# Time to start DIY background #7



## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

After my 55 gallon would not sell on craigslist for the amount I wanted for, I decided to plan a grow out tank for my fry. I don't want it to be simple and at the same time I was bored of the background that it had in it. I took off the background, I had to completely destroy it for it to come off. The 55 looks very nice and clean now, I went to Lowes and bought a pack of 100 razor blades for like $6, I only used about 8 though but I know I will need the rest down the road.

Here are some pictures of the 55 before it was taken down (sorry quality sucks)...

















My plan is to make something like this although I will not be able to achieve this depth but I will try!


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## ssacrew (Nov 25, 2009)

If you can do a custom background that ends up like that one, I'll be happy to pay you to make one for me!

My background currently in suspension between the layers of concrete on it. I have not had time to put another layer on recently.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

It will not be that nice but it will look close, I hope!


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## khs2424 (Mar 1, 2007)

So how did you make the original background? Is there a thread on it. I really like it.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

khs2424 said:


> So how did you make the original background? Is there a thread on it. I really like it.


Sorry, the first one does not have a thread, I was too exited to finish and regrettably no thread.

But I do have a few videos of it on Youtube if you want to see more of it...


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Here is the progress, not too happy at this time but we'll see when I put some color on it. Still needs a lot of carving...


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

Fantastic progress.  can't wait to see some color.
Seems like you keep getting better and better at this. I can see where you used the torch, makes for some cool ass texture.
keep us posted


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Thanks!

Yeah, trying the torch this time around, wanted to try new things, we'll see how that turns out. Looks too porous but again, we'll see how it turns out with some color.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I think all the carving is done, or burning actually...I will put some color on it tonight and post some pictures later, kinda busy watching the Saints & Vikes game though.


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

I found dry brushing lighter colors over darker undercoats worked great. but after seeing your others I'm sure you'll figure it out.
I'm excited, can't wait to see this one.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

That is exactly what I did for my last one and will do it for this one as well.

Here is the background in black, there are some modules missing but I am too tired to set it all up, will do it tomorrow...


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

How does this look for the main color? There will be shades of browns throughout the background but it will mostly white like this...










What do you guys think? Is it good or should I go with something else. Remember I want it to look like the third picture in the opening post and the fish that will go in there will be Aceis so they will look nice in a lighter background because of their dark color... At least it's what I think...

Let me know!


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

I like it. Very close to inspiration pic


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## CRich2084 (Nov 15, 2007)

That's a really good color, definitely very close to to BTN pic. Does it get a little darker when its wet? I know I used a whiter color (not completely white, but very light gray) and light gray for mine and once it got wet, it looked like a darker gray with dark gray mixed in


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Malawi_Junkie said:


> I like it. Very close to inspiration pic


Okay cool, that is just what I want to hear. Thanks! :thumb:



CRich2084 said:


> That's a really good color, definitely very close to to BTN pic. Does it get a little darker when its wet? I know I used a whiter color (not completely white, but very light gray) and light gray for mine and once it got wet, it looked like a darker gray with dark gray mixed in


Thanks! I don't think it will get darker except when the algae starts growing on it. I remember your background but I don't remember if you used cement or Drylok. Drylok is latex based paint or something like that so it should not darken but cement on the other hand will darken when wet. I used straight white and the background color is dark grey. I recoated them with a darker black and should stand out a little more now, I will show pictures later.


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## reefed_out (Jan 15, 2010)

Looks fantastic! I am inspired forsure, can't wait to see the finished product!!


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

you must use a denser styro than i did, when i tried to do carving it would rip off in chunks


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## khs2424 (Mar 1, 2007)

If the whole thing comes out to be that color, that baby will look AWESOME! :drooling:

I see that you have a 55 with the cross bar in the middle. How are you gonna get that thing in there? opcorn:

Also, I love these DIY background threads and all the ideas everyone shares but I really wish someone would post some vids on youtube of things like, how they carve, how they use a torch, etc. I get "how" they use them but I guess I just kinda learn better once I actually SEE someone doing it along with their technique.

I know there are some on there now but they just pretty much just tell you; carve it, glue it, paint it with cement and viola!


