New 3D background

evut

evut

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Eva
I have finally finished a new fake rock background for my Cynops pyrrhogaster tank. It was carved from a polystyrene sheet, coated with silicone and finely crushed slate (an old cement mixer was used for this). I shaped it so that there are ledges for the newts to sit on. They will also have floating islands.
I did this to achieve the appearance of a rock without using cement but obviously coating with silicone means a lot of the fine detail in the surface was lost and it doesn't look great close up, but as a background in the tank, especially with the light on, it's fine.
I planted and "furnished" the tank yesterday. It looks rubbish now because the plants are too small and not adjusted so I'll post pictures later.
 

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I think it looks fabulous! In the pic it looks exactly like a rock wall.

Did you use grey silicone mixed with slate? Or slab on the silicone first and then sprinkle the slate over it?
 
I think this has turned out really well and love the idea of using the slate dust. I am looking forward to seeing the end result.
 
Molch, the silicone is spread on the surface and the crushed slate is dusted and pressed in afterwards. It wouldn't stick if you mixed it. I used grey silicone and some transparent - the result was the same.
 
It looks awesome :D Can't wait to see the whole thing planted and occupied.
 
That looks fantastic! Excellent work. I'm currently working on my very first 3D background for a tree frog paludarium. If mine looks even half as good as yours I'll be pleased!
 
Any updates on the tank? The background turned out amazing. I tried to make one but it didnt turn out right lol.
 
Those floating islands are awesome. I'd like to see one big enough to accommodate several plants and provide a decent amount of ground space for critters to explore. I think it would be neat if it were free floating.
 
Shame I can't like your posts twice, I love the results!

I have laboriously crushed myself some plum slate the other day to try this out, gonna do some green slate too if it crushes as well as the other stuff.

any tips or tricks?

Would also love to share your knowledge in other diy projects - such as a good phib safe matte sealant, or UK equivalent of tapecrete/acrylic fortified concrete??

Keep up the good work!
 
Thanks, Cliff. I don't think I have any really good tips...sorry.
I have only used aquarium sealant and don't know anything about the other materials. If you want to use silicone, eBay is probably best. You will need lots of it - I used 3 or 4 tubs for this. Grey is probably better than transparent because you can see where you've applied it. You have to be quite generous with it. When you're putting the background in, you can cover sides with a line of black silicone. You can use masking tape and cling film to cover glass where you don't want any silicone.
 
Really cool background. I hope to do something similiar in the near future.
 
I finally got round to taking a photo of how the tank looks now. The background didn't last terribly well - under water, the crushed slate seems to have disappeared. Luckily the silicone I used was grey and it is partially covered in some algae, which gives it a fairly good appearance. In the unlit corner of the tank where algae didn't cover the silicone, it looks pretty rubbish. Above the water level there is also some different type of algae which I just leave because a) I could scrub the slate particles off b) it does kind of look natural. All in all, I'm quite happy with this tank but I wouldn't recommend this type of coating to anyone. The plants have been growing fairly well, the Ludwigia goes up and down seasonally, currently it is a bit rubbish looking.

file_original-size-5101.jpg



This is a photo of my other tank. This one has polystyrene background coated with silicone and sand. This one has lasted really well in comparison. There is also algae around the water level and by the filter outlet. The sand seems intact everywhere. This photo was taken after a clean up and a pruning - the Tradescantia on the island had about half taken off it, if left alone it would probably engulf the whole tank in a few months.

file_original-size-5102.jpg
 
They look fantastic, Eva! I haven't tried to make a background before, but I'm going to give it a try when I get the new tank for my Alpines. There's normally a mad rush when I set up a new aquarium, but the Alpines are fine in their nursery for now so I can take my time and hopefully I'll end up with something usable.
I can imagine the mess already though! What's the best way to wash silicone sealer off a struggling Shar pei? :)
 
Shaver, I imagine :happy:
The silicone wasn't the messy part by the way - the polystyrene seems impossible to get rid of completely. I suspect it might be a problem with a hairy dog, too. I would recommend waiting for dry weather and doing everything outside. While keeping the dog inside.
 
Eva, all of these photos look great! I like the way you designed and arranged everything.

Thanks for the info and the tips. That stinks that the slate didn't hold (but I can't tell from the pictures, so it probably still looks good in person). But, that's neat the the sand did.

What did you use to provide color, did you use some kind of paint?
 
No colour was used - it's just grey silicone, grey crushed slate. I forgot to mention that my brother, who made a background like this before, told me his lasted well so there is a possibility that the slate came of mine because of either something to do with the type of water we have, or the algae, or because I din't do the coating too well.
 
Im not kidding you could sell these they look better than the back to nature ones!
 
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