Building A Styrofoam Background

[jarmado]

how about this?
http/www.3d-aquarium-backgrounds.co.uk/

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

how about this?
http/www.3d-aquarium-backgrounds.co.uk/

Nice backgrounds.. ..

Ahhh we will see what mine is like once i have finished....

I like the personal touch

 

[jarmado]

how about this?
http/www.3d-aquarium-backgrounds.co.uk/

Nice backgrounds.. ..

Ahhh we will see what mine is like once i have finished....

I like the personal touch

keep us posted as usual.

 

[bobf]

Just a thought...

I've seen 'hot knife' tips for a soldering iron which would allow you to make much smoother cuts without all the foam 'crumbs' - don't know if that sort of thing makes it over the channel though?

Applying some heat to a knife blade would have the same effect.

I was going to use a small bunsen burner type thing but i coundnt find it and i dont have any onther form of gas in the house at the moment. so i just had to cuff it.

I found another one which im going to get this weekend. this will then seal all the foam together which will make it easier to cement.
Its really only a quick blast i need to do.
I have to be carefull though as it is very flamable

Thanks for the good suggestion.

Better to just apply the heat to the knife or whatever, not the styrofoam directly. Apart from the fire risk I think the fumes are not good for you.

Sounds like a job for the garden!

 

[Phoenixfish]

heating the blade will work, so will glue(super and poss plastic) and spray paint, (hot glue guns too) but it doesnt cut it burns through and isnt the easyest of things to control, fun as hell tho

also you could get something simmilar to this... hot wire cutter

thats actually for GW battle top figures, and we used to have one when we used to collect, its good on poly but is a killer for batteries, so just uses a flame and wire

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Well, i have just finished my first two backgrounds.

So once the molding was complete i mixed the cement and added my first layer. I have realised that i may have to cet some more thiner grain cement for the next part.

I think i will get some tile cement for the next part (the colour stage).

The trick with this stage was not to have the cement to wet then it would run a bit. if it was to dry it would just flake off.

I had to play with the mixture a bit.

I underestemated the amount of cement for this so i think i will need to go out and get two more sacks of ready mix cement.
In the pictures you see it is dark grey. well it does dry to a lighter colourso the colour pigment will come in hand when i get to that stage.

As you see in the pictures the caves have turned out really well and i think the fish will be happy with it. especially the alge eating pleco's if i get some wild ones they will breed. ha ha....

I put the cement on at first with a trowel but this wasnt a good success so i just used my hands.
Best thing to use is the rubber gloves on your hands to make sure your hands dont dry out and it keeps it all nice and clean.

 

[SkiFletch]

Wait a sec here, you're using regular concrete? Great idea . One thing you have to watch for though is that those backgrounds will need to "cure" in water for at least a month before any fish are added to the tank. Fresh cement leeches LOTS of basic compounds into water and will raise your pH drastically (up around 10 or 11 pH). So you need to soak them in water for a long time until they stop leaching and raising the pH.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Wait a sec here, you're using regular concrete? Great idea . One thing you have to watch for though is that those backgrounds will need to "cure" in water for at least a month before any fish are added to the tank. Fresh cement leeches LOTS of basic compounds into water and will raise your pH drastically (up around 10 or 11 pH). So you need to soak them in water for a long time until they stop leaching and raising the pH.

Yea i read loads of things about making backgrounds so i decided to go for the cement version as after a year it builds up some good bio bacteria and algae. What i am trying to do is make a almost self sufficient tank as possible.

I realized the chemicals and ph problems but I read somewhere if you fill the tank with a heave concentrate of salt water then leave it in for around three days then swap out 50% of the water then do this again in another three days then replace the water after another three days then cycle the water out for the next week then it pulls all the crap out of the cement.

As I have also purchased a Reverse Osmoses system that will pump out 60 ltr per day I will keep this running 24/7 for two weeks. by the end of a month it should all be good to put my plants in .. I will also have my water testing computer and co2 system installed by then.

