safe materials for creating background?

[L number Banana]

Hi,
I'm creating a background for my 36" long x 18"high x 12" wide tank. This is the plan but feel free to poke any holes in it if needed. I'll make it, let it cure for 72 hrs, put it in place and have it up and running/soaking/leaching whatever for a long while before any fish or plants are added.

Main material: styrofoam, white 1/4 inch layers, chipped and glued with pure silicon. Painted with acrylic, sealed with 2 part epoxy resin. Will have pockets and 'shelves' for plants and hopefully USD cats if they learn to flip over in an 18" high tank. A dab or two of silicon will be used to hold it tight to the back and hide all the permanent co2 tubes, they bubble out under the plants. I can also use spray foam for the ledges.

Rocks/driftwoods/sand and flourite will be on the bottom. Short, large-leaved plants will be planted in the 'pockets'. Other plants as normal- tall back/short front.

My query is about the materials for the backdrop, does anyone know of any problems with these materials (fully dry-cured)?

Saw one tonight that looked to be made of HDF (high density foam) like in seat cushions. Would that be a better base to start with?

Will have the o2 and filter up and running long before anyone lives there. Lots of testing first.

Thanks for any tips or ideas.

[grokefish]

I can see no problems with that as long as you have no wood eaters in the tank.

Matt

[L number Banana]

Hi Matt,
Hate to be so dense but wouldn't the wood eaters eat the wood instead or are they more likely to nibble on anything really hard like the resin?

Don't want to limit myself before I'm even set up

[HX67]

Hi. I would have to back Matt on this. I have had a styro background in my tank for some 10+ years. It is covered with a thin layer of cement and then epoxy resin.
It was completely intact before I recently added two L191:s to the tank. Now there's bits missing and white styro visible on proud parts of the background.
They just chew on everything. Or "scrape", actually.

[L number Banana]

Thanks HX67 Like your raccoon by the way

Maybe I'll take a look at the wood pile in the shop and make a wooden background? I suppose I could just tie plants to any flat areas. I haven't done any serious carving for a few years...hmm. I've got oak, and hard fruitwoods like cherry.

This plan needs some serious rethinking and more research.

Thank you!

[Richard B]

If you have artistic tendencies see some of the aquascapes (& how to do them) by Haavard Stoere - they are truly awesome.

if this is a bit beyond you (& it is me ) what about getting some flat roofing slates. You can fix rocky outcrops, wooden pieces to the slate & then fix the slate to the back wall of the tank - with or without leaving a compartment for submerged equipment? 100% natural materials giving the same effect but requiring a little more effort.

(or if you are a multi-millionaire, commission Haavard to do you a set-up )

[L number Banana]

Thanks RichardB,

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look. I adore the Amano tanks but I want something a little less 'peaceful'.

No, I'm not a millionaire *because* I have a fine arts background
I'm one of those women that drive my bigger half crazy because I'll make him stop in the middle of the road because I've seem "A lovely burl/rock" Lots of artistic tank accessories around...

I can access roofing slate but since I've never had such a big tank before (big for me!), I'm worried about putting too much weight on the floor of the tank. Any tips there? Should I put something under the glass for support?

Thanks

[Richard B]

Make sure there is no sand or gravel beneath it - some fish dig & you don't want anything toppling over. A small coating of silicone could be used to cushion the contact of the slate glass surface but it needs to be fixed in place to prevent problems. Silicone is fine in a dry tank before filling but something like milliput can be used under water

The sort of thing i'm suggesting could easily be used with quite robust tankmates.

I know what you mean about "artistic tank accessories" - my girlfriend hates me collecting rocks from the south coast - i have quite a collection

[L number Banana]

Thanks Richard B,

What's milliput? I'm sure we'd have something similar here.

Looked at the stunning tanks of Haavard Stoere, whoa! I could spend hours just mentally floating around in there. I've got a pretty heavy horticulture bent so I'd need to mix it with plants. There's lots of lava rock/pumice here but I think that would be too sharp for cats?

Can I use cork or will that end up being a tank full of little floaties?

Are any cat families happy with limestone or does it mess up the water chemistry too much?

And wrt rock hunting, I've told the bigger half that it's to hold the floor in place. Don't think he bought it

[Richard B]

Thanks Richard B,

What's milliput? I'm sure we'd have something similar here.

Looked at the stunning tanks of Haavard Stoere, whoa! I could spend hours just mentally floating around in there. I've got a pretty heavy horticulture bent so I'd need to mix it with plants. There's lots of lava rock/pumice here but I think that would be too sharp for cats?

Can I use cork or will that end up being a tank full of little floaties?

Are any cat families happy with limestone or does it mess up the water chemistry too much?

And wrt rock hunting, I've told the bigger half that it's to hold the floor in place. Don't think he bought it

http://www.milliput.com/home.htm

Lava rock/ pumice is okfor some cats, dreadful for others - the key obviously is knowing which At least lava rock is woekable so you can smooth off excess roughness. Natural cork bark is fine but just so bouyant

Limestone is fine for some cats, again dreadful for others -you can see pH, hardness info on species pages. Rift lake synos, lophiobagris, phyllonemus would like this water

[MatsP]

The roofing slate we have here in England is fairly thin (about 1/4" or so). It should not be parituclarly heavy. If you cut the "bottom edge" with a tile-cutter, angle-grinder or similar, so that you get less "sharp" edges, the weight should not cause ANY problem with the glass. I have one tank with A LOT of "Texas Holey Rock" - it probably has more than 50 lbs of rock in a 48 x 18" base-area.

As long as you don't have some really sharp edges putting pressure point on the glass, it will be fine.

As Richard says, using silicone on the glass will prevent it from sliding/slipping/falling over. Make sure you use silicon intended for aquarium use (some forms have various fungicides and other nasties in it).

Cork is not only very light-weight (and thus wants to float), but also sensitive to wood-eating fish like

Panaque

.

--
Mats

[L number Banana]

Thanks for the link about Milliput, we've got something like that here. No problem.

Natural cork bark is fine but just so bouyant

What if I stick it to the glass? Worth playing with in my little tank to see how that would work.

Since I live in what the tourists call "the limestone city", I'll look into that too. Not so good for what I want to put into this tank but maybe a biotope someday. The fish you mentioned are even small enough, thanks.

I'll look at my wish-fish list to see if pumice/lavarock is mentioned one way or the other in the cat-elog or articles.

Thanks for all the help - saved me some serious pain-in-the** redoing the tank or having unhappy fish.

[L number Banana]

Hi Mats P,

Just missed your reply while typing other reply!

I've played with the slate a bit already and it's nice to work with so it's good to see that weight isn't a problem. Also I've got the safe silicone too.

Cork is not only very light-weight (and thus wants to float), but also sensitive to wood-eating fish like Panaque.

Okay forget the cork too. Again, no point in asking for trouble or limitations. Don't know if Panaque will be on my list someday when there's more available at the store. Just looked at Glenny's tank/fish again and my fish list is looking rather bland...wow.

Thanks