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

reefed_out said:


> Looks fantastic! I am inspired forsure, can't wait to see the finished product!!


Thank you! I can't wait to finish it but I have been a little busy the last two days and have not been able to work on it at all.



cjacob316 said:


> you must use a denser styro than i did, when i tried to do carving it would rip off in chunks


I used the "Insulafoam" brand from Lowes.



khs2424 said:


> If the whole thing comes out to be that color, that baby will look AWESOME! :drooling:
> 
> I see that you have a 55 with the cross bar in the middle. How are you gonna get that thing in there? opcorn:
> 
> ...


In order to get it in the tank I will have to cut it in two or three pieces and may seal them back up once it is in the tank.

You are like me when it comes to learning, I am a visual learner. I think it would be great for someone show their techniques step by step on how to do the whole thing but I think it would be very time consuming. I think I may be able to share my techniques with a scrap piece of styrofoam once I get done with this one but don't take my word for it, a get extremely lazy sometimes!  but I will try!


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I threw on the white, here are a couple of pictures...what do you guys think?


















I still need to throw in shades of brown into the mix but most of it would look like this... I am not too crazy about it, it does not look like the BTN one too much does it?


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

nice job man, where are your intakes and such


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I am thinking about using a sump so I will use the top rock in the middle as an overflow box and drill a couple holes to the glass behind it.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

nice, if you go the sump route i think that would be good/great

what tank is it? you sure the back pannel isn't tempered?


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

It's a 55 gallon from WalMart (im 90% sure since I have seen the HOB filters and stand it came with at Walmart). I don't think its all tempered because it has a sticker on the bottom pane that says "this pane is tempered" or something like that so I an assuming that the rest of the pannels are not but could be wrong if the previous owner took any stickers off of it from the other panes, which would make sense.

Now you got me thinking... I might have to try a syphon type of overflow which I would hate. What do you think? Should I drill?


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

i know my tank from petsmart had a sticker that said all pains tempered on the bottom, so if your sticker only says that pain then you should be safe (fingers crossed)


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

how thick is your glass?


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

1/4 "


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

So is mine...usually they temper glass when they try to compensate for thinner glass right?

What brand is your aquarium? Mine seems to be Aquaculture.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

it was in the top fin aquarium kit at petsmart


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Thanks for all the help Jacob!


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

My 55g sump tank had the same sticker in the bottom and I assumed it meant all panes were tempered. I really wanted to drill it for an external pump but submerged instead.

Your color looks good but a little too white IMO. You might try lightly dry brushing a darker color and if you don't like it just go back over it. I would try a couple shades of gray with your brown to make your texture pop.
What substrate do you plan?
It looks really good, just keep playing with the color till your happy.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Going to use play sand since I already have a 50 pound bag of it.

I am honestly considering starting over, the background did not satisfy me very well. Thing is my funds are running low at this point...can't wait for the tax return! :lol:


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

been a while since I've looked at "big chain store"  tanks, but if it's anything by Marineland (anchor and someone's initials on the inspection sticker) it's tempered all the way around. perfecto, TopFin, Tetra . . . whatever other names they put on them now


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I guess I will have to go with a syphon type overflow. Sucks!


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

> I am honestly considering starting over


 I know how that goes...HaHa

but I think you had something there just try some more colors.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I am definitely going to finish it, I'm just sure that I can do a lot better than that or maybe it is good and maybe it is not but I am not too exited about it, I will try to sell it for $50 or something, just enough to buy some more styro and drylock.


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## bertolli (Aug 18, 2009)

I'm sure you could get 50$ for that it looks freaking awesome! I agree with it being a bit too white but with some black sand it would look sweet and would take on a more natural look after being set up for a while. If I ever get around to making one of these I will definitely refer back to your many posts for advice.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Thanks bertolli I hope it sells, otherwise I will be stuck with it.

I also think that within a few weeks of setting it up it will get some nice algae growing on it and would look better but I don't know it's not what I expected. :wink:


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

Well in that case, I can't wait for #8. I'm sure you will have no trouble selling on CL


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

if you lived closer i'd buy it


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## bertolli (Aug 18, 2009)

cjacob316 said:


> if you lived closer i'd buy it


just subtract the price of shipping from $50 and i think u guys got a deal


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

:lol: Thanks guys! I will ask for the best offer on CL if it does not sell locally for some reason, I will see how much it would be to ship it.

