DIY Foam Rock Background and Biotope
Aug 9, 2018 20:59:10 GMT -5
guppyguy, Andre, and 3 more like this
Post by guppyguy on Aug 9, 2018 20:59:10 GMT -5
Well for this project I wanted to make a biotope tank for my Ilyodon furcidens. There habitat has flowing rivers or streams made up of rocky sides with a stone and sandy substrate. There are no plants and some branch wood. So making most of it I can do no problem but I wanted a realistic as I could rock background without spending money for premade ones or all the hassle of the common DIY background made by carving your own foam shaped rocks and covering in cement and have PH swings in the tank for a while.
Then I thought about expanding foam in a can. I did some experiments and found it could be made to make all kind of rocks and crevices and cracks. And the best part is it sticks to glass. Ok now how to make it look like rock. Well this stuff is sticky as hell ad I thought and wondered if I covered it in sand how it would look. Trying a experiment again the results were good. Finally I wanted a way to protect the foam and keep the sand from falling off over time, and I know polyurethane once dry is perfectly safe for fish. People have been using it to seal driftwood for years and it comes in aerosol form.
I went out and collected and cleaned sand, pebbles and river stones. I also went out and searched for the perfect piece of branch wood. Then off to the store to purchase Great Stuff Gap and Crack expanding foam, and Varathane semi glass polyurethane aerosol spray.
I cleaned and dried the tank, and laid it on its back and sprayed the foam covering the entire back of the tank and then quickly covered it in sand. You have 5 minutes till it losses it's tackiness, and you need a lot of sand to hold it down as it will expand quite a bit. I used a entire 5 gallon pail of sand but once dry the extra sand falls off when dumped out and can be used as the substrate. Now I leave it on for 24 hours and the next day I dumped off the extra sand revealed a great looking background.
Next to cover all the nooks and crannies with the aerosol polyurethane and let it dry and cure for 3 days. It needs to be 100% cured and 3 days was overkill but if not cured it is toxic to fish and I played it safe. The power filter is on the side of the tank to send the flow the length of the tank to make it more river like. So I also made a custom glass lid for this tank as it still needed to be opened from the front. So I had to make it shorter and add a brace.
This was a great project and I plan on trying this again with a different scape and different colored rocks in the future.
The final results I am happy with and besides the fish there is also a crayfish in the tank. This is a accurate biotope for Ilyodon furcidens.
Then I thought about expanding foam in a can. I did some experiments and found it could be made to make all kind of rocks and crevices and cracks. And the best part is it sticks to glass. Ok now how to make it look like rock. Well this stuff is sticky as hell ad I thought and wondered if I covered it in sand how it would look. Trying a experiment again the results were good. Finally I wanted a way to protect the foam and keep the sand from falling off over time, and I know polyurethane once dry is perfectly safe for fish. People have been using it to seal driftwood for years and it comes in aerosol form.
I went out and collected and cleaned sand, pebbles and river stones. I also went out and searched for the perfect piece of branch wood. Then off to the store to purchase Great Stuff Gap and Crack expanding foam, and Varathane semi glass polyurethane aerosol spray.
I cleaned and dried the tank, and laid it on its back and sprayed the foam covering the entire back of the tank and then quickly covered it in sand. You have 5 minutes till it losses it's tackiness, and you need a lot of sand to hold it down as it will expand quite a bit. I used a entire 5 gallon pail of sand but once dry the extra sand falls off when dumped out and can be used as the substrate. Now I leave it on for 24 hours and the next day I dumped off the extra sand revealed a great looking background.
Next to cover all the nooks and crannies with the aerosol polyurethane and let it dry and cure for 3 days. It needs to be 100% cured and 3 days was overkill but if not cured it is toxic to fish and I played it safe. The power filter is on the side of the tank to send the flow the length of the tank to make it more river like. So I also made a custom glass lid for this tank as it still needed to be opened from the front. So I had to make it shorter and add a brace.
This was a great project and I plan on trying this again with a different scape and different colored rocks in the future.
The final results I am happy with and besides the fish there is also a crayfish in the tank. This is a accurate biotope for Ilyodon furcidens.
