3D background sealant

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FSM

FSM

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MFK Member
Jan 1, 2008
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Georgia
I'm thinking about making a 3D background for my 150 gallon (72x20x25)

Someone in the local fish club made theirs out of foam, Great Stuff expanding insulation, and epoxy sealant.

What would be the cheapest/easiest material to use? I don't want to do concrete, it seems like a PITA and I don't want to deal with the impact on water parameters. A quart of epoxy would be something like $50
 
I made mine out of 1/2" styrofoam sheathing. I coated it with West System epoxy and dumped sand on it while it was still wet. Brushed off the excess sand, and put a couple more coats of epoxy on. Tank is a 75g.

Styrofoam - $10
Epoxy - $40
Sand - $3
Silicone - $9

DSCN0321.JPG
 
That is the stuff the person in the club used. How much did you use?
 
The container of resin was 32 oz. and the hardener was 7 oz. I ended up using most of it, but there were a few experiments and screwups along the way, so if I did it again, I'd probly use much less.

If you end up using the same stuff, I recommend you get their metering pumps that they sell along with it. It seems like a ripoff to pay $15 extra for what is essentially a couple liquid soap dispenser pumps, but it makes it alot easier. The pump chambers are sized so that one pump of each gives you the correct ratio of resin to hardener.
 
You could use polyester resin (fiberglass resin), but it would give it a bit of a yellow tint. It is a lot cheaper though.
 
I'm going to cover it in sand/rocks, so the color shouldn't matter much.
 
Very interesting foam background, but how do u get it to not float? My tank is a pond liner, how could I adhere it to that?
 
ITHURTZ;3609188; said:
Very interesting foam background, but how do u get it to not float? My tank is a pond liner, how could I adhere it to that?
Click to expand...

You stick it to the back of the tank with silicone. Works for glass, I don't know how well it sticks to pond liner though.
 
If you use fiberglass resin it will melt the styrofoam most likely because of the chemical reaction that takes place. I use quickcrete concrete on mine
 
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