# your opinions please



## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

my second 125g w/ slate backround. set up on acrylic w/ styro spacers. made some design errors, but curious to know ur opinions anyway. this is supposed to be a waterfall backround using a bubble wand between the 2 outer sections of the backround. :fish: it is intended as a malawi cichlid tank.














































so the questions are...

A-should i remove the large piece that spans the 2 rockpiles

B-should i take all the rock piles out and choose a different type of fish that doesn't need hidey holes

C-swap the white sand for black...even if it will cost 8 or 9 times more money

D-yank the whole thing out and start over

i'm looking for aesthetic opinions folks. :thumb:


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## jdgambler111 (Apr 1, 2008)

I think what you have is nice you've spent alot of time on it and you should try it.I like the white sand.Why go to black anyways.


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## jdgambler111 (Apr 1, 2008)

I think what you have is nice you've spent alot of time on it and you should try it.I like the white sand.Why go to black anyways.


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## bentcountershaft (Nov 23, 2007)

I like the background, looks cool in my opinion. I'm not a fan of stacked slate for the hiding places, but that's just me. If you like it, you should keep it. I'm not sure a different type of rock would look right with the background and I couldn't have a tank without a bunch of rock in it. I would make a vote for black sand, but what you have looks good too. I just think black would really bring it all together. Overall, I dig it.


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## Afrowanksta (Feb 4, 2007)

I think the piece going across looks good
White sand would look better
I would set it up as a south or central american tank and put a bunch of driftwood and live plants in there


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## Mikey13 (Apr 1, 2008)

Judging from pic. #5, your fish have nowhere to swim. Maybe just an odd angle? The background looks cool, but eats away alot of tank spaceIMO.


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## moto_master (Jun 23, 2006)

I think it looks great! I'd leave the large piece in place. It will make the cichlids feel safer and they'll swim around more IMO. I'd build the tank around the type of fish you want to keep. I love Oscars, but I'm quite fond of malawi cichlids too. I think the rocks look good with the background. I love black sand personally, but I'm a cheapwad. I like it overall. Good Job! The important thing is that you like it. You're the one that has to look at it and take care of it... :thumb: :thumb:


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## Will d s (Nov 26, 2004)

I like the rocks and background and using the white sand will set off the black rocks instead of it all blending in. I would setup some USJ to help keep the sand clean though or it will be a mess.


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

I think your backround looks great, im not a fan of the stacked slate though. Also if the edges of slate are sharp the fish could cut themselves on it.


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## CDMOK (Mar 28, 2008)

Mikey13 said:


> Judging from pic. #5, your fish have nowhere to swim. Maybe just an odd angle? The background looks cool, but eats away alot of tank spaceIMO.


Agreed. 
It would kill me to have a background take up tank space  But since it does, I would provide as much space as possible for your fish. Lose the stacked slate and go with something more open, varyng upon which fish you keep. :thumb:


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

ty for the replies guys. i've come up w/ an idea that i think i will like. it will basically be the same thing but have styro stacks in between the horizontal pieces. 
[foreground rock stacks] i'll cut some caves into the styro then cover the styro w/ small vertical pieces. this will give me the more natural look i was hoping for. should take a few weeks to do, so hang in there and i'll post pics of the progress and final set up.
i will also be hunting for cheap black sand to bring it all together.


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

I like the stacked slate in the foreground. However, if you took out the background and broke/cut the slate into long pieces 2"-3" wide and stacked them the same way as your forefront structures against the back useing waterfall foam or epoxy to hold them together you could work in a lot more caves and crevases utilizing the background better while at the same time creating more room in your tank. It would also give you the added benifet of of being more congruent with the larger structures in the tank.

My aesthetic opinion. :wink:

Edit: Any sharp edges you may end up with can be sanded over with a course emory cloth. That will blunt it up enough so fish won't cut themselves. Thier not high on the IQ scale but neither are they stupid. (Most of them anyhow.)


