# DIY background



## tankCrazy (Aug 9, 2008)

I am thinking of creating a DIY background like I've seen alot of you have made. I concider myself to be quite crafty and have a great idea for one. My one question is I have only one tank (72gal bow front) and it has been running w/fish in it for 5mon now.

Can I make one and add it to the tank with the fish in it? From what I've seen all of the people that have built one of these has done it and installed it befor the tank was setup and populated.

I have read that the concrete has to have time to leach is there a way to do this out of the tank and then add it to the tank?

Can I put it in a bucket/tub of water or something to allow it to leach?

:fish:


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

> Can I put it in a bucket/tub of water or something to allow it to leach?


yes.add a powerhead to keep the water from becoming stagnant.


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## BrianNFlint (Apr 1, 2007)

I dont see why you couldnt, as long as you can detox it prior to installing it, and you'll have to find a way to keep it from floating. possibly some of that glue they sell at petsolutions.com that cured underwater?


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## tankCrazy (Aug 9, 2008)

one other question....

Is there a way to remove the center brace in the tank with out cutting it? :-?

I'd like to try avoid cutting the support if I can...

:fish:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

I made my background in 3 parts... that way it won't be necesary to remove center-brace


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

DON'T CUT THE BRACE!
its structurally required.there's no good way to remove the brace or top plastic support piece.do like wvack suggests.


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## tankCrazy (Aug 9, 2008)

fishwolfe said:


> > Can I put it in a bucket/tub of water or something to allow it to leach?
> 
> 
> yes.add a powerhead to keep the water from becoming stagnant.


How long should I let it sit in the "detox" water?

:fish:


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## tankCrazy (Aug 9, 2008)

fishwolfe said:


> DON'T CUT THE BRACE!
> its structurally required.there's no good way to remove the brace or top plastic support piece.do like wvack suggests.


Ok!

I wont cut the brace...
I'll try to do it in 2-3 parts.

can you cut/burn out the styro. to make it less buoyant? Or is it best to leave it in for strength.

:fish:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

tankCrazy said:


> fishwolfe said:
> 
> 
> > DON'T CUT THE BRACE!
> ...


I left mine in... but i've heard af people melting it away and then adding more concrete on the back... For strengt...


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

you can use acetone to melt the styro out.or a heat gun to shrink it.as far as the curing goes,you'll have to do a few water changes and check the water with your test kit.it can take weeks and i read on here where it took a month before the water parameters were at an acceptable level.


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## tankCrazy (Aug 9, 2008)

Well Poohy... I'm still going to do one but Poohy,

pacients is not one of my strong points, but when it come to my fish I can do it.

:fish:


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## Wvack (Aug 31, 2008)

It doesn't have to take long...

I cut a piece of cardboard the same size as my tank... and did the whole thing at work! Took me a couple of weeks...

I've got a link for a blog about it... in danish but there are loads of pics so you'll get the generel idea...


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