# 210 gallon DIY Styrofoam 3D Background



## Manafel

Hello Fellow Aquarium Forum users,
I have embarked on a DIY project that I have been planning on for a good while, and I thought I would make a thread on it's progression. My 210 gallon(7x2x2) tank is relatively newly set up, and I am planning on making it my main show tank. What better way to make it look awesome other than to make a 3D background for it? For the past few months I have researched different DIY Backgrounds and have kind of compiled them into my own project. I apologize in advance for the VERY long post...

I was originally going to use a Sump to hold all of my equipment, but the sump idea has not worked out. So I have had to plan on hiding it all behind the Background. I decided to go with a Styrofoam background because it seemed to provide the most flexibility as far as being able to pick how you want the background's texture.

Here is a rough draft of what I had in mind:


I will eventually have 2 Fluval FX5s on this tank, so I was going to have the outlets in the corners, and the intakes together in the center of the background. Underneath the outputs, I will be putting 500 watt heaters. The water will flow down, over the heaters, and out of a slot that I will cut in the bottom of the column. For the intakes, I will cut a similar slot below where they will be, but I will have the intakes slightly raised to prevent any kicked up sand from getting into the canisters.

With a plan in mind, I went to Home Depot and picked up my initial supplies.

1: 2 packages of Styrofoam Boards
:animated_fish_swimm The Pieces I bought(I can't remember the brand) come in a package of 3 at 4' long x 14.5" tall x 3/4" Thick.

2: 2 tubes of GE 1 Silicone and a caulking gun
:animated_fish_swimm Be sure that is is 100% silicone if you choose to make a BG too! Choosing the wrong type can prove disastrous!
3: Quikrete(to coat the BG when sculpted and finished)
4: Paint Brush
Along with all of the normal household items:
Measuring tape, sharpie/pen, Xacto knives, a box knife, Paintbrush, and a container to mix the Quikrete in


I measured out the length and height that my BG would need to be and I cut the Styrofoam accordingly. I used my box knife for this endeavor because it is a lot easier than using the knives. During this process I made a huge mess, and there was Styrofoam everywhere! When all was said and done, I had VERY little scrap left from the Styrofoam. I plan on stacking 3 of the boards on top of each other to provide a nice thickness for me to cut out the holes for the equipment. I made 3 columns where I will cut the Styrofoam out. When I begin sculpting it, I will smooth out the edges so that when it's done, it won't be so boxy looking. I laid out the pieces as they will be when I silicone it all together.



I began siliconing all of the layers together, and I was generous with the silicone(it is going to keep the BG together under water after all). I got about 90% of the layers put down when I had used up both tubes of silicone! For now that is all that I have done until I can get more silicone tomorrow. Probably need to buy about 3 tubes this time. 

As far as the lines in the BG go, I was going to silicone in the lines or maybe fill them with some Great stuff Insulating foam and smoothing it out before sculpting. After I put all of the pieces together, I plan on sculpting out the rocks and such, then grabbing a heat gun to smooth out the surface of the foam before applying the quikrete.

Thats all I have for now, but if anyone has any questions, comments, ideas, or anything, I would love to hear some feedback! Thanks for reading so far *w3


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## TroyVSC

Looking forward to updated progress.


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## VLEKKIE

Great start of a BG! *w3

Is there any reason why you don't use PU-foam? Because, once hard, it's a real easy product to work with. You even don't need a heat gun, a kitchen knife will do...


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## Manafel

Ty Dirk!

By PU foam, do you mean the expanding foam like 'Great stuff'? If so I have some of it, but I like to use the styrofoam blocks because at the moment my 210 is filled and has fish in it. I think it is a lot easier to make compartments for equipment with foam as well... I'm not very creative with the PU I suppose is the real answer lol


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## VLEKKIE

Manafel said:


> Ty Dirk!
> By PU foam, do you mean the expanding foam like 'Great stuff'? If so I have some of it, but I like to use the styrofoam blocks because at the moment my 210 is filled and has fish in it. I think it is a lot easier to make compartments for equipment with foam as well... I'm not very creative with the PU I suppose is the real answer lol


Well, that's alright! After all, you decide how to make your background! 

But, when your BG is finished, you could try to use PU-foam, just once. All you need are a few containers (?), 1 can of PU-foam and a kitchen knife. You fill the containers until they're halfway and wait a night. While the PU dries, it expands until it's hard. So, the next day, you can cut the PU out of the containers and cut these blocks of PU-foam into the desired form or shape. That way, you'll learn to use PU, you'll notice what an easy product it is to work with and you can decide to add the PU as a material you can use when you're building a BG (or, not). *old dude

Anyway, good luck with your background! *w3


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## zwanged

very cool-- looking forward to seeing how this project evolves. I also plan to get a 180 gallon tank -- so I might end up embarking on a similar project soon 

-zeke


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## Manafel

All that I have to say is that hindsight is def. 20/20. I got done cutting out the holes for my equipment, and boy do I wish that I had waited to silicone all of the layers together until I had cut the compartments out. Since it had only been about two days for the silicone to dry, there were still some parts that were still a little moist(the stuff sure did want to stay in one piece though!). and then I might have been able to avoid the HUGE Styrofoam mess that developed in my living room lol. Part of the center compartment didn't silicone completely together in one spot, so right now I have a bucket of water sitting on top of it to push it down together. When it finishes drying, I will cut out the center and start carving the design.

