Clay Diy 3d Background

[its_amo]

im going to make an amazonian style 3d background of a large tree with lots of roots in the middle of my rio 400 (5 foot long) so its fairly large scale project.
Im thinking of using wire mesh to create the structure and moulding the clay around it and once the clay has been fired and is set, I will remove the wire somehow (could be problems here).
Or am going to go with the polystyrene/cement combo as ive read about on here. Are there any adviseable waterproof paints available to paint the bark etc once its ready?
cement looks good for malawi style setups as it goes well with the cave appearence but an amazonian tree needs to be brownish in colour.

 

[HappyGeorge]

I researched fish safe paint until my head spun, but couldn't come up with anything that would be, entirely safe, not flake over time and be available in suitable colours. Given that people have posted on here that even shop bought backgrounds have been known to peel and flake, which doesn't bode well for a DIY project.
I will put a link to my project which may help you out as to how to change colour of concrete to your liking, and I would say concrete on poly is the way to go, dont know how you would go about fixing a background without a flat back, so need to consider that.

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=273233"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=273233[/URL]

I did muck around with tile grout at one point, as that is available in a range of colours, including a very dark brown, adding it to snowcrete or snowcrete/mastercrete mix, would give you access to a wide range of colours, especially if you then tie in using different colours of sand in the mix, an infinite palette of browns would be achievable . I haven't done extensive tests with the grout/concrete mix but did mix up a batch with some dark brown grout to check out the colour and it was ok. I would test a piece coated in it underwater for a few days before making a final decision on its suitability though.

Good Luck, PM me if you think I can help with anything.

 

[its_amo]

Fantastic, thanks for your response HappyGeorge! If my heads not spinning about one thing in this hobby then its always something else. Just the idea of having so much of a painted area inside the tank did worry me quite a bit and so as you have stated, with its tendancy to peel and flake, and perhaps with a possibility of the chemicals breaking down, ive pretty much edged away from this idea.

Im very much thinking about carrying on from where you left of with the tile grout/snowcrete/sand mix and exploring this a bit further, I can picture exactly what I want it to look like in my head... its just getting the result could take alot of researching. Thanks for the link, very useful and I am probably going to go with poly/cement. So, off to B&Q in the next few days to see what they have, i'll keep intouch and keep you posted!

Many thanks, nick

 

[HappyGeorge]

Good Luck keep us posted.

Im sure you have come across it already, but was thinking that the pattern you're looking for with bark effect may well be achievable using a hot tool to melt the poly and give you softer edges, also you can buy poly shreddings in various colours from plastic window trim/guttering/roofing suppliers, haven't used them but did consider it. They may be another source for you to provide some texture. I was offered a dustbin bag full of them which were offcuts from the saws in the plastic merchants.

 

[its_amo]

whilst researching this project I found this http/freshwatercichlids.info/diy-3d-core...ge-1#comment-88 which is exactly the look im going for with the tree and roots and everything and this guy uses fibreglass which upon first "googleing" seem's quite cheap. The result looks very realistic imo and would be well suited to an amazonian style set-up. Time to do some more researching!