Bobtastic
Fish Addict
Hi all!
I asked earlier about the creation of a cave out of slate/slate chippings. I was put off the idea due to the rough/sharp edges of the slate and opted from the use of pebble stones instead.
Here is my little journal of my cave's creationg.
First off I visited my LFS to aquire some aquarium silicone sealant (to be picture later), I wasn't sure how much silicone I would need so I got the smallest/cheapest one available.
We had some pebble laying around the house so I decided to make good use of them. I started by giving them a good was and scrub in a pan.
Then set them out on a tea towl to dry them out.
I arranged them into some different sizes, with plans to use the smaller ones on top.
I then started to arrange the pebbles on top of a upside down place mat (to that I could place it in a safe place to dry) and sticking them together with the sealant. In hind site I would have used a lot more sealant as I had plenty left over.
As I built up the walls of the cave I over came the problem of the sides falling in and how I would set the roof with a handy suggestion from my good lady. We simply balled up some newspaper and placed in the middle of the cave walls. This gave the sides some support.
Using the newspaper support I built up the sides and put on the roof.
The cave was left for 48hrs on top of the kitchen cabinets (out of the reach of little hands) to dry properly and this is the end result. Not too bad if I do say so myself!
Next was to clear the space in the tank, originally the had a rock in the space where the cave was going to go, so that was removed.
Then the cave was place gently to the bottom.
I hope you guys like the end result as much and the girlfriend and I do! Couple of the fish have ventured inside, but none seem to have taken up perminant residence.
There was even enough stones and sealant left over to make a pebble arch/bridge which is currently drying and I'll get some pictures up once it's done.
I asked earlier about the creation of a cave out of slate/slate chippings. I was put off the idea due to the rough/sharp edges of the slate and opted from the use of pebble stones instead.
Here is my little journal of my cave's creationg.
First off I visited my LFS to aquire some aquarium silicone sealant (to be picture later), I wasn't sure how much silicone I would need so I got the smallest/cheapest one available.
We had some pebble laying around the house so I decided to make good use of them. I started by giving them a good was and scrub in a pan.
Then set them out on a tea towl to dry them out.
I arranged them into some different sizes, with plans to use the smaller ones on top.
I then started to arrange the pebbles on top of a upside down place mat (to that I could place it in a safe place to dry) and sticking them together with the sealant. In hind site I would have used a lot more sealant as I had plenty left over.
As I built up the walls of the cave I over came the problem of the sides falling in and how I would set the roof with a handy suggestion from my good lady. We simply balled up some newspaper and placed in the middle of the cave walls. This gave the sides some support.
Using the newspaper support I built up the sides and put on the roof.
The cave was left for 48hrs on top of the kitchen cabinets (out of the reach of little hands) to dry properly and this is the end result. Not too bad if I do say so myself!
Next was to clear the space in the tank, originally the had a rock in the space where the cave was going to go, so that was removed.
Then the cave was place gently to the bottom.
I hope you guys like the end result as much and the girlfriend and I do! Couple of the fish have ventured inside, but none seem to have taken up perminant residence.
There was even enough stones and sealant left over to make a pebble arch/bridge which is currently drying and I'll get some pictures up once it's done.
I may have to get a little light fingered and borrow some! 