I'm still having problems deciding on how I want the design to look in the end as far as style goes. I will think more on it while I let everything dry for 2-3 days...


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## VLEKKIE

You seem to have run into some difficulties. But, you don't let your head hang down, so that's very good. 

Personally, I like to plan my BG's more carefully. First I imagine one (style, coloration, theme), I check whether this is possible to make (technical plan), And then I start to build. *pc


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## Manafel

I like Being sporadic and such, sometimes I think that if I weren't then I wouldn't get anything done lol... But I would consider it a minimal difficulty issue. learning is part of the process.


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## Raymond S.

Hello the crew,
Been thinking about this for a time as I use silicone and cover it with gravel for a long time now but it has two draw backs. No real depth
as in more or less just two dimentional unless I really pile it on thick(like more than the normal 1/4 inch) and it needs several months for
algae or like Java moss to grow on it for it to look decent.
So this "Quick krete" do you seal it and with what ? And it sticks to the styrafoam ?
I will be watching this DIY BG and hope there are many more details for this type info.
So the GE-1 type silicone is safe...great as the caulking tubes of silicone from Petsmountain (the only place I know of that sells
"aquarium" silicone) in a caulking tube is $8 plus $6 shipping.
Will add a couple of photos to this so you can see what I mean by two dimentions.
Aquarium Gallery - most plants in/ just set up 2/2/13
Aquarium Gallery - Second bio filter after some growth
Aquarium Gallery - 43 days from first planting this tank.


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## zwanged

My concern with using styrofoam is that, depending on the fish, chunks of the styrofoam may get bitten/ripped off? Will the quikcrete prevent that? I remember that in some similar project on youtube they had that happen to them. 

-Zeke




Raymond S. said:


> Hello the crew,
> Been thinking about this for a time as I use silicone and cover it with gravel for a long time now but it has two draw backs. No real depth
> as in more or less just two dimentional unless I really pile it on thick(like more than the normal 1/4 inch) and it needs several months for
> algae or like Java moss to grow on it for it to look decent.
> So this "Quick krete" do you seal it and with what ? And it sticks to the styrafoam ?
> I will be watching this DIY BG and hope there are many more details for this type info.
> So the GE-1 type silicone is safe...great as the caulking tubes of silicone from Petsmountain (the only place I know of that sells
> "aquarium" silicone) in a caulking tube is $8 plus $6 shipping.
> Will add a couple of photos to this so you can see what I mean by two dimentions.
> Aquarium Gallery - most plants in/ just set up 2/2/13
> Aquarium Gallery - Second bio filter after some growth
> Aquarium Gallery - 43 days from first planting this tank.


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## majerah1

zwanged said:


> My concern with using styrofoam is that, depending on the fish, chunks of the styrofoam may get bitten/ripped off? Will the quikcrete prevent that? I remember that in some similar project on youtube they had that happen to them.
> 
> -Zeke


Yes the quickrete will not only cover the entirety of the background to prevent the styro from being messed with but also holds it down.

As far as fish biting at it, if you have seen the Fluval Ebi or Flora tanks they have a styro background. Its colored to look like rock but is indeed just a colored shaped sheet of the styrofoam.


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## Manafel

Yes Bev is correct. The quikrete will seal and cover the styrofoam, and you can use different color additions to change the color of the quikrete. The only real drawback of quikrete is that you have to soak it in water for a week or so, because it will raise the pH of the water by quite a bit. To counter this, some people coat the finished product in Epoxy resin.


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## Manafel

Today I rounded off the straight edges on the whole BG other than the bottom. I also used some of the Great stuff to fill in the connecting lines a little. Here are some updated pictures of the front and the compartments I cut out.

































Tomorrow when I get off work, I will begin carving the details out.


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## VLEKKIE

Manafel said:


> Yes Bev is correct. The quikrete will seal and cover the styrofoam, and you can use different color additions to change the color of the quikrete. The only real drawback of quikrete is that you have to soak it in water for a week or so, because it will raise the pH of the water by quite a bit. To counter this, some people coat the finished product in Epoxy resin.


That's not the only reason why we use epoxy. Epoxy prevents even the transmission of oxygen-molecules, making your BG 100% waterproof and preventing anything that you used (while making your BG) getting into contact with the water of your aquarium. But, it's not an easy product to use; once you spill epoxy on something, it is impossible to get it clean.


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## Manafel

Finished the texturing and the carving of the front this morning. I had guests over last night so I couldn't finish it then. Now the next step is to take the heat gun to it and smooth it out, then I will be ready to apply the Quikcrete.