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## tomfoolery (Apr 12, 2008)

ill go with E. add a different variety of rocks in it...but i like what u got its pretty cool


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

this weeks progress is going well so far. i bought a roto zip tool w/ a diamond blade to cut the slate. whoa what a mess. talk about dusty. i don't recommend doing this inside,lol. i actually moved my workspace outside for the day, and still made a mess!:wallbash:

so i started the other day by cutting the styro stacks up. i made sure to make plenty of caves, and the caves are big enough to house the fish when they grow, i hope.









here's the left side









the right









and the whole thing dismantled after a good rinse. hopefully i will get to paint the styro tommorrow.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

today's activities include epoxy painting styrofoam! sticky mess this is,lol.


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## tomfoolery (Apr 12, 2008)

dude....thats goin to be sick im goin to have to try that


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

well come on over tom. i have some spare styro ur welcome to have, can't be to far! :fish:


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## mittzgame (Oct 3, 2006)

I really liked your original background, you didn't ditch that, did you?

I'm waiting for pics of the caves set up in the tank!

:thumb:


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

ty mitz. no,stilll have the backround. the cave structures will sit in the foreground. i should have it finished by monday or tues.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

sunday update...
rocks glued to flat cave front surfaces


















i was going to leave the sharp points alone, figuring they would be fairly invisible, but after looking at it i decided to play it safe. these were tough to glue rocks to and keep in place, so i used nails and clothes pins to keep the rocks set.



















i modified a 280 also, mostly due to lack of foresight. it now has clearance over the foam of the back round. i'm going to epoxy the cut piece back on in a horizontal position, to allow water flow over the acrylic.










ohhh...i also vacuumed out all the white sand, to be replaced w/ black.


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## Derow69 (Nov 5, 2007)

THIS TANK IS GOING TO BE SICK!!!! I Love It Keep Posting Pics :dancing: :dancing: opcorn: :thumb:


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

tuesday update...almost done folks!

the slate slabs are glued to the tops of the styro...but not glued to each other to allow for install and removal. this way i can lift it out in sections, and still control the bouyancy.

all right side slabs drying on the floor.








left side stacked up.








shot of the side of the left stack









i'll put them in the tank tommorrow, and prolly fill it next week.

sand is now my fave tahitian black moon. i skimped on it, due to cost. i went this route cause i found an extra pale left over from an old tank. total will be only about 60 lbs. i put in just enough to fill the eggcrate. this will keep the styro from sinking into the eggrate, and provide some stability, instead of uneven sand. u can see the two black airstones that will create the waterfall effect. they'll be run on a tired old whisper 60.









the emp 280 mod came out nicely. i basically cut off the bottom lip of the spraybar, and reglued it horizontally w/ plastic epoxy. there are a couple of acrylic braces there to help support it. seems very strong so far.


























and the rest of the emperors in place...

















all i need now is another fx5. the intake of the fx5 will be on the far right and the spraybar will be behind the overlap of the right backround section and the middle backround section.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

ty derow...and i'll definetely keep the pics comming!


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## crabs (Apr 17, 2008)

does look cool....

oh and that isnt a Nissan gazelle stashed in your garage is it?


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

[85 nissan 300zx,bored .040 over]


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

here's a dry run shot. it looks alot better w/ the light on top, as if the overhead lights were in place.










i think i'll slide the stacks over towards the outside, and tilt them back some at the upper tiers.

i have screwed up the 280 mod though. i forgot about the glass top interfering. so either cut the mod off and try again or have the glass cut.


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## pancakeloach (Feb 4, 2008)

Very nice! Once you're all done with it, you should do up an article with all your steps + pics and submit it to the library!


