# styrofoam background



## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

Has any one do the background with concrete cement and not used epoxy resin?

also if I did a background for a 55 gal tank would one piece be too heavy after applying the cement?

Tommy


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

I hope this works this is the 1st time that I carve this out









this is how it looks I added a little ledge on the left side where I also made a hole so some water will flow to the back where the heater and the intake will be which is not visible.









now I also added a ledge in the middle near the bottom. the piece on the bottom is the piece that is going to be the bottom part of this background still needs some work









this is the back where the heater and the intake will be









I will post more if these pictures work

feel free to comment and maybe give some advice of what I can add to this

thanks
Tommy


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Do a search. I have seen tons of people do it many different ways including the way you question.


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## a_c_arnold (Mar 7, 2008)

I would suggest sealing the cement with Drylok concrete sealer acrylic based. You can buy the white color and dye it with concrete colorant. From my experience, it makes the background hold up better over time. I would also suggest carving the flats down on your styro so that the rocks have varying depths. It will look more natural. Good luck and here are a few picks from my current DIY background.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

A.C.

thats some tank u have there  How many gals? is it and how long have u had that tank?

thanks for the suggestion about carving the styro deeper it is 4 sheets of styro and I have carve the middle portion down to the last sheet. just waiting for my tank this weekend so I can see if the whole sheet will fit the way it is or if I have to cut it into 2 or 3 pieces. Then I will continue to do my carving and then start the cement.

how many coats of the drylok concrete sealer did u use? It also looks like a better bargain than the epoxy resin so I may go with your suggestion. 
Thanks 
Tommy


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## a_c_arnold (Mar 7, 2008)

I put one or two coats of the white and then a coat of dark grey. I then came in with some light grey and brown to vary the shades. I have live plants so it only takes a couple of months for the entire thing to become algea covered. The detail to the various shades of color is probably not necessary unless you don't decide to have live plants and leave the lights off the majority of the time.


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## Sav505 (Apr 26, 2005)

Thats looking really nice!
I did a styro/concrete background for my 180 gallon a few years back. I didn't use anything to seal it, but if I were to do it again I would seal it because I had a bristle nose pleco who liked to chew on it.
Don't worry about the weight of the concrete. You won't believe how bad styrofoam wants to float! I'd say do as many thin coats of concrete as you can. I would also recommend attaching it with strong magnets instead of silicone. You can find really strong magnets on Amazon.
Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.
Heres mine.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Now thats one **** of a tank!


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

ok Finally got the tank today. its needs to be clean lol. I had to cut the styro into 2 pieces here is a pic of how it looks so far inside the tank









this is a close up of the center where I have the ledge and a carve out small cave under the ledge dont know if it is visible









this is the left side where the intake tube and the heater will be located. I think I got to make it a little wider for the heater dont want to squeeze it in.









this is a close up of where the water will flow to the back where the intake the tube will be.
I need some advice here please help asap lol I want to know if that is enough or do I have to make more holes for the water to flow back to the intake.









A pic of the left side and the right side still need some work

















hope to start doing the cement work this week


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## a_c_arnold (Mar 7, 2008)

Make sure that the surface area of your holes is quite a bit larger than the overall area of the intake tube. I learned this the hard way, but my latest version actually overflows slightly into the intake chamber from the top which gives a nice skimming effect. It has lower holes for water intake as well so that it pulls from all sections of the water column.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

A.C.

I am not sure I quite understand what u mean when u say make sure that the holes are a bit larger than the overall area of your intake tube.

I have made another hole close to the area where the 1st one is here is a pic of it








both holes are atleast the size of the intake tube. Do you think that the 2 holes are too small?

I also made the area of the intake a little larger than the previous photo that I last post








the part that u said about the water overflowing into the intake area is a good Idea I think I will do that too just to be safe.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

this is what I use to cover the hole so that no regular size that I am gonna put in the tank can swim to the intake area









and this is how one of the holes looks like


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Thats a good idea or sandwich plastic screening in there. If you look at over flows in reef ready tanks the cover just has slots in it small enough to not suck in any fish or allow them to swim into it. They have them a the bottom and top.


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## a_c_arnold (Mar 7, 2008)

Two holes that large should be sufficient. The screen is definately a good idea and by oversizing the inlets you will always have more options if you add a higher flow rate filter. If you notice in my tank, I had to add an auxillary inlet pipe that is not hidden behind the background because when I upgraded the holes could not accomodate the extra flow.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

here is a pic of the 1st coat of cement half dried that I did a few days ago









and here is a pic of the 2nd coat that I just did today. I don't know if I should add more cement in a dew days to build it out more. I will see when I put inside the tank when the back ground is dry. Also I have a question do I have to brush some of the acrylic hardener on the background after I add color to the background. I have been using it with the cement.









and this is the cement that I use plus the acylic hardener. This is the only hardener that I can find in the HD or Lowes in NYC that doesn't say it is latex base. anyway hope it works out lol.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

got some more done this week. Finally got to do some coloring use the quikrete powder cement color. A little black and some that looks like a brownish yellow color. I am bad with color lol.
this is the center of the tank with the cement color









the Right side where the return is. the hole for the return is still visible cause it is still white but I will color that too.









the left side where the water will flow towards the back I think I hid that pretty well  
IMG]http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2285/12272373/21829647/361696030.jpg[/IMG]

this is the epoxy that I am using. got it at HD. I read some where in the DIY post forgot who it was that use this and this was all I could find. thanks whoever it was that said they use this brand.









