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[Tanked]

please post your progress. and pics, and instructions and...

 

[Mogo]

right back at you Tanked! Will be getting to posting the pics of the caves I built sometime today, and some pics of my progress in this new rockwall project.

First, here are some pics of the Mars scene. The pics are garbage, as this was before the digital cam era. These pics are from the early stages of my Mars exploration project, more lava rock was added later to build mountains and craters. Unfortunately, don't have any pictures of it completed. Ah well!

 

[Mogo]

In this pic you can kind of see the little alien hiding out in the lava rock. At this time I think I only had 3 aliens in the tank, but eventually I had a civilization of 16.

 

[Mogo]

Well, here's my progress in the rockwall project. Tanked - I'll be posting the diy caves in the Nic thread.

So here's step one. Went to the local Home Depot and picked up a big chunk of styrofoam. It measured 24" x 96" and the thickness was 1 1/2" and cost $7 CDN. Now the important part here is to make sure the height of the styrofoam is the same height as your tank or larger (my tank height is 19"). You'll want to measure the tank inside the glass or you could measure outside and then measure the thickness of the glass and subtract. Now I cut the main piece to the size of the tank using a large L shaped construction ruler and an exactoknife.

 

[Mogo]

The next step was to cut room for the filter intake and the heater. I did 12" x 2" as I wanted to leave enough clearence around each of them. The important part here is to make sure you do this on the side of the styrofoam with the rough edge. You'll want to make sure the precut edge of the styrofoam is going to be the bottom of the wall. This will be kind of important later. As you can see, this is quite messy so have your vacuum on hand.

 

[Mogo]

Now you'll be working with depth. Cut chunks of styrofoam, always using the precut edge as the bottom. In some spots I have 2 layers (including the first large one) and in other spots I have three layers. In the center I just have the one layer. This is your basic plan for depth, where you'll have thicker sections of rock.

 

[Mogo]

I now siliconed the layers together. I took me 1 1/2 larger tubes of aquarium silicone, each costing $9 CDN. I put blobs of silicone on the layers and spread it around with a plastic knife. I put some bricks on top to hold the pieces nice and flush while the silicone cures. Now I just have to wait for the 48 hour curing process to finish, and then I can start carving out my rocks.

 

[Mogo]

Allright, so I finally got back to my project. I'm now carving my rocks out. This step is very messy, and very time consuming. I initially was looking at pictures of rockwalls but that got me nowhere. My advice is, you just kind of have to go at it, and let your creativity kick in. I gathered up a few kitchen knives of varying sizes and found ones with small teeth work the best. I also added another piece of styrofoam in the middle, don't know why yet, was just listening to my artistic voice I guess. One thing to keep in mind is you'll have to cut it into sections if it's going into a larger tank with a cross bar on the top. I'm going to make mine into three sections. You'll want the sections to fit together in a puzzle fashion, so keep that in mind when you are carving. Here is where I'm at:

 

[Mogo]

And here is a farther shot. As you can see, I'm beginning to carve on the left side now. And no, I didn't make my bed today!

 

[KnuckleHead]

Hey Lipreader, that is so funny! I did a Mars scene quite a few years back! I got the background from a science store, a large poster of the milky way. Lava rock, orange gravel, and completed the look with plastic aliens. I'll search through my drawers tomorrow as I know I have some pics of it, although this was way back before digi cams so I'll have to scan them in.

I love the fake rock wall (H20's link), seriously thinking about doing that in my Malawi tank. Did more research today on fish safe paints, and will be finding out prices tomorrow. Wish me luck, I hope this isn't going to turn into a super expensive project! I'll be making some modifications, if anyone is interested, I'll post my progress.

"I did a Mars scene quite a few years back! I got the background from a science store, a large poster of the milky way. Lava rock, orange gravel, and completed the look with plastic aliens."


Did you have comet goldfish ??? I know I know that was aweful.

 

[mrV]

when making backround on yourself (like styrox, cement and lacquer), it's very important that cement is dry and you use suitable lacquer (<- contact manufacturer). Most lacquer contais harmfull compounds and many fishes have died

 

[Tanked]

It is coming along nicely mogo!!! great job

 

[Mogo]

Thanks Tanked, probably will get back to carving it in a couple days.

Thanks for pointing that out MrV, I just haven't gotten that far in my progress yet. Be getting to the information on curing the cement and what types of paint are safe for use (the paint is quite costly though).

I'm kind of tempted to cut open the vacuum bag, I guess I'll wait till it's full

 

[KnuckleHead]

Looks like its coming along nicely. So when are you going to get started on mine?

 

[mrV]

Be getting to the information on curing the cement and what types of paint are safe for use (the paint is quite costly though).

Most finnish hobbiests have used "earth-colours". I don't know what they are called in english, but they are like powder and you mix them with cement (not too much so that cement holds its strenght).

Lacquers:

2-components lacquers are too toxic.
1-component lacquers are better, but you have to ask your manufacturer is it really good under water, does it change colours etc..

Finnish hobbiests have used somekind of "rosin"/"resin" (Nanten IH-rosin, it's finnish product so you don't find it from your store - I think, sorry..)