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

ty pancake. i am doing an article on it at Plecofanatics, so maybe i'l just copy it here, if that's allowed.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

there is a light...i can see it!!

fillin this bad boy up tommorrow folks. would have done it tonight, but i'm pooped from building a canopy all day. plus a piece of acylic is still drying. i cut some acrylic pieces to cover up the overflow areas on top of the styro blocks. this will force the filters to pull water from the sides and bottom, and also direct water over the backround, instead of back into the overflow areas, as it comes out of the emperor HOBs'.
right side...








left side...









and this piece to cover the right 'side' view of the styro blocks and fx5 intake area...









to fix the emperor 280 mod from the left side error, i finally bit the bullet and cut the backround in the tank. huge mess, but worth it. of course this means i chopped up a perfectly good emperor for nothing, but no biggie i hope as i cut the filter to the back resevoire' ramp thing, then epoxyed it in place w/ an acylic tringle brace. hopefully it works. if not, i'll just get a smaller canister or another 280.










i'll put a few final pics up of the tank filled and the canopy on. after that i'll do a seperate thread titled 125g malawi tank, to track the tanks progress. hopefully i'll get some more feedback.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

minor set back folks. on filling up the 125, i noticed the rock/styro stacks are still a bit bouyant. the smaller stack actually toppled, so i'll have to glue rock to the back of the stacks and another piece to the bottom of each sub stack.

get back w/ yall next week. sorry for the delay!:wallbash::wallbash:


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

i'm back in business today. an idea came to me while i was trying to get to sleep last night. "Pork", says my pee brain," take the dern sand and eggcrate out, and glue the stacks to the bottom. then glue each consecutive stack to the one under it. throw an extra thick rock on top of each stack, in case something breaks loose, and be done w/ it."

so that's how i spent my afternoon. i must say i'm getting pretty adept at removing substrate,lol. here's how things look now.



















i ran out of silicone of course, but i'll finish up tommorrow. then i'll need another week or so to let the silicone dry.

....till then


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

Looks non natural but sometimes that can be pretty cool. Sometimes i like to think of this hobby as an art and having modern looking tanks can be cool. I've always contemplated having an underwater world with like streets and houses and stuff that fish swim about it... Just a stupid idea but that could be cool. Or like a night skyline with sky scrapers or something would be interesting... Still need to make sure the fish's needs are met though but one day Im gonna do a ridiculous tank.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

filled her up yesterday, and that mystery fog u may have seen in the other thread ,clouded the whole tank. i let the filters work on it, but they couldn't make a ding overnight, so i drained and filled it twice today. it's much better now, but still a bit hazy. these are the best pics i can muster between the fog and the actinic lights. plus my whisper pump is tired [drank a gallon or 2 of water last year] , so the waterfall effect is not happening yet. i'll have to get a new pump tommorrow.



















again the pics blow. my camera apparently doesn't do actinic very well. i'll bust out the video camera when things clear up, and the new pump is running.

say...mystery fog...purple lights...

DEEP PURPLE!!!

smoke on the water baby!!!


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

hate to break the news folks, but i unfortunately chose the wrong type of silicone. it is disentegrating under the water. the entire backround is junk as well as the styro stacks. 
i'm out several hundred dollars in supplies, as well as over 100 hours of work and gas and headache. possibly 3 ruined filters too. all because home depot was out of GEI black silicone. hopefully i can get the tank torn down w/out breaking it, and clean it up properly. going to take forever...but, better me than u!!!

i honestly feel like quiting right now, but it's not my style.lost a few quarantine fish last night to top it off. [not in this tank

the pig shall be back, bigger and better!

i will rise up my friends!!! [just not tonight...uuggghhhh]:


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## D-007 (Jan 3, 2008)

Man, I am sorry to hear about the bad news. My thoughts go out to you. Glad that you won't quit though as I've been following the thread from the beginning. Chin up mate, we're with you :thumb:


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

ty 00 :fish:


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## fumoffu (Apr 23, 2008)

porksnorkel said:


> hate to break the news folks, but i unfortunately chose the wrong type of silicone. it is disentegrating under the water. the entire backround is junk as well as the styro stacks.
> i'm out several hundred dollars in supplies, as well as over 100 hours of work and gas and headache. possibly 3 ruined filters too. all because home depot was out of GEI black silicone. hopefully i can get the tank torn down w/out breaking it, and clean it up properly. going to take forever...but, better me than u!!!
> 
> i honestly feel like quiting right now, but it's not my style.lost a few quarantine fish last night to top it off. [not in this tank
> ...