here is a pic with BG out of the tank with a coat of Epoxy Resin









and this is the bottom piece with Epoxy Resin 









Hope to get it slicone in the tank sometime next week when it is all dry and set


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

ok I finally silcone the back ground to the tank. I thought about using some steel wool to dull the background but I think when it is in the water it will lose some of the shine if not then when algae starts to form on it in a few month. I will start to fill it with water on Monday and check the water conditions for a week or so. Will do the fill and Drain system that everyone that has posted a DIY background has done. I also have the Cascade Canister filter that I will be using for this tank running in another tank for well over a month now. So I dont have to worry about any cycling of the tank.









here is a close up of the return tube 









and a picture of the over flow on the left side I did this just incase the other 2 holes are not big enough to allow enough water to flow to the back where the intake tube is located. I have it seal off so that no fish can swim to the back of the over flow. I use pieces from a plastic fork that I stuck thru the styro foam. The top of the styrofoam is seal with epoxy Resin.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

added water into the tank today as I said earlier the I didnt think it would shine underwater. PH is 6.8. will recheck later on tonight and then again in the morning to see if there is any changes.


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## ctinsley (Apr 24, 2009)

Nice BG did you seal the sides and back of it with resin. Im doing my first one and could use some tips. Also how do i mark this thread so i dont loose it And how does it shine when the lights are on. post more pics pl.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

This is also my 1st attempt doing the background so I am no expert in this. I just read some of the other threads here and get a idea how everyone else make a background and try to do the best I can. 
Yes I seal the back and the sides with resin also . total I use 2 bottles each of resin and activator. I did that because I was not sure how the styrofoam would react underwater incase some water leak behind the background which some did lol. I see where the water its getting behind the background and I can drain it let it dry and seal it. I dont know if I leave it as is would it cause any problems later on. I am pretty sure I wont have problems with the background coming off. The back ground fit in the tank pretty snug before I silcone it to the tank.Maybe I can post something and ask and see what answers I get.

It does not shine at all with the lights on underwater it looks dull that is why I am glad I didnt waste anytime sanding or using steel wool to make it dull.
I dont know what u mean about marking this thread maybe u can save it in ur favorite places.

here is a few more pics

right side with return tube I will paint the sides to cover that ugly mess lol









right side look at the arrow there is where the return hose is 









Left side with arrows showing the holes where the water will go to the back where the intake hose is located.









pic of where the overflow is did this just incase the water didnt get back to the intake hose fast enough.









Left outside of tank I will paint and cover that too.


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## ctinsley (Apr 24, 2009)

are you going to paint the side of your glass where the background shows? I think it would look better some other people mentioned it and i plan on doing it to my tank. I figured out how to save the threads thanks anyway. Im working on my first post of my BG that should be up tonight some time so look for it. I modeled mine off of the pic on your page 1 of the light brown wall that looks like bricks stacked. Im debating wether or not to seal mine with epoxy after i concrete it.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

yes I am going to paint it black once the water parameters are good to go or maybe doing something wacky like making a styrofoam rock and glueing it on the outside of the tank lol.

I read on some of the post's that ppl seal the concrete so that it will protect the concrete from fishes picking on it, thats why I seal mine. Better to spend a few extra dollars if possible to prevent a future problems. Dont forget once it is in the tank and sealed there is really no turning back.

and good luck with ur new project and if you need any help feel free to ask


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## Sav505 (Apr 26, 2005)

That looks really good! What kind of substrate are you going to use?


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

Thanks, I bought pool filter sand over the weekend. things are expensive here in NY lol everyone says they pay a few $'s for 50lbs of sand and it costs me $14 lol got to get out of here someday lol. Anyway since I have nothing to do for the next few days while the water settles in I probably should start rinsing the sand out some so that when the water is settle I can just drop the sand in and start to do some decorating.

here is a pic of a Rock that I made was thinking of putting it on the lower leftside where the side and back of the BG meets
















what do u all think should I silicone it on or not ? I am just worry that I am putting too much stuff in the tank and have less space for the fishy's. even though I will be adding some rocks once the sand is in.


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## ctinsley (Apr 24, 2009)

I would say put it in. im going to put some other structures into my tank besides just the BG that im working on.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

Finally move the tank where it is suppose to go. refill it and now have sand and some rocks in the tank. The cascade canister filter is running fine no wate overflow issues so far. heater heating up the water to a temp of 77 degrees, PH is still above 8.4 KH is 80 ppm GH 75
here is a pic of the tank, the wate is a bit cloudy from the sand but should clear up overnight
the powerhead is there only temporary.


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## ctinsley (Apr 24, 2009)

Hey tommy what cement product did you use on your BG.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

imo i liked the look PRE glazed... :thumb:


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

CT I used the quikrete Hydraulic leak stopper cement. I have a pic of it on the 1st page.

yeah Jfly, I like the way it look preglazed also, but I read so much about ppl that didnt use epoxy resin that they wish they did because of fishes picking on the BG and picking some of the cement off and I didnt want it to happen to me after all my hard work. But it actually dont shine too much in the water at all looks almost like preglazed. once the Ph is under control and I can add fish I will post some pics with fishes and other Live plants.

Tommy


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## bntbrl (Apr 23, 2009)

I put a coat of colored silicone on teh sides and back to cover up anything that I stick int he tank so you cant see it from the outsides. Some masking take a a spatula or spreader and make a thin skim but thick enough to no tlet light through. Only where ytou will see styro or something like that.


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## tommy022060 (May 1, 2008)

The water finally settle after a little over 3 weeks I use 3 mbumbas as test fish last week. then added 2 malawi Red peacocks a few days later. then added my 3 surviving Duboises out of 15 that survive my filter malfunction a few month back 1 M and and 2 F and they are both Holding.
Here is some pics for anyone that is interested in looking


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## mepeterser2451 (Mar 23, 2007)

very cool! i like the brown! the dim lighting works really well with it.


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