# My practice DIY background



## luv2hop

After doing much reading on diy backgrounds I decided to practice the various techniques on my 20 gallon tank. Since there are many detailed how-to's posted already i will try to stick to the unique things i experienced. So here is my background completely carved out[/img]


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## luv2hop

Sorry about previous link.
http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/development/tank/carving.jpg


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## luv2hop

After careful thought i decided to go with the masonary mix for my firsth coat because it is more coarse than Quickwall or Hydraulic cement. Well here it is with the first coat.


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## luv2hop

For the rest of my layers i used Quickcrete Quikwall, Quickcrete Masonary mix, and Quickcrete Hydraulic cement. I supplemented all of my mixes except the last with Quickcrete Acrylic forifier. Portland cement is the base for all of the above mixes. This is w

Here is a summary of what i experienced with the various different mixes:

*Quikrete Hydraulic cement *dries fast, grey in color, smooth finish, can be applied in water making it perfect for touch-up or small tanks.

*Quikrete Masonary mix *light grey in color, coarse finish, no need to add additional sand, looks natural, needs to be applied in thicker coats.

*Quikrete Quikwall *comes in grey or white, mixes well with colored sand, fiberglass reinforcement to help resist cracking, designed to be applied in thin coats or even sprayed with appropriate equipment.


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## luv2hop

As John D. Dryssdale points out in the DIY library article, it is possible to get good detail using styrofoam/concrete it just requires a lot of patience. Because detail is so important with small tanks you must take the time to carve out the fine details even though much of them will be filled in with concrete. In order to maintain as much detail as possible I chose to use Quikwall since it is designed to be applied in thin layers. The trick is to apply cement with old paint brush and just before it finally sets do all of your fine detail tooling with wet brush, screwdrivers, putty knifes, etc. whatever it takes to reach the tight areas.


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## MalawiLover

Very nice. Can't wait to see the tank set up.


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## luv2hop

I decided that i wanted round rocks with overhangs and a pronounced 3d look. As Lomax stated in Trammel's prject it is very important to stay away from straight lins and symetrical shapes for a real 3d look. So as you can see from the following photos i tried to make sure that i had alot of overlaping rocks with different shades and colors.








http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... ndcoat.jpg
moderator edit: same picture, tags removed.


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## luv2hop

I will have algae growing on my background before I know it so I decided to stay away from the color dyes and pigments.I was able to create various different colors by mixing different cement products, colored sands, and acrylic fortifier. I will list my mixes from lightest to darkest below.

Quikcrete Mason mix, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Mason mix

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), playsand, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), playsand

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey) , playsand, black marine sand, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Hydraulic cement

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), black marine sand, acrylic fortifier

Quikcrete Quikwall (grey), black marine sand


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## luv2hop

i basically used the lighter colored mixes for my foreground rocks and the darker mixes for backround rocks. The following photos will show you just how 3d the background really is.


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## edoubleu

Awesome background! Looks very natural. Can't wait to see your final setup. :thumb:


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## luv2hop

I also created caves and tunnels on the sides and behind my background for the fish to hide an d to compensate for the water displacement of the background.








http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... decave.jpg








http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/development/tank/back.jpg
Moderator edit: similar pics, tags removed


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## luv2hop




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## luv2hop

Here its is with every thing dry fit.


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## luv2hop

here are some pictures after my first water fill notice the different color rocks. event though they look subtle know they will standout with a nice coat of algae.

http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... ryfit1.jpg
http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... ryfit2.jpg








http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... ryfit4.jpg
http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... ryfit5.jpg
moderator edit: similar pics, tags removed


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## luv2hop

Here are some pictures after filling up for the first time. notice the different shades of rock, the colors may be subtle know however they should stand out nice with a coat of algae on them.









http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... rfill2.jpg
http://www.skellyloy-gis.com/developmen ... rfill3.jpg
Moderator edit: similar pics, tags removed.


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## Exevious

looks great... kinda what I am going for.

I was alittle worried.. cause some mentioned it might look like a 'built wall' ie man made/not natural.

But that looks nice!


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## trigger

Looks great.

One thing though, bacuse this thread takes ages to load, I removed the tags from identical or similar pictures. They still can be seen by clicking them, thanks.


