I got this tank a few week back as a starter to get back into the fish keeping hobby, the plan was for a bigger tank but after words with SWMBO i ended up with a 3x3 area for a tank, i didnt have the cash for £550 to get one made so hel dout for a second hand one, and after a few months i came by this on Ebay and won it with stand and light for £11
So Its now sat in the house waiting to be fettled
So first thing is the background which i decide to make my own, usual Polystyrene in this case a 8x4x2 sheet is all needed. 1 tub of waterproof cement and then G4 pond seal once its had the 3 layers of cement, 2 in natural then the last will be in coloured cement of Bufff and Brown, but for now what i have done
Cut sheet to size to have a nice fit for now, then trimmed later onc ei decide what to do
What i was after was a ledge either side as i want to have lillys in the back corner growing to the top and a small central feature
Siliconed the sections together and clamped over night, well sort of clamped lol
I did it the messy way to shape it as you can see, with a wire wheel in the drill, works a treat though.
Backside
I screwed the ledges in place for now with 5 inch wood screws to see where i wanted them
While i was doing this our Ziggy was on look out, what for i dont know, but SWMBO wasnt happy when she found out that the pup had a new seating area
Well in the end i went for this set up
I still hadnt decided and the rock effect yet so i did one on each panel
Other was ok but not enough, but the first was to much
So i went inbetween and unscrewed the heavy rock and and ended up with this
I still had to cut out for the overflow in the rear top corner and blend in the corner seam, no pics of that butt hat been done, as now i started to concrete/seal it, its now had 2 coats and i am waiting for the cement dye to arrive and G$.
I made the mix runny like pancake mix and just slapped it on and rubbed it in as much as possible, Oh before i applied the cement i went over it all with a hot air gun so to stop the poly breakin gup to much.
First coat
Looks a lot better than in white
So thats it for now, cant wait to get the colouring on and all done, i mite aslo add sand to the rocks for a bit more texture in between the two G4 coats.
So Its now sat in the house waiting to be fettled
So first thing is the background which i decide to make my own, usual Polystyrene in this case a 8x4x2 sheet is all needed. 1 tub of waterproof cement and then G4 pond seal once its had the 3 layers of cement, 2 in natural then the last will be in coloured cement of Bufff and Brown, but for now what i have done
Cut sheet to size to have a nice fit for now, then trimmed later onc ei decide what to do
What i was after was a ledge either side as i want to have lillys in the back corner growing to the top and a small central feature
Siliconed the sections together and clamped over night, well sort of clamped lol
I did it the messy way to shape it as you can see, with a wire wheel in the drill, works a treat though.
Backside
I screwed the ledges in place for now with 5 inch wood screws to see where i wanted them
While i was doing this our Ziggy was on look out, what for i dont know, but SWMBO wasnt happy when she found out that the pup had a new seating area
Well in the end i went for this set up
I still hadnt decided and the rock effect yet so i did one on each panel
Other was ok but not enough, but the first was to much
So i went inbetween and unscrewed the heavy rock and and ended up with this
I still had to cut out for the overflow in the rear top corner and blend in the corner seam, no pics of that butt hat been done, as now i started to concrete/seal it, its now had 2 coats and i am waiting for the cement dye to arrive and G$.
I made the mix runny like pancake mix and just slapped it on and rubbed it in as much as possible, Oh before i applied the cement i went over it all with a hot air gun so to stop the poly breakin gup to much.
First coat
Looks a lot better than in white
So thats it for now, cant wait to get the colouring on and all done, i mite aslo add sand to the rocks for a bit more texture in between the two G4 coats.