thumb:


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## ziyad

oops! Thats what happens when u in a hurry for quick answers! i read the first and last page only! seeely me!
 
Thanks, will give it a look :thumb:


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## AnThRaXx

hi im trying to figure out EXACTLY what you used to glue the rocks to the tank.. wat is it plz inform me i have a ton of awesome slate lying around. thanks man


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## oldcat

Havent been here for a while. Let me answer some questions that popped up.

- weight ... thats not a problem. There are 300 liters of water in that tank so with water alone it weighs about 300 kg + about 75 kg for the glass. The stone ways about 140 kg, bu takse space of about 50 liters of water, so we can subtract that. The total weight of the tank then would be about 470 kg. The only concern when placing rocks in the tansk is direct preasure on one point. a grain of sand under a rock can crack your pane. Thats why I put styrofoam under the rocks, and only later cover it up with gravel.

- As for silicone, this is actually the kind you use to glue glass together when making tanks. Its been a few years lready and all the rocks are holding on firmly tothe PVC.

- The tank size is 150x50x40 cm (sorry for the metric system but thats whatwe use here in Poland  ) giving a total of 300 liters. I use a 63 liter tank as a sump.
here's a pic:









The filtration material is placed in baskets to make it easier for cleaning:









As for the slicing of the slatestone .. you need a big knife (which will be ruined when you finish) and a hammer. You put bthe big cooking knife in the crack of a stone and hammer it down untill the rock splits. I should have pictures of this process somewhere but can't find them now. I will upload another time.

Cat.


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## tangerina3

Cat: I greatly admire your whole setup. May I ask a couple questions about the slate background?

1) How did you mount the PVC sheets to the back of your tank; did you use adhesives?

2) Does water seep inbetween the PVC and the rear glass? If so does this give you any problem with organic matter finding its way between PVC and glass and then becoming rotten there?

(if you do locate those slate-splitting pics, those would be of great service to your admirers here)


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