 

[SkiFletch]

I've never heard of that salt trick, but then again haven't researched how to combat the pH problems much myself. Just be sure you dont add anything before the pH is stable and you'll be fine

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Well i have finished the first cement phase. and the cement looks light grey

Stage two..

In this stage i will buy some tyle cement which is very fine sand. i will add the cement pigment and basicaly paint the cement onto the 1st layer. then once the colours are laid i will get a 4.5cm paint brush and dab the cement.

This will give the cement the structure of stone and it will also blend the colours of the cement into each other.

I will start this tonight so wait out for the pictures.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

OK
what i have i donr tonight ... well besides cleaning up after one of my tanks breaking.

I have started to add colour to the backgrounds.

How did i do it.

stage 1
get the tile cement and mix in the cement pigment. max 7% of the weight you are mixing. once you have a nice creamy texture.

stage 2

get 1 hand full of black and one hand full of red. mix together and you will come out with a dark brown.

layer a nice coat over the cement. only enough to re-colour the cement that you had made in the past couple of days.

once this starts to dryi added a lighter colour to the stones. once I did this it started to dry darker. so i then added a lighter colour on top of the stones again.

I once this was done i got some water and started to dab the cement between the colour changes which blended it in. i am now waiting for it to dry and i will glue to the inside of the tank.

see the images below.

 

[promithius]

those look awsome just a little tip to anyone who wants to do this, buy a 'hot wire cutter'. its bastcally cheese wire that is heated by 2 D size batteries, and it goes through the foam as if it were butter. Also, DONT spray paint the foam, it will melt it. great for making alien looking backgrounds, not so great for anything else.

Anyone know if polly filler is toxic? also, how would i go about sealing Poaster paint? i have an awsome technique for making stone looking stuff from my days making scenery for war games. sorry to jack the treat for a mo, but take a lookie:






Click the pics for bigger versions.

This technique is achived by taking polyfiler, covering the item (in those cases carboard houses) and waiting for it to set just a little. then, you take a paintbrush and stab at the polyfiller, giving it a rippled stone effect. wait for it to dry, sand off all the shap points, then paint it all pure black. when that drys, mix up some deep grey. then, get some paint on the bruush, but wipe most of it off on some kitchen tissue. then drag the brush over the black paint. this technique is known as 'dry brushing', and it picks out all the raised areas. wait for this to dry, then mix a lighter grey up, and dry brush over the deep grey.

The best way to mix the grey paint it to but some black and some white poster paint, mix em together until you get the desired colour.

Im positive this would make a great way to paint up one of these backgrounds, but i dont know of any way of sealing the paint other than water-ed down PVA glue, which cant be good for the fish

Hope this helps someone!

Your backdrops are looking awsome!


EDIT:

Link to an example to a hot wire cutter:
http/oz.games-workshop.com/hobby/modelli...ore_hotwire.htm
You can get that one from 'games workshop' for £12, although they are available else where for around £5. try ebay!

 

[scotto]

Awesome job mate, well done. I'm sure your fishies will love you for all the effort you are putting in. Keep the pics coming.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

thanks promethius for the extra advice.

well for somthing the size i am doing you wouldnt want to use the pollyfiller. you may want to look at tile cement. this is almost the same but doesnt have the toxins. but you would need to soak it for around a month to get ohter impurities out of it.

however there is type of aqua modeling clay (silicon) which drys clear. Its how sea water users glue there coral together but i was thinking of using it for molding some good rocks and things like that. all you would need to do is to add a pigment at he same time you were blending it together.

as for paint. i belive that ceramic / water paints are good then there would be a type of natural lacker that would be able to seal it. not to sure though.

the wire cutter is a really good idea as it would clean up allot of the sytrofoam mess you get. however in this project it would have been usless.

When i was making this i made loads of fine detal but once i started to add the cement i found it screwed up as to make the cement stick i needed to add more which took alot of the features out.

In hine sight i should have just gone for the tile cement as this is more fine and bonds better.

have fun

 

[Aqua-Maniac]

Wouldn't be easier to buy background like this one .

here is a video about backgrounds made from resin

The backgrounds are made from resin, safe for fish and they look very natural. If you would like to buy one there is online shop selling it decorations