Epic Overhaul/Builds: 3D Backgrounds 300g-125g-120g

[JK47]

Justin before your ready to secure your background, try out the black pond foam from lowes or jerrys. It states its completely safe for fish and plants. I just installed one in a 75 experimenting around and i dont think i will use silicone again when securing one into place. A little goes a long ways , and very easy to cut the excess off around the edges, sand doesnt stick to it very well so i just smeared a little silicone on the edges when it was dry and sprinkled sand on it to blend in. When that foam expands it turns the tank and BG into 1 , lol. I think it was $12 and only needed half a can for a 4 footer, might even be cheaper then silicone. Hopefully someone will chime in if i am missing something with the foam?

Thanks shyro77 that's a REALLY good idea. I'll head out right now and track some down. I have about 80% of the plumbing done and need to go pick up a few pieces. Do you know the manufacturer name or have a pic of the can?

 

[ceeej31]

looks good justin!
im getting some good ideas from this thread

 

[warmouth]

good idea.....didnt know Lowes sold pond foam (half the employees here have no clue what they have) thanks Joe.

 

[shyro77]

Sorry , i forgot the name of it. I can get it to you when i get home, but thats a few hours away . I went to jerrys down here and they had 2 types, but they dont have a online site. I looked online at lowes and there brand is tetra?

 

[bomber]

Ill be the first. What do you plan on stocking that there?


Great Project, just finished 11 pages.

 

[JK47]

Sorry , i forgot the name of it. I can get it to you when i get home, but thats a few hours away . I went to jerrys down here and they had 2 types, but they dont have a online site. I looked online at lowes and there brand is tetra?

Thanks for even suggesting it Matt. I am going to try that out since I hate silicone and like trying new ideas.. I tried to find it tonight but I wasn't able to. I came back home and got to work on what I could.

On to todays pics.. I finally got the overflow towers cut off. It took a few hours and a ton of blades. I was worried about this section mainly because I didn't want to tear up the silicone on the bottom panel trying to cut off the towers.







JK47 = 1 / butthole plastic things = 0 take that Oceanic!











WTF is this stuff? Saltwater tanks get nasty..





More pics in a sec.

 

[JK47]

I wanted the plumbing done today but my PVC cement is toast. I'll have to go pick up some more tomorrow morning. I have another kind but it doesn't say it's for use with "pottable" water. I got the main pieces put together at least for test fitting tonight.



Only one of the bulkhead fittings was useable so I picked up 3 new ones today. These are the AGA brand and killer pieces. They are for running softline tubing driectly to the BH fitting. Saves a bit of time but more importantly is one less part to leak. I have two BH fitting at 1" ID and two at 3/4" ID.



I am using a couple of 90 degree elbows so I can get the plumbing to fit on the back wall of the tank. The background will take up less space this way. Using the plumbing like this give me the option of running a sump later on too.



I am using Loc-Line on this setup as well for the return plumbing. I need to pick up the rest of the pieces later, I only grabbed the kuckles today.



I haven't cut everything to height yet but this gives you the idea of what I'm planning.









Both 1" pieces will feed the intake of an FX5 and the two 3/4" returns will be split off the 1" outlet of the FX5. Does that make sense to anyone else other than me? I am reducing it to two 3/4" so I can run an inline heater and an 18watt UV on the other. I am curious to hear any input on the idea.

 

[JK47]

This is why I wanted to pull off the overflow towers without damaging them. I am going to put them on the sides of the background for my 300 gallon. They will fit over my FX5 intakes and heaters. The background is not as long as the tank is wide so these will be faux overflow towers. The fact they have all the coraline algae is actally better. I will paint over it with Krylon Fusion and they will be a little "3D" too. I am going to mount them a little high so the water flow comes through the bottom of the tower not the top. It will be better for mechanical. Since the 300 gallon is a dark tank, I was thinking about switching to black sand. Anyone have pics of a tank with a 3D background and black sand??



I need to clean things up still before I can finish the plumbing and start cutting the background.





Besides my open top 10 gallon, this is the first time I have been able to test fit a background with a tank. It's flippin sweet to finally be getting closer. I will have to cut a bunch of off the background but that's OK. I want the 300 gallon started next weekend so I have to have this tank done by Friday.









One thing I forgot about until tonight is the fact that this model of background has some open area (where the intakes will be) so I will need paint the back of this tank too. That's an extra day I wasn't planning. Can't believe I didn't catch that till now.



I just noticed this model of background fit together without the tree in the middle. That is awesome so I had to snap a pic. I like the background without the tree too.

 

[JK47]

I now have my inspiration for the next tank.

x2!

If this thread had been around before I set up my 210... Lots of cool ideas in this thread, for sure!

Thanks Dan! I will give you a hand any day if you need it. Setup is half the hobby for me

I am gonna follow this thread..JK, got some creative works happenin in here. Gonna need it while I am doing my background. Congrats on the 125. You gotta be psyched!!

Thanks!

awesome !! :]

Thanks!

nice justin alot of work but definatly worth every minute for sure i was out of breath just reading it

Thanks Hugh! This thread is just now getting to the good part lol.

looks good justin!
im getting some good ideas from this thread

Thanks Colin! Congrats again on the new job I am really stoked for you!

Ill be the first. What do you plan on stocking that there?


Great Project, just finished 11 pages.

This tank is going to be home to a really rare eartheater species I have been keeping for the last year. I have a group of 4 and am hoping to be the first (on US soil anyway) to breed them. It's an Orinoco drainage tank.

x4 Satanoperca Mapiritensis
x20 Hyphessobrycon Colombianus (Columbian Tetra)

 

[aclockworkorange]

You weren't kidding when you said that 120 needed some work!

Looking forward to seeing it in person!!