Another 3D Background Project

[eduller]

I've been inspired, so I started my project today! 
 
I'm making a 3D background for my 54 gallon corner bowfront, seen below. It's just sitting empty, and I'm itching to get it cycled so I can get some more fish. But I don't want to have to drain it and dry it off to put the background in, so I'm waiting.
 

 
I cut down a cardboard box to fit roughly in the area of the tank I wanted to cover. 
 

 
Began the styrofoam cutting. It wasn't too hard using a box cutter. My basement is currently flooded, or I would have just done it down there with a jigsaw. It took quite a bit longer than it would have with a saw, but this was in my kitchen so I was careful to minimize the mess.
 

 
Stuck all the foam together with GE I Silicone. It's drying right now. This whole thing took about an hour and a half, including cleanup. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the funky little cave thing I added there on the left. I'm going to make little hollows in the large flat areas for plants. It's kind of hard to see all the layers while it's still all white. 
 

 
I didn't want the background to take up the whole tank or to be obtrusive, so I made it pretty low-key. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to silicone it into the tank or try to use magnets, velcro, or something else. Since this is my first one, it might not turn out exactly right and I don't want to be stuck with it forever! 
 
Next step - my father has a heat gun and a ventilated shop, so he's going to take it and smooth it out with the heat gun. It's about 4 degrees here outside right now, so I don't have anywhere to do it at the moment. I am going to cover it with Quikrete after that. I'm also going to coat the entire thing in clear Plasti-Dip before putting in the tank, so I'm considering just using straight Quikrete with no pigments and just dry brushing some color and shading on with acrylic paints. The Plasti-Dip creates a completely waterproof seal, so it should seal in the paint. 
 
 

 

[lrhodes]

Fun! Makes me want to start a DIY project!

 

[Alasse]

Will be watching. Looks great so far!

 

[Fishmanic]

definately a great start---will give the look of stacked slate/flagstone if you don't smooth it too much

 

[ag-au]

Nice work! Keep it up! Looks great as is lol I can't wait to see the final product!

 

[rikkitiger]

wow it looks like it's coming along really great! can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[eduller]

Decided I wanted the one side to reach to the top of the tank. Added a few ledges for plants. A little cave and some "stones" that are kind of supposed to look like they tumbled down on the left side. I'm going to leave that wall open for the filter intake and the heater. This is not the best picture, half because the glass is a little cloudy. I'll have to vinegar it down again and put some elbow grease into it this time. I know it doesn't look like much plain white, but I can see the end product in my brain Hopefully I will have some time tomorrow night to do a quick thin coat of quikrete - or I haven't quite decided yet, but I was also thinking of just tinting some Drylok and doing a few coats, adding sand for texture in the last coat. Then dry-brushing acrylic for highlights. I'm going to coat the whole thing in clear Plasti Dip anyway to seal it, so if I can achieve a stone look without the trouble of concrete that would be nice. I'll try a test piece tomorrow and see how it turns out. 
 

 

[sawickib]

Id make some caves into the background! looking awesome though!

 

[Trev_Miester]

wow! awesome work. I dig the overload on the one side. will you add a background to the other?
 
I've always been timid about trying something like this, but it looks like it could be a lot of fun.

 

[Puffer_Nat]

Looks good so far, I'll be interested to see how it turns out

 

[eduller]

I have a black background I'm going to just tape to the outside of the tank, and I think I'm going to put several tall plants on the left side to balance out the background on the other. I'm thinking of also adding kind of a little "stone" barrier running through the center of the tank to separate gravel and planted substrate so they don't mingle too much. We'll see. I'm itching to get this tank cycled so I can move my poor fish from their 5 gallon tank, so I might lose patience soon.

 

[Trev_Miester]

I have a black background I'm going to just tape to the outside of the tank, and I think I'm going to put several tall plants on the left side to balance out the background on the other. I'm thinking of also adding kind of a little "stone" barrier running through the center of the tank to separate gravel and planted substrate so they don't mingle too much. We'll see. I'm itching to get this tank cycled so I can move my poor fish from their 5 gallon tank, so I might lose patience soon.

 
The barrier sounds like a cool idea. I hear you on the cycling. I'm currently cycling a 75gal. Where is the magic hurry up button?

 

[eduller]

I decided to skip the cement and go straight to Drylok. I got a quart of latex based Drylok and tinted it with 1 capful of Buff color quikrete tint. I'm going for a sandstone kind of look. I think the quart is going to be the perfect size. I used about 1/4 of the can on this coat. The consistency of the Drylok is kind of like a gritty butterscotch pudding. I used a 2 inch foam brush to do the first pass and then used a 1 inch to fill in the gaps. I still need to come in with a smaller brush and touch up. Helpful hint: don't skimp on the amount of Drylok you brush on. The more you use, the easier it is to spread. I didn't smooth out the styrofoam at all with a heat gun, and I am very happy with the texture of the Drylok over the carved foam. Next step is another coat of drylok or maybe 2. Then I'll drybrush on some acrylics for highlighting and coat the whole thing in Plastidip.
 

 

[lrhodes]

Looking awesome!

 

[eduller]

Did the second coat of Drylok. 
 
-The second coat went on much more easily with a bristled brush over the foam brush because the foam one had too much friction with the texture left by the first coat.
 
-As before, don't skimp on the amount you're brushing on. It goes on way easier the more you use.
 
-I'm digging the texture even more now. I'm going to post a few closer pics to show the detail a little better. If I was going for a smooth stone look, I would have done much better to heat gun the styrofoam first to get rid of the little bits, but I like the bumpy texture for this look. For a smoother texture, I also might have looked into thinning out the drylok a little and possibly sanding between coats. 
 
-After I took these pictures, I took a qtip and went into the little crevices the brush wasn't reaching and got all those. It worked great.
 
Full view of second coat, still wet. There's a white garbage bag under it, so that's what the white is showing through under it.

 
Close view of the texture. I think it really looks like wet stone I think.

 
Little cave side area - shows where the brush wouldn't reach and had to go in with the qtip:

 
I'll do a final full coat of drylok tomorrow and then probably over the weekend, I'll add the acrylics for texture, shading, more colors and striation. I found some a nice "flesh tones" acrylic paint set that will be perfect - has everything from chocolate brown to ivory in it. I also picked up a slate blue color for a little contrast. And I also got a shiny gold - not metallic but slightly iridescent - that I will sparingly drybrush over the whole thing at the end for a little shine.
 
I might add that I did wear a respirator mask while painting, but the Drylok is pretty low odor. I'm painting this in the basement of my 1-story house, and you can't smell the paint at all on the main floor. I do have a box fan on in the basement for air circulation. 
 
I'll wait 72 hours after the final coat of Drylok and then spray a couple of coats of clear Plastidip. I'm not sure if the plastidip is strictly necessary if I wasn't using the acrylic paints, but I already have a can of it and it can't hurt. It's sure to add a little durability.