# Wvack's Tanganiycan Tank "Step by step"-Styrofoam-



## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

I've made A styrofoam Background and put loads of pics on a danish forum...

I will try to translate and post the pics here aswell, to help others with ideas....

I may do things an odd way, but then again... it got done, and may give you guys ideas of how to do it better!

Even though I'm very pleased with mine :thumb:

This is a pic og my 325L tank when i first bought it...









More pics will follow, but I wnat to make sure i got the posting of images right! :wink:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

I bought a 50X600X1200mm piece of styro, to make things easiuer for you, an inch is 25.4mm!

I startet out making a piece of cardboard the same size as the rear window of my tank:










And i cut the Styro to fit the height!










The Styro is 4" short, but the way i do it, it will actually end up being to long!

I've cut the styro and pulled the pieces apart... to create a "crack" in the cliff...










And here I've done something similar at the other end of the styro










And here you see the bigger pic:









The next thing to do is to add some structure to the styro... so that it won't just be a completely flat background...


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

Next I've started building a "shelf" for some Paracyprichromis Nigripinnis to live underneath (hopefully)




























The work goes on...

This time on the rest of the background aswell...










More "cracks" and more bumps...


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

Now I startet the gluing!

Not sure what you call the kinda foamy glue that expands like crazy, but that's the kind i used! :lol:










The rock has been glued!










The shelf gets done aswell, and even made a bit bigger than before:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

This pic shows how i make the background "fade out" in the end whare people will also wiev the tank...

The front and left side will be the sides where people will look into the tank.










This is the shelf again:










And again, I'm trimming the edge to make sure the "cracks" won't get to narrow, once the concrete is put on...










Some more pics just for your entertainmant!



















Here I've put up some cardboard to show how the shelf will look










I'll add more pics tomorrow that'll show how i put in the tubes for the filter!


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## Nighthawk (Mar 13, 2003)

Very informative. I may try something like this myself.


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

Nighthawk said:


> Very informative. I may try something like this myself.


Go for it, it really isn't that hard... this is my first go at it ever! 

In the next pic, I've started making the intakehose for the filter-pump










It's gonna suck out water from the bottom of the shelf.

poor quality pic, but it's the pumpintake-hose again with some glue on it!










This is a pic of the outlet, still in the shelf but at the top:










And one more of the outlet hose being glued:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

Next step is "painting" on the concrete!

This was done with an old paint brush... Well, not old but cheap enough to throw away afterwoods! :lol:




























This was without any colour added to the concrete...

Stay tuned, there's more to come!


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Can't wait to see the end result. Bet that shelf/ledge part is gonna look neat!


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## balachel (May 24, 2008)

wow looks really cool cant wait to see more


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

Now there's been brown colour added... you don't really notice it in the pics though...

This is the outlet:



















After adding the cement, it got 4 layers. THICK layers! I put it outside in the rain to let the rain clean it up!


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

One thing you cannot do to often is MEASURE!!!!!

I didn't do that quite well enough, which means, it's time to HACKSAW!!!! Recarefully it can be done!!!










Time to start mounting the background!

First off, a pic of the empty 325L:










Here i've carefully put the first piece in the tank, no glue or anything, just to see if it fits:


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

i was going to suggest tapering the end pieces so you don't see the stryro, but it looks like you thought of it :thumb:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

Now I started the gluing part!

I used the same foamy glue as i did for making the "rocks"

To keep the background in place I used buckets of gravel, empty bottles and whatever I could find to hold it in place:


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2008)

What did you use to make the paint waterproof?


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

And here it is water in tank and all:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

Marduk said:


> What did you use to make the paint waterproof?


I've not used anything... you can get some powder to mix in the concrete... and that's it... just give it plente of concrete and wash it thoroughly when dry!


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## myselfdotcom (Sep 19, 2006)

is those foamy glue thing safe for aquarium? 
What is the brand and name of it?

BTW nice background!


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## balachel (May 24, 2008)

you can buy great stuff from home depot or lowes or pretty much any hardware store and it is the same thing i think


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

myselfdotcom said:


> is those foamy glue thing safe for aquarium?
> What is the brand and name of it?
> 
> BTW nice background!


I don't remember name and brand, but several other danes have used it succesfully, I never try anything without making sure it's safe... Boring but at least my fish will live! :lol:


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