Done the background today, tank is currently sitting on it's side drying a bit but will take some more pics tonight once back upright.
1st lay tank on it's side. (turning your front room into a bomb site while you're at it! Luckily wife is at work ;-))
Gather some media in some bowls. I'm lucky here as we have a really good aggregates firm nearby. They do playsand in about 10 different colours including pink! I went for the 2 x natural colours, brown & russet as these have not been treated with any colourants. I also used a small amount of coral sand. The brown sand in the 2nd pic is going to be used as my main substrate too.
Grab several cans of polyurethane expanding foam. If you want you can go to the fish shop and spend £10 on a can of spray dekor, or you can go to B&Q and use the polycell version for £6.99 or you can go to your local budget store (QD in my case) and buy some gorilla filler at £3.99/can. It's all the same stuff, just depends on how much you feel like getting ripped off!!
Spray in random patterns all over the back of the tank. This 5ft tank took 3 cans.
Sprinkle your sands all over the stuff. Be liberal, you want it pretty much everywhere. You need to do this straight after spraying the foam while it's still tacky.
........zzzzzzzzzzzzz.............
Go back after 1/2hr os so and you will notice they the foam has skinned over and ballooned. Now's the time you can start shaping it. If you squish it down with your hand and you'll notice that you can start forming rocks as it will stick to the back and rise in other areas, like squishing a ballon. Do this where you want to and you will form highs & lows. You also pick up loose sand and give it a good rub all over. This will graze and colour up the foam. Do this as much or as little as you like. You can also make crevises for planting if you like too, ideal to clip some java fern to it. You don't need to treat it in anyway afterwards. Polyurethane is fish safe once dry and this technique is also used in the marine world. Bacteria & corals actually colonise this stuff like real rock too in that environment.
Once I lift the tank excess sand will drop off. Give this a few weeks under water with some algae & plant growth over it and you'd think you'd paid hundreds for it when in reality it cost about £20.
Job jone.............
1st lay tank on it's side. (turning your front room into a bomb site while you're at it! Luckily wife is at work ;-))
Gather some media in some bowls. I'm lucky here as we have a really good aggregates firm nearby. They do playsand in about 10 different colours including pink! I went for the 2 x natural colours, brown & russet as these have not been treated with any colourants. I also used a small amount of coral sand. The brown sand in the 2nd pic is going to be used as my main substrate too.
Grab several cans of polyurethane expanding foam. If you want you can go to the fish shop and spend £10 on a can of spray dekor, or you can go to B&Q and use the polycell version for £6.99 or you can go to your local budget store (QD in my case) and buy some gorilla filler at £3.99/can. It's all the same stuff, just depends on how much you feel like getting ripped off!!
Spray in random patterns all over the back of the tank. This 5ft tank took 3 cans.
Sprinkle your sands all over the stuff. Be liberal, you want it pretty much everywhere. You need to do this straight after spraying the foam while it's still tacky.
........zzzzzzzzzzzzz.............
Go back after 1/2hr os so and you will notice they the foam has skinned over and ballooned. Now's the time you can start shaping it. If you squish it down with your hand and you'll notice that you can start forming rocks as it will stick to the back and rise in other areas, like squishing a ballon. Do this where you want to and you will form highs & lows. You also pick up loose sand and give it a good rub all over. This will graze and colour up the foam. Do this as much or as little as you like. You can also make crevises for planting if you like too, ideal to clip some java fern to it. You don't need to treat it in anyway afterwards. Polyurethane is fish safe once dry and this technique is also used in the marine world. Bacteria & corals actually colonise this stuff like real rock too in that environment.
Once I lift the tank excess sand will drop off. Give this a few weeks under water with some algae & plant growth over it and you'd think you'd paid hundreds for it when in reality it cost about £20.
Job jone.............
