3d background is finished

First topic message reminder :

like the title says my background is just about finished. it has gone through one full day with water and the pH seems fine. I guess the paint or something is keeping things from leaching into the water column. Im pretty excited. i think ill move it inside today and fill it up and let the water circulate via power head one more day(if i can be that patient). I was horrible about taking picture throught the process. I basically just have a list of materials and some before and after pics. so i picked up a

4'x8' sheet of 1" thich insulation foam (the pink stuff) @ home depot,
5 tubes of GE 1 clear silicone @walmart,
1 can great stuff (gaps and cracks) @ home depot,
4 cans of krylon fusion spray paint (forest green, satin black, some blue color, and a metallic black) @ walmart,
1 bag of quikcrete the sandmix @home depot.
1 plastic gutter guard

i already had paint brushes and knives for carving. i used a 4' level and square to make sure my base was square and level (redundant i know), and i used some gatorade bottles (that i cut the tops off of) to mix the concrete in.

I am not extremely artistic so carving this thing was a bit stressful at times. I didnt want to make it look crappy, since its a pretty permenant fixture in the tank now, and i couldnt keep the image of what i wanted in my head long enough to carve it out lol.

all in all im happy, I really like the character from the great stuff so i didnt concrete it. I just painted it. I really liked the character i got from the sand mix too, but when i do this again i will either do the whole thing using just great stuff (no concrete at all) or i will concrete everything. I may go ahead and concrete over the great stuff... i dont know yet. i think it will depend on how it looks with the lights and canopy on.

Congratz! i'll love to see some pics!!!

BLimon, that's a cool design.

I'm working on a BG for my 135 gallon. It's my first attempt at making one so we'll see how it turns out. I'm using Drylock instead of cement...quicker cure time and doesn't mess with your Ph. I'll post some pics once it's done.

wow this is some awesome background, i will pay for that too lol, great for a show tank..Well done!

thats very cool work

looks good ive been wanting to do one for awhile

looks great, I'll have to go find your other ones now! LOL

nice background

that's so pretty!

very nice

looks great man, I may try and make one of my own one day

Beautiful work!

NOw I'm really going to show how ignorant I really am!.. At first I thought the BG was for inside the tank,, then I saw Concrete and said to myself.. wow....PH City! So it must be for the back outside of the tank.....plus someone was looking for 12" thick styro... Yea.. it has to be external to the tank.. Then another post say's it is for the inside! So the bottom line for me is I can't use cement of any sort due to a need to keep the ph close to 6 or so.. and I haven't a clue as to what "Great Stuff" is!.. Do you find it in the Great Deals aisle? I'm a DIY rat at HD and Lowes and cannot recall ever running into "great stuff".. A clue my friend? Bill

williemcd wrote:

I haven't a clue as to what "Great Stuff" is!.. Do you find it in the Great Deals aisle? I'm a DIY rat at HD and Lowes and cannot recall ever running into "great stuff".. A clue my friend? Bill

Great Stuff link

Cool!.. Great name too!.. I'm just scared poop-less about adding something to the tanks that might be toxic.. I'm a betting this isn't! And since ya sound like ya know what your talking about.. What kind of silicone is acceptable for building stuff for use inside of a tank?