Urban fishtank - have questions

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scarecrow1f9

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 16, 2011
130
2
18
Shreveport, LA
I'm attempting to do an urban tank setup, and there are some material pitfalls I need to get around. I was hoping to find some helpful ideas here.

The theme comes from downtown Shreveport. There's a lot of casino's over the water, neon lights everywhere, and the calmer parts of the water have a lot of old city rubble in the water. Brick, contrete with re-barb sticking out, old rusty pipes, etc. Tons of gar, shad, brim and catfish. But mostly gar.

I want this for my 150 gallon:

Brick background/ maybe sides
concrete humps
rebarb

I've already begun working neon lights into a homemade stand/canopy.

Regular brick is too heavy, the mortar is sometimes toxic, it's extremely abrasive, and some brick slowly disintegrates in water. Maybe a veneer?

concretes vary, some have fiberglass bases and chemicals. Quikrete over Styrofoam seems to be safe as long as the water is cycled regularly for awhile before you go sticking fish in there.

rebarb. All of the points would be above the water level, but rebarb is still sharp and metal, and rusts. So - maybe file the sharp edges, and coat the whole things silicone I? Will that stop the rust/metal from tainting the water?

Any ideas would help. I have a very specific look in my head, and while it definitely wouldnt be for everyone, I think it'd look nice. Thanks!
 
Interesting theme, very cool. But here's my thoughts,
1.Weight- adding a bunch of concrete and brick may be cool but your putting a LOT of weight in that tank.
2. Space- That stuff is all going to reduce the occupiable space for your livestock.
3. Approach- Instead of using quickcrete I would suggest using foam to layer your backdrop and after slowly sanding it use a non toxic liquid rubber , usually comes in black, and then sprinkle sand on it for a realistic finish .

This may also give u a jumping off point, just scale it up and nooooo rebar :) Hope this helps. [YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95HShae6x2E&feature=related[/YT]
 
[video=youtube;95HShae6x2E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95HShae6x2E&feature=related[/video]
 
Make your own rebar.

Take a plastic rod or pipe about the size of rebar. Coat it lightly with silicone, then using a piece of string (like nylon weedeater string) and wrap the rod in the pattern like rebar. (*Reinforcement bar*)
Then springle fine sand over the whole thing and let dry.

Use some good krylon spray paint in a rust color and spray it down.
I'd try to find some of that "hammered look" faux finishes stuff.
 
I just carved this in all of 5 minutes here at work..just some food for thought lol
brick.jpg

rock2.jpg

rocks.jpg
 
I personally wouldn't worry about the weight and if you didn't overdo things, I think you'd do okay on the space (although I've never kept gars, so I don't know how much living/swimming space they need). I love the idea of the foam above. However, I don't see why you couldn't simply pick up something from a demo site and coat it in a lacquer that was chemically inert. I saw someone do that with a bunch of brass shell casings once as decorations (and I remember reading something about someone else using them as substrate of all things). If everything was fully coated, it would never be exposed to the water, shouldn't rust, and would be cheap and easy to obtain.

You'd have to research out a fish-safe lacquer though.
 
I dont really understand the theme your going for here.
 
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