# homemade rocks



## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

ok, so im getting this 125 and im planning on putting a homemade background it it. io was debating on what kind of rock to put in it to match the back closely, and the thought came to me to; 1. get actual rocks from around my house(make them tank-safe of course) but paint with the cement I used on my background; 2. my second thought was to use the styrofoam that i used on the background, problem is, i don't really know how i would keep it from floating :roll: . Lastly concerning to the first idea, I had this thought of stacking bricks in a volcano formation,m covering it with netting, cementing around it, and build my own homemade volcano. Maybe i could even put a bubble disc in it and have my airiation look like an erupting volcano  . any oppinons? comments, questions, concerns? Its going to be a all peacock hap tank with a few extras if thart makes any difference.


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

It sounds interesting to say the least. You could easily hide a foam bubbler and create an awesome bacteria bed that was hidden. Take plenty of pics and post them for all of us.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I would find it a pretty much reverse process to take natural rocks, cover them and then try to make them look natural again. One of the really hard things to do is create "natural". If you want a natural rock background, how about getting a tile saw to slice the edges off rock so that the front edge is natural and then lay them up like brick. The front edge would be all natural but without the depth of real rocks hogging the tank space. If you find some of the softer limestone rocks, they work pretty easy. I would pin them together, top to bottom with dowels or allthread. Natural look without a floating problem.

But then again, if you are wanting a volcano with a bubbler, we probably are on different planets to start! :wink:


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## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

Yeah the only reason i was thinking of covering the rock wit cement was so it would match the back but now i think about it im thinking im prbably going to just put river rock in it. But im still seriously considering the volcano idea and styrofoam background because *** seen other people's styrofoam backgrounds here and they look amazing!


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Too bad you didn't post 3 days ago! I had a very similar setup running in my 37G. I got a water bottle and filled it with gravel and filter media and melted holes along the bottom for water to flow through. I had a bubbler in there and then covered the water bottle with some mesh and put small river rocks around it! Almost the exact same idea, but on a smaller scale! It worked very well, my water was quite clear and I actually used this to seed my 18G tank. Just put it in there and put in fish, worked like a charm!


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## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

oh wow! sounds great, i was thinking along wit the bubble disc for a little more airiation add another bubble wand under an overhang or something. do i need these extra bubbles or am i good with just the 4in disc?


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Extra bubbles to oxygenate the tank more? You really don't need much, many filters will do plenty of oxygenating for you! I just had the one hose coming into the volcano and that seemed to work well for all of my fish, and this was in a tank that was woefully overstocked due to excess breeding. I couldn't get my fish to keep their fins off each other :lol:

Something you should note though, for some reason any rocks near the top of the volcano got a kind of spot algae on them. It didn't spread through any parts of the tank oddly enough (trust me I checked a lot!) But if I ever rearranged the rocks near the top I had to be careful to not show that side!


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I hope you were not as offended as the fellow it was not meant for seemed to be. Part of my thinking was that the bubbles do little for the O2 exchange. If you like them, they are fine but much of the gas exchange is now considered to be done at the surface rather than the bubbles themselves. Old school thinking was that the bubbles were "needed" but they are often used just as a way to move the water up to the surface. Either way works fine. My personal objection to bubbles is the noise it makes. The airpumps tend to be noisy.


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

You can cover the rocks with the same coating you are using to make the background. -Even if they come out a little abstract, fact is, they will look like they match the background and the tank will have the natural look to it.

Another idea would be just to simply paint the rocks with the cement pigment color. If the texture doesn't match- the unified colors will tie everything together as a whole.

If you do use river rocks, (and would like them to match) just paint them the same as the background.


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## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

alright that sounds like a really good idea DanniGirl, and PfunMo, you didn't offend me at all it's just that i don't really have the resources to a tile saw and that much rock (I'm 15 :lol: ). also i feel that if i use solid rock out the entir4e back of my 125 then it would make it tremendously more heavy than it it already going to be with the water weight, the 2in of sand throughout and rock work, so that's the reason i didn't reply to your answer. you didn't offend me or anything, don't sweat it!


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Thanks. I rarely sweat over anything I read on the internet. If it can't bite, scratch, kick, or shoot back, it's pretty harmless. Kind of like fleas and chiggers! I know what you mean about the tile saw, too. Just throwing out some ideas. As to the fifteen years old, believe me, that is not a bad thing! :thumb:


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

I truly am sorry if I offended anyone and I will remember in the future to keep my opinions rated G. I thought the idea from the ladd to make a volcano in his tank was kind of neat and it personalized his tank to fit his character. The bubbler idea was meant to hide a sponge bubbler inside his volcano, that would create a bacteria bed and the bubbles that came out would simulate the volcano blowing its lid, that is all. Once again I am sorry for the way I expressed my opinion and I should have been more responsible. Thanks for listening.


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## DFishFox (Sep 27, 2011)

Interesting..


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

DFishFox said:


> Interesting..


I thought so too... opcorn:


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

This is what I was referring to hiding inside the fellows volcano.


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

sik-lid said:


>


I can't see the image, I think something may be wrong!


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

The King Crabb said:


> sik-lid said:
> 
> 
> >
> ...


Oops! I deleted the wrong image here it is


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Those sponge filters are excellent for bacterial growth! I've seen international fish chains use them to seed tanks, very effective :thumb:


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

Yeah I have them in all my tanks, i have 2 #4's in my 240 and 150 gal. Best thing I ever did for my tanks water and fish. :dancing:


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## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

about how much does one of those run?


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

Only about 10 bucks. They are so worth it.


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## south amarican ciclids (Oct 20, 2011)

do they relly suck up the bigger things like poop

thanks opcorn:


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

They can. If you have a little wussy air head on there obviously it won't pick up much but if you're running it with large air pump/ power head you'd be amazed at what they pick up!


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