Materials:
Great Stuff Foam
Styrofoam - 1/2 inch
Quickcrete Cement
Quickcrete color (Black, Buff, Terra Cotta)
G.E. Waterproof Silicone
Paint Brush
Water Spray Bottle
Time - A Few Days (3)
Wanted to experiment on a 20gl so I banged this out with my son...Nice little project.
Great Stuff Foam (sand it before cementing) (made a bunch before hand for another project but will set in a hour or two) see date
Measure back of tank and cut styro piece to fit then cut out rock formations of your desire (I didn't trace anything but simply cut and paste) - make sure to cut styro to fit your type of filter system
Silicone the whole piece to the back of tank and slightly weigh it down
Now you're ready to add color to your cement and do about 3 coats (one very light with a sort of a runny cement mixture (let set inside your house if too hot outside and spray with water every few hours to help cure) the next 2 coats can be thicker like oatmeal - spray and let set (all took one day)
I know it looks weird but when it dries it's a different color and you can tweak along the way
Here's when it's dry - dab your color preferences on with a brush and spray it with a water bottle to make it sort of drizzle down finding natural cracks in your work
As you can see I cemented over the back lip and sort of rolled it over a tad for a more natural look. Let it dry completely.
Now it's time to fill the tank - I put in salt tabs from the water softener to help cure the cement. Fill and refill (8 times) - The paint sort of came off a bit in places but I used a little puffer to puff out pieces in the cracks during the fill process - I saw a little color from the cement but it quickly went away and the water became clear
Put fish in (sunburst just in case) and ran it. This picture was shortly after and the water is clear today (hot mag on a 20g with sand is pushing it)
Great Stuff Foam
Styrofoam - 1/2 inch
Quickcrete Cement
Quickcrete color (Black, Buff, Terra Cotta)
G.E. Waterproof Silicone
Paint Brush
Water Spray Bottle
Time - A Few Days (3)
Wanted to experiment on a 20gl so I banged this out with my son...Nice little project.
Great Stuff Foam (sand it before cementing) (made a bunch before hand for another project but will set in a hour or two) see date
Measure back of tank and cut styro piece to fit then cut out rock formations of your desire (I didn't trace anything but simply cut and paste) - make sure to cut styro to fit your type of filter system
Silicone the whole piece to the back of tank and slightly weigh it down
Now you're ready to add color to your cement and do about 3 coats (one very light with a sort of a runny cement mixture (let set inside your house if too hot outside and spray with water every few hours to help cure) the next 2 coats can be thicker like oatmeal - spray and let set (all took one day)
I know it looks weird but when it dries it's a different color and you can tweak along the way
Here's when it's dry - dab your color preferences on with a brush and spray it with a water bottle to make it sort of drizzle down finding natural cracks in your work
As you can see I cemented over the back lip and sort of rolled it over a tad for a more natural look. Let it dry completely.
Now it's time to fill the tank - I put in salt tabs from the water softener to help cure the cement. Fill and refill (8 times) - The paint sort of came off a bit in places but I used a little puffer to puff out pieces in the cracks during the fill process - I saw a little color from the cement but it quickly went away and the water became clear
Put fish in (sunburst just in case) and ran it. This picture was shortly after and the water is clear today (hot mag on a 20g with sand is pushing it)
