My Ultimate DIY Background and Tank Bottom Build

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Yup.....It's going to be a pain. This is the best solution I could come up with, though. The way the top of the tank is makes doing anything like this a real pain.

Still trying to find some Sika 107, so it's going to be a few weeks until I update this, but I'll show how I coat the background. In the meantime, I'm putting together my 50 gal. sump (pics on this in a few days).

Also, I'm almost done rebuilding the rotted out stand that this thing came with.
 
I guess if you lay it on its back and do it but up toward the top is really gonna suck....still think you could have done it in 3 back sections (height wise) and just done some touch up once glued. Or atleast spray painted it before installation so from the outside its not blue.

Trust me it looks nice so far not knocking it at all just curious cause would like to one myself one day and thinking out loud.
 
The top one is not glued on. I'll take it out and coat it before putting it in so I don't have to worry about getting that super hard to reach top part coated.

The rest really isn't so hard to get to if you do like you said and "put it on it's back."

The reason I couldn't do it in 3 big sections is because of the size of the openings to fit it in. The pieces are pretty long, and I couldn't fit multiples in at the same time. That, and they're all different lengths to conceal seams and make it more natural looking than some that I see that you can tell were sectioned.

As far as the blue??? There is no blue. There is some blue painters tape to mask off the edge that I don't want to get anything on. The original background was black, so I'm not worried about it blending in or anything.

As I get into it, I'll take pics. It'll all make more sense then. Trust me, I thought about this forever, and this will be the easiest way to do it in this case. In other cases, yes, multiple large pieces coated before installation will be easier, but not this one.
 
Your project is very similar to what I'm working on right now. I've got a 180g that I'm doing a 3D background for, too. I'm trying to time it right for when my dad has my stand and canopy finished and it is delivered. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find large enough chunks of time to work on it much.

Your tank is going to look soooo nice!!! Please more pics soon!
 
Update: Since I have been waiting on finding material to coat the background, I have constructed my sump. It's made out of a 50 gal. There's a bit more than 13 gallons for the bio material in there. First chamber will be all mech with a filter sock and filter pads. Second chamber will be bio balls and or scrubbies. Then it goes through the bubble trap to my mag drive 12. Directionality of the flow will be inlet on right side of picture, outlet on left (so flow is from right to left).

Still having trouble finding a good drip plate (nobody seems to cary peg board that is plastic here) as well as scrubbies. I've been to every dollar store/walmart/etc... and can't find them anywhere.

Anyway, let me know what you think. I may also make a thread just dedicated to this sump as this is a thread really for my background. But overall, this is my first one I've designed and built, so what do you think?

Forgot to add:
Heaters (2X250W) will go under the bio tray so they are out of the tank. Does anyone think this is a bad place for them for any reason?

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Looks great so far, i cant wait to see it done.
 
Well.....I hesitate to post pics of the finished product only because it doesn't photograph very well. It looks nice in person, but there is horrible lighting around, and it just doesn't look as nice as it is. And on top of that, my camera is a POS point and snap that doesn't help anything at all.

Current stock in this is:
1 male JD
1 male GT
6 Giant Danios
3 spotted pictus
1 4 line pictus
soon to come is a Lyonsi!

It has started growing algae on the background, and it's turned out really nice. The algae is eating up the nitrates, and I NEVER have an ammonia/nitrite/nitrate reading of anything other than 0/0/0. Love it!

One thing I will say after having it for a while.....If you ever decide to do the DIY bottom rocks that I did in this.....Do them ALMOST flat. It is a huge PITA to gravel vac inbetween all those little crevaces. I freaking dread it every week. At this point, I'm thinking about taking all of the gravel out and doing PFS instead. I think it would make it a lot easier.

Another thing is I wish I would have buffed some of the scratches out of the tank. I have a weird light in the room that really makes a few of them pop out.

Also, I need to better hide my air lines and circulation fan. The pictus keep dragging them around the tank. They were a lot better hidden and looked a lot nicer before the cats rampaged on them hahaha.

Anyway, here it is:
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