I purchased the styro today, I cut it up and bonded it together. I will start carving it out tomorrow and simultaneously keep working on this one. So, I used about 97% of a 4'x8' piece of styro and I will start with a piece that is 48"Long x 18 1/4" High x 9 3/4" Deep. Let's see what comes out of that!


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

do you use silicone to bond yours together? i find that when i start using the torch to shape, that i end up with chunks of silicone sticking out around the seams and sometimes when it dries, it creates a gap between the styro pieces


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Yes, I do and I pick it off with my fingers sometimes leaving a gap but I have used great stuff and silicone before to get rid of the gaps and then sand it down to have a smooth finish. Lately I have just left the gaps alone, it is too time consuming and the color sort of tricks the eye and sometimes you cant see them.


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## TanganyikaFreak73 (Apr 18, 2007)

That is a fantastic background :thumb: I may have missed this in your post.....what did you use to seal it?

I built one a while back.....looked great but never completely sealed. I used quickrete that was suggested in a thread a couple of years ago. I put on 5lbs of muscle weight from all the water changes I did trying to get a stable PH . I even setup a an intake and outflow with some hoses over my basement sink after getting tired of humping 5g buckets of water. I kept this up for a month and after seeing my water and no PH change I scrapped it.

I would like to start another however, with better results.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

TanganyikaFreak73,

It is a mistake that many of us do when building our first backgrounds. Fully submerging the backgrounds in water does not help lower the PH if the cement has not had enough time to cure. The cement needs to sit in open air and we must soak it constantly throughout the day. The cement needs to stay hydrated to achieve the chemical reaction it needs to cure but too much water is not a solution either. Although cement takes way too long to cure some say that 28 days is enough time for the cement to be strong enough to be submerged. I have always been impatient and never have waited the 28 days, only waited about a week or two at the most but keeping the cement hydrated by soaking it once in a while during the day did it for me. The highest my PH would go was like 8.8 and with a couple of water changes I would get about 8.2-8.3.

I don't think I mentioned it but I used Drylok. It is a latex based type of paint or something like that and it works great. No need to use concrete and it preserves detail a heck of a lot better than concrete, you should try it!


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## TanganyikaFreak73 (Apr 18, 2007)

I let my background cure for a month or so before I added any water. I did not cover my background with burlap, etc. And I didnt spray water on it either.

Ill go with the Drylok on my next one. Is there a curing time?


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

That is odd... :-? I think that the lack of hydration might of been the cause but I could be wrong.

Yes, the Drylok has a curing time of 2 days if I am not mistaken, could be a week, it says right on the can but I think its 2 days. :thumb:


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Here is the update...

I put some brown in it, it kind of darkened everything which is good but I still don't like it very much... I might have to start over with the color for this one but I am running very low on Drylok and pigment and I really don't want to spend more money on it.

What do you guys think? It actually looks better in the pictures...

No Flash..









With Flash...


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## TanganyikaFreak73 (Apr 18, 2007)

mightyevil said:


> That is odd... :-? I think that the lack of hydration might of been the cause but I could be wrong.
> 
> Yes, the Drylok has a curing time of 2 days if I am not mistaken, could be a week, it says right on the can but I think its 2 days. :thumb:


Sounds much easier than going with the quickrete :thumb:

That new background looks great. Awesome job!


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

TanganyikaFreak73 said:


> mightyevil said:
> 
> 
> > That is odd... :-? I think that the lack of hydration might of been the cause but I could be wrong.
> ...


Thank you! I think I might change the color to be a little darker, I think it would look better.


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## TanganyikaFreak73 (Apr 18, 2007)

mightyevil said:


> TanganyikaFreak73 said:
> 
> 
> > mightyevil said:
> ...


I didnt see that second picture with the flash in my first post only the top photo. Going a bit darker would look better I think. :thumb:


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

I agree darker color, but i still like this one.
Drylok 3 hrs between coats 1 week to cure.


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