OMG, that's horrible.

I think you are one to a really nice looking idea, and your fish are going to like it too. I hope you can muster enough energy to redo it. I bet it'll go 10x faster this time now that you know what you are doing and the problem you ran into the first go a round. :thumb:

It took me 2 weeks to do a dumb little plumbing thing for my tank, and 5+ trips to the home depot! DIY is so not a time saver.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

i'll be back and better next time around fumoffu.

last question...is my python junk now too??? i've been using it to drain and fill this tank repeatedly. please lemme know ASAP, as my other tanks are in need of a water change!!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I would just flush with bleach solution a few times then with dechlor before using it.


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

last pic...










tanks pretty much cleaned up. hopefully my filters will survive the ordeal. i may have burned up a shop vac though, suckin the mud out,lol.

i'm kinda contemplating sticking w/ black backround and nice stack of rocks at this point. i'ma think on it for a few days. maybe go look at some rocks tommorrow.


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

AaaaH that really sucks man! Im about to bite the bullet and get a ready made 3D backround, It may not be satisfying as making my own but the look outweighs that. Good luck man.


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## Zane (Feb 14, 2008)

I got the regular old fish store kind of background on my 150, when I saw you first picture I thought right away it looks alot like mine.
Little trick for the backgrounds, leave a hump-roll in it, gives a more 3d look. Still not as nice as the real thing, but if you are thinking of going that direction.

I feel for ya and I like your still positive attitude.


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

Pork ... I feel for ya !! All that hard work down the ....drain.
But I see you're up for another battle and like ya said, better you than me !! 
Keep snapp'n those pictures as the next adventure unfolds :thumb: 
I have an extra shop-vac if ya want it....


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## tomfoolery (Apr 12, 2008)

dang that sucks srry. i hope u try again one day cause it looked really cool. just put up a new thread if u do.


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

porksnorkel said:


> i'm kinda contemplating sticking w/ black backround and nice stack of rocks at this point. i'ma think on it for a few days. maybe go look at some rocks tommorrow.


Whoa, that blows chunks. Really sorry about what happened. Your obviously good with your hands and enjoy detail work but somehow I don't think you'll be satisfied with just the black background and stacked rock thing. Don't get me wrong, this is the way I have my 84g set up and I like it just fine but thier is something very satisfying about doing it yourself to create something less common.

You might consider doing something similar to what I did with my 350g. I used a lightwieght mix of perlite and cement instead of styrofoam to shape the background and other structures but skinned it the same way most people cover thier styro. No glues, magnets or pins to hold everthing in place. No worries of the silicone loosing adhession or breaking down. Just place it in the tank and fill it with water. The best of both worlds imo. :thumb:


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

ty for the support folks. it is much appreciated. i hope u don't view it as a copout, but i picked up a ton of red lava boulders. i like the look on a black backround/sand, and there is enough of it to hide the equipement...which is incedentally, the only real world reason i started on the backround anyways. somehow it morphed into that crazy slate structure that ended up in the trash. but...no worries....i have more tanks and plenty of ideas to go on. i have enough slate and styro for a smaller tank too,lol! :fish:


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## D-007 (Jan 3, 2008)

Of course not, especially after what you went through. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the red against the black - so pictures are eagerly awaited  :wink:


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

Red lava rock with a black background is a sweet look. Yogurtpooh has one one set-up that way and the looks are killer. On the left side of the page click on the third tank down. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tanks/inde ... er&u=25687


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## porksnorkel (Aug 14, 2007)

new set up is running. have a looksey!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... 53#1168453


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