# DIY 55 background



## Phildo (Jul 29, 2004)

This is your standard styro/drylock build but it is my first and I am pretty happy with how it came out. I tried to overlap the seems with rocks to help hid them and it worked fairly well except for the corner of the overflow box. Standard 55 acrylic, the small tank openings meant I had to make the BG out of 5 pieces to fit it inside.

I just accidentally deleted the first chunk of pictures but it was just me making a giant mess with the styrofoam, basically.

Carved, siliconed and ready to be painted:

















First coat:









Second coat with charcoal dye added:









Two more, lighter coats and gorilla glued in place:









More to come!


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

i donno about using gorilla glue for he background. Should of used ge1 silicone its fish safe. hopefully it doesn't kill your fish


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## Phildo (Jul 29, 2004)

Thanks for the concern. A lot of people use it without problems and my fish are doing great after 2 weeks.


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## Phildo (Jul 29, 2004)

Flushed it about 4 times after letting the Gorilla Glue cure for 24 hours:









new 48" t5s, 10k/actinic:









Rockscaped and filling:









40 pounds of Eco-complete cichlid mix and filled:









Now with fish! 7 I. sprengerae, 6 L. cearuleus, and 5 M. estherae or callainos OBs (males too, which is cool):


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

wow that purple ad orange ob looks killer! nice fish and tank man turned out really good!


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## Phildo (Jul 29, 2004)

Thanks dude, I'm pretty stoked on it and one of the OBs is holding so hopefully I can add to the group. Might trade out the rusties, not sure how I feel about the brown.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Very nice. I as well like the OB's :thumb: The white stand & canopy are different, but in a good way.


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## Phildo (Jul 29, 2004)

I wasn't sure about the white and brown stand either but it actually matches the house perfectly (white walls, wood ceiling), so it worked out! Now I want to make another BG for an existing tank, gonna have to look into how!


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