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## RRasco

trigger said:


> Looks great.
> 
> One thing though, bacuse this thread takes ages to load, I removed the tags from identical or similar pictures. They still can be seen by clicking them, thanks.


ok, thanks!


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## luv2hop

My UGJ's and Filter are now complete. Many people would say that UGJ's are not needed for a small tank, however since this is practice for a larger tank I decided to set every thing up as if it were a large tank. Besides the obvious reasons for using UGJ's dead spots and filtration I wanted to move filtered heated water from behind the background to the foreground. I used one pump with two outlets one under log and another behind rock.


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## luv2hop

I also decided to upgrade my old penguin 170 filter by making it quieter and adding more filter media.


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## luv2hop

For those curious on how the curing is coming along here is a time line. All water changes are 100%.

Jan 9 Background siliconed to tank
Jan 11 Rocks siliconed to tank bottom
Jan 14 First tank filling straight water
Jan 18 Second tank filling salt water
Jan 21 Third tank filling straight water
Jan 23 Fourth filling salt water
Jan 27 Fifth filling straight water
Jan 30 Sixth filling mild vinegar water solution (Mistake :x)
I did not have severe problems like others however even though it significantly reduced Ph levels it did start to breakdown concrete. Fortunatly i caught it soon enough thank god for forums like these :thumb: 
Feb 1 Seventh filling straight water
Feb 5 Emptied and completed final round of concrete work (just touch-ups)
Feb 7 Eighth filling straight water
Feb 9 Ninth filling straight water
Feb 13 Tenth filling straight water
Feb 16 Eleventh filling straight water
Feb 19 Twelveth filling straight water
Feb 20 Thirteenth filling straight water

Well I think I am almost there or at least at the point were my family and friends have confirmed that yes i have gone over the edge with my fish hobby as stated in John Drysdale's library article.

"_Then do a 100% water changeâ€¦ and repeat. And then repeat, and repeat, and repeatâ€¦ until the pH in your tank is basically the same as what comes out of the tap after a few days (i.e. until the concrete no longer buffers up the pH). This can take a while, and you may never think your pH will go downâ€¦ but just keep doing 100% water changes until your family and friends confirm that, yes you have gone over the edge with your little fish hobby _" :lol:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_aquarium_background3.php


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## lomax

looks great the shapes are cool

what i would do if you wanted to match the real lake bottom.

mix the rock shapes a bit more. most of the rocks are rounded but there is always a few that have split. also the rocks on the bottom tend to be bigger then the ones higher, but there are alway exceptions. last is the color, i feel that it looks better to push the colors more. i looked at real pictures of the lake bottoms and rock walls and i was freaked out at all the rock colors. some are yellow, some are redish others are grey with streaks of black brown.

still i am stating the above as a way to match nature the closest, not what will look great. yours looks very good and you did a great job of creating natural stone shapes.


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## luv2hop

Thanks for the comments lomax i will be incorporating more color and larger rocks on my next background.


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## luv2hop

*Timeline continued...*

Feb 23 Fourteenth filling straight water
Feb 25 Fifthteenth filling straight water

Hopefully i am done with 100% water changes. I will begin daily 50% water changes today. If I am lucky i will add my substrate and some water from my buddies 125g to begin the cycling process next weekend.


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## Matt122112

Hey, Lov2hop, On my background I made , when I was all done installing it I filled mine with water and a 15 lbs bag of salt for a week or so having a power head circulate the water. Then I emptied and refilled with fresh water quite a few times over another week or so until the Ph stayed the same and leveled out. The first week the Ph was off the charts because of the cement and it slowly lowered and then became stable. Thats when I started my cycle. So have U been testing your ph? Once it levels out and stays the same your background should be cured. Looks great by the way.


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## luv2hop

When yours stabalized was it higher than original.


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## Matt122112

No,not really . I do have a normally high ph from my tap around 8 and that tank always tests at 8.2 but I did add a bag of tidal as substrate which would raise ph , with the fish I keep it's good. As long as your ph is stable and not off the charts your fish will be fine. Stability is key. Unless U want to keep something like angels or rams then a lower ph is needed.


