Marine Aquarium Backgrounds

[pmb_67]

Ok, so it looks like I'm not going to try making myself a metre-long concrete background for my tank, as with the latter already up and running I don't have a way to cure it properly. One day, though, one day...

Anyway, this means I'm looking for something else to cover much of the back wall of my tank - mostly because I find it immensely tedious and fairly difficult to scrape algae growths off the back glass on a regular basis. A quick google of "marine aquarium background" suggests that the only things in the UK suitable for putting inside the tank are the various Natureform fake live rocks that TMC make (or distribute). Quick questions:

> Has anyone tried these?

> Are there any typical problems with them?

> How long would they take to silicone in place (i.e. how long would my fish need to go into a holding tank)?

> Can I get away with just holding them in place by leaning a real live rock pile / tower against them? (don't like the sound of this, but would save re-homing stress)

> Will cleaning crew (hermits, snails) clean the fake rocks, or are they doomed to grow a big hairy algae forest?

> Will self-propagating soft corals (by which I mean mushrooms, zoas, various small polypy things) happily spread over the plastic rocks, or just sit isolated on the LR fragment they come on?

Think that's enough for now...

Thanks,

Paul

 

[seffieuk]

Ah, there is another option - have you taken a look at BigCs nano journel? I will go find it for you and bump it up to the top

Seffie x

 

[AK77]

I think this is what Seffie was talking about.

*Edit*

You could also use larger rocks mingled in with the gravel to give it a slightly more random appearance. You could use something like natural slate or another inert, lightweight rock and use silicone together with some sort of epoxy to fill in the spaces inbetween.

You could also get a sheet of acrylic, cut that to size and then drill 4 - 6 holes in it. You could then push little sucker feet onto this which will stick to the back glass. You would then solvent weld the egg crate to the acrylic. Once this is done (probably best left for a minimum of 12 hours to allow the solvent to evapourate more), you could then place your rocks on the egg crate and silicone them in place. You can also get some pink coloured milliput, which might be nice to use to fill in gaps and hold pieces together.

 

[AdAndrews]

I looked at a natureform background to go in my tank- though, its not saltwater, I am using the artificial reef rocks, and the background would be just an different shaped rock as it were.. The rock is a nasty material to tell you the truth, bits break off, it looks ok, but the colours on it appear a little too fake for my liking. Saying that, ive just brought another few pieces

In a marine aquarium, i spose they would look good when various corals are on them, i think its probably that way i have mine atm that makes them look a bit stark.

Adam

 

[pmb_67]

I think this is what Seffie was talking about.

*Edit*

You could also use larger rocks mingled in with the gravel to give it a slightly more random appearance. You could use something like natural slate or another inert, lightweight rock and use silicone together with some sort of epoxy to fill in the spaces inbetween.

You could also get a sheet of acrylic, cut that to size and then drill 4 - 6 holes in it. You could then push little sucker feet onto this which will stick to the back glass. You would then solvent weld the egg crate to the acrylic. Once this is done (probably best left for a minimum of 12 hours to allow the solvent to evapourate more), you could then place your rocks on the egg crate and silicone them in place. You can also get some pink coloured milliput, which might be nice to use to fill in gaps and hold pieces together.

Thanks AK & Seffie - have read BigC's nano journal and did actually try to create a similar thing using live rock rubble... failed miserably, couldn't get the pieces to stick using two different types of milliput stuff, D-D and some other brand. I've got some acrylic sheet left over from a Deltec MC500 skimmer mod so I might grab a pot of epoxy and try glueing LR rubble to eggcrate to acrylic and see how that goes...

Paul

 

[seffieuk]

Take some photos will you, sure we would all like to see your progress

Seffie x

 

[ben1987]

could do a reef bone/expanding foam on egg crate background.

you have to do a really good job of expoying the foam though