# 220 gallon all rock BG & custom spray bars...Pic Heavy!



## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Had seen something similar in the tutorials section. This thing is in three sections and HEAVY! Multiple holes drilled to allow water to flow through it. Powerheads X2 in it to pull water from behind it and push into main tank. Black mesh over openings to allow water to flow behind it to get to canister filter intakes.

Spray bars are the 2rd revision. Had initially tried one setup that left them too high above the waterline. 2nd setup had two valves on it that would allow me to attach a hose to it to flush poo from under rocks but the water flow was too weak. 3rd revision has the spray directed back toward the background to flush poo and the parts inside the tank are NOT cemented so that I can adjust aim/outflow at my choosing...gee, only took me two previous tries and tossing out a lot of PVC to think of that. DUH!

Here goes:

Spray bars...one each side, each to its own Rena XP3:

























The background started as a piece of 6 foot tall vinyl fence panel from Lowe's. Was about $40 and cut into pieces:









Flow holes...most of which would later be occluded with silicone:









Braces from extra fence parts siliconed on back to make sturdy:









Painted with flat black and tan plastic paints. Later changed sand to black so black all over would have been fine:









Used three different sizes of very well washed and dried landscaping rock. Large ones are hand positioned as are strategically placed medium. Most of the small ones were just crammed on then, as per the guide, held the part upside down the next day to let the loose rocks fall off. Then hand glued in to fill in any gaps:

















Letting it cure fully:









Powerhead peaking out and mesh over cannister intakes:









Testing center piece. Side pieces secured with ties to a clamp on back wall (which will be covered with the new canopy that is almost done!). Center piece held to side pieces with plastic clamps. Had to use black tubing to close a gap on the right wall far edge and keep fishes from getting behind it:


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Very creative on the materials and it looks good.

Just add a couple tall plants to cover the seams between the panels and it will look even better.


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Any suggestions on plants? Was hoping algae growth would help but wuth 4 BN plecos, that's not happening.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Maybe some of the salt water frag glue to glue some rocks across the seams? Anubias and Java Fern are always easy starter plants, that need little light.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

No suggestions for the background, but just wanted to suggest you check out a product call PixResizer. It'll dramatically reduce the file sizes on your pics, so there's no longer a need to warn about posts being pic heavy. It's a free download that can be found here. I use it all the time.


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

prov356 said:


> No suggestions for the background, but just wanted to suggest you check out a product call PixResizer. It'll dramatically reduce the file sizes on your pics, so there's no longer a need to warn about posts being pic heavy. It's a free download that can be found here. I use it all the time.


Downloading it now. The website I use is supposed to resize and optimize but it is failing to do what it should!


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

The tank looks great! Adding the spray bar was an excellent idea.

Just out of curiosity, how long did it take to create the background?


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

A couple of weeks working on and off. Would guess about 20 hours or so of actual labor. Btw, thanks for the post fix!


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

biglove said:


> A couple of weeks working on and off. Would guess about 20 hours or so of actual labor. Btw, thanks for the post fix!


You're welcome.

So the background only took 20 hours to create? -Wow. You had me there, I would have assumed weeks. It looks great!
How do you like the spray bar?


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Love it! I can adjust the height, length, spray direction and even quickly turn it into a spray nozzle esince the parts inside/over tank are not glued together.


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## Phildo (Jul 29, 2004)

biglove said:


> Any suggestions on plants? Was hoping algae growth would help but wuth 4 BN plecos, that's not happening.


Jungle valls (Vallisneria americana gigantea) will easily grow the height of the tank without taking up much space laterally. Perfect for hiding those seems.


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