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## luv2hop

My water out of the tap is about 7.4 within 24 hours it usually levels off at 8.2. I am also goinng to be using eco-complete substrate which naturally buffers the water.


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## luv2hop

*TIMELINE CONTINUED*

Feb 28 Seventeenth filling straight water
Mar 2 Ph has stabilized at 8.0
 
Mar 3 Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentith straight water change
Added heater, filter, substrate, and new light.


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## luv2hop

Here is a photo of finished canopy










This is what the tank cover looks like with custom splash guard in the back










Substrate Added 










The cycling has finally begun :thumb:










With all the yellow and black in this room what fish do you think will soon occupy this tank?


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## luv2hop

*TIMELINE CONTINUED...*
Mar 9 bought a Giant Dino to help with cycling.
Mar 16 bought 2 more Dino's to help with cycling.


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## luv2hop

This photo shows a dino and the begining of algae growth, sorry about the flash.










This photo shows more algae growth the brown is starting to change to green and i have only been cycling for two weeks.










This photo shows the full tank hopefully if everything goes well i will add some baby yellow labs next week.


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## shade2dope

I need help with my diy backround. do i need to seal the backround to glass on back on backround or can i set it in there cause i want to beable to take it out to clean tank and. do i have to seal all the Styrofoam with concrete or can some be exposed and if it is exposed is it safe for fish....i plan on using Quikrete masonary mix it that all i need meaning is there somthing else i need to buy to make it hard or do i just use water let dry please post fast thank you in advance


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## trigger

Ok, let me see... It's safest to glue the background to the glass to keep it from floating. Unless you make it heavy enough to sink

Exposed styrofoam is not harmfull for fish, but then again, why would you want exposed styrofoam ? What can happen is that when the fish can reach it, they can chew pieces off and you have to skim your tank every day to get ridd of those floating white balls. My fish allways spat the white stuff so never actually ate it. I had pieces under my rocks first, but not anymore. I got sick of cleaning the white balls.

I don't know about quickcrete specific, but most cement kinds is just add water to mix and let it cure.

Hope this answers your question.


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## jwmustang

You dont need to seal it at all. I never glued my either , like you I may need to remove it. Mine is now 8mos old. Fish are having babys like crazy. They go behind the background to hide. Come out to eat, stay out when they get big enough.


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## luv2hop




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## Philg

your technique and layout are inspiring me to do something similar


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## Exevious

That over hang is awesome.... :thumb:


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## gillsandfins

what did you use to glue your styrofoam together? What kind of styrofoam did you use?

Thanks

Jake


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## phototakingjon

Love your work here. I have been working on my own background project for a while. I am to the point now where i need to begin coating it in the cement and my experiments so far have made me question the strength of such a thin cement coating. I have not tried yet with the acrylic fortifier because a sale guy at a Lowes store said it would not hold up under water. Can you tell me how well your project has held up over the past months?

I appreciate any advice you could give.

Thanks


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## Rivermud

The ever resurrected post.


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## luv2hop

Here is an updated photo more to come.


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## Adams2156

thats sweet


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## Mcdaphnia

phototakingjon said:


> Love your work here. I have been working on my own background project for a while. I am to the point now where i need to begin coating it in the cement and my experiments so far have made me question the strength of such a thin cement coating. I have not tried yet with the acrylic fortifier because a sale guy at a Lowes store said it would not hold up under water. Can you tell me how well your project has held up over the past months?
> 
> I appreciate any advice you could give.
> 
> Thanks


 It is easy to spot the sale guy who is full of it when he says something like, "We don't carry nails." A little trickier when he makes something up about a product like acrylic fortifier. Projects I made with acrylic fortifier have held up very well for several years, not showing any loss of detail or flaking. In fact extra ones that I didn't use stayed outdoors through our wet cold freezing and thawing, refreezing and thawing winters and even though they had lots of surface detail and thin unsupported areas, they made it through fine.


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## luv2hop

The tank is one year old in the last photo. There is no sign of loss or flaking and every thing is holding up well.


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## ob1_kinobe

Looks great! quick question, what is the white pressure mat you put at the bottom of the tank call and where can I please find it ?

thanks


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