# My 29 gallon tank remake



## BrianNFlint (Apr 1, 2007)

This is a tank that got for free and figured i would try to transform it into a beautiful show tank. i know its only 29 gallons but ultimately its for a pair of dwarf comps.

Heres the tank as i received it:










As you can see its gonna need some silicone work to get started:










First of course I cleaned the tank up, it actually came out pretty nice. I then cleaned all the silicone areas and applied new silicone over the old - yes i know yer not suposed to but the tank didnt leak so i didnt want to disturb it.

Now that the tank is cleaned up and the seams got a nice dose of silicone I started the DIY Styrofoam background. Origionally I had planned to take pics of each step and post a DIY for the BG, but there are so many already out there it didn't seem to be needed. For an example of a great DIY BG Vid, go here: http://cichlids4ever.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21

For my bg, i wanted to leave room at the top behind the background for a couple powerheads and a heater.

To do this, i first made a panel of rocks the width of the styro panel, as you can see in this pic:










Next, I created the ledge that i need to create the void in the rear of the tank, and extended the top of the rocks to accomidate the added height of the background.

At this point, everything is held together with toothpicks, and everything has to be siliconed on.










I will glue everything in place, then wait.. sigh

Once its all dry, i'll go back and do a little reshaping on the styro behind the rocks so its not just totally obvious that its man made.

Here all i did was use a standard kitchen knife to shape between the rocks to give it some depth. The glue holding the top piece is drying now so i should be able to get it carved out today and possibly get the first coat of concrete on it!










Heres the final background before painting with concrete!









One more trial fit.. It Fits and looks great!









And now for the first layer of concrete! Painting with concrete is no where as fun as it sounds! lol









Looks good from that angle! Did you notice the optical illusion? How about from this angle?









So thats what i got done today. I'll post more progress as it comes along. I still have to do the filtration and "chest" thats going around the tank.

Opinions??


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## BrianNFlint (Apr 1, 2007)

Here is the first coat dry, i am really suprised how WHITE it is! This pic does not show just how white it really is!










And here is the 2nd coat, wet. Playing with the dye i got it a little more orange than i wanted it. the 3rd coat is drying now, and is much browner.


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## Mustang Boy (May 2, 2008)

what no pics of the third coat

just kiddin man looks good cant wait to see it finished


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## BrianNFlint (Apr 1, 2007)

It was setting on a table and was too high to get pics of it, but heres some more:

This is the 3rd coat, DRY. 









The simple USJ I made for it. when its installed it'll be completely covered up. You wont see any equipment! I still have to make the jets.









And the final trial fit! It all fits nicely! Woo Hoo!


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## Dave (Feb 9, 2003)

Looks like it is coming along. Moving this to DIY section.


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## gordonrp (Mar 23, 2005)

nice, looking good. :thumb:


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