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## Manafel

Got the first coat of Quikrete on and drying after using the heat gun on the background. Now I will let it dry overnight before putting the second coat on. I will be putting 3 coats on here, so I will post more pictures after I get done with all of the coats.
























I really like how the texture came out. if anyone was wondering I used a spoon and dragged it across the surface of the Styrofoam to do this.


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## coralbandit

Looking real good!I think it will be awesome when completed.


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## FishFlow

Looks great, looking forward to more pictures!


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## Manafel

Got the red in it and... Holy moly it was more red than the bottle advertised! See pics below: (Sorry for the poor lighting in these pics, I'll try to get better ones tonight >.<)
















Today after work, I'm going to go buy some terra cotta coloring to help layer under the red to try to keep it from being such a stark contrast.


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## Manafel

I decided to skip the tera cotta and go with brown. Here it is with the brown on it.


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## TroyVSC

Looks really cool. It reminds of the sandstone layers in the Southwest deserts.


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## zwanged

Yeah definitely looks cool...do you plan to blend the colors to make the transitions smoother?

-Zeke


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## Manafel

I was probably going to try to mix the brown and red together to go next to the transitioning lines. I need a new and smaller brush for that, so I'm going to buy a new one today after work.


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## Brian757

Looking good so far! Its very nice to see people create walls with Styrofoam and it look completely natural when their done. I am considering a wall project.
I just hate the sound of my algae eaters on styrofoam while I'm trying to sleep. It sounds like scratching noises in my head! Haha


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## Manafel

Brian757 said:


> Looking good so far! Its very nice to see people create walls with Styrofoam and it look completely natural when their done. I am considering a wall project.
> I just hate the sound of my algae eaters on styrofoam while I'm trying to sleep. It sounds like scratching noises in my head! Haha


That sounds so awful >.> you must have very sensitive hearing... lol


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## Manafel

I realized it's been a long time since my last update. The reason is that I had my neighbor over a while back and he stepped on one of the sections of the Background, which tore the quikrete and some of the foam off of the surface, so I have been waiting on him to fix it(he's a special effects designer, so he has good experience to fix it). He patched it up(finally) last night, so I'm going to go buy 3 30 gallon Rubbermaid tubs and start them cycling before I drain the tank and put the BG in. there will be more developments here very soon. Thank you for your patience


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## rtmaston

it looks very good.i love to do one for my tank


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## Manafel

Well, It's finally in the tank with water!
I siliconed the back of each piece really well after completely draining the tank. I let it sit empty for about 42 hours(the tube of silicone said to wait 12 hours, but I like to be safe). I put all of my fish into separate 50 gallon tubs for the meanwhile. 

When I was putting the pieces in, I had a really big "doh!" Moment. The center euro brace for my aquarium is about a foot wide. Unfortunately, It completely covers the opening to the center compartment I made for equipment >.<. After thinking about how to fix it, I just decided to just leave it as is and just use the two end compartments for the equipment. 

While the tank was empty, I took the liberty to put an extra 100 lbs of black diamond sand in, so the water is a little dark still. When I turned on the canister, I noticed the way I had the output(just an open 3/4" PVC pipe) was going out the compartment and pushing all of the sand out of the way. I solved the issue by grabbing an old spray bar of mine, cutting it to fit, and drilling more holes in it. Now the sand doesn't move, but the output of the FX5 is so hard that it is now very noisy, so I am going to have to figure out another plan for that.

Here is a pic. I took it on the fly omw out to work. When I get home I will put some lights on it for a better view. The water is still dark from the sand.










Now all that is left to do is wait.... *pc


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## Gizmo

Nice! Can't wait to see with the lights on


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## TroyVSC

Glad you got it done, Cant wait to see it fully lit with fish in the tank.


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## Manafel

ty, I will most def. Post new pics when I get everything done and up. For the next week or so, I'm going to do large water changes. Hopefully it won't take too long.


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## Manafel

Well, I got the canopy and the LED lights on the tank, but the controller didn't work, so the lights were stuck on a blue, which didn't properly light up the tank enough to allow me to take a good picture. Friday night I came home and one of the end pieces had completely separated from the tank(despite me using a lot of silicone to attach it to the back glass). I took out the piece and now am left with a dilemma. We will be moving at the end of this month, so the tank will already be drained, and I could use that opportunity to scrape the old silicone off and try to put it back in. If I do that however, the tank will have to sit empty for 24 hours for the silicone to cure. I don't think that I will leave the tank how it is now, though because it looks awful with only the two sections on it.
I also can't help but wonder: "If one of the sections came off, whats to say that the other end won't later down the road?"
I have also experienced having some technical difficulties with fitting some equipment behind the compartments.
So I can't help but wonder if I should just take the whole BG out and make a new one... The sections are large enough that I could cut them to fit some of my smaller tanks(20Ls and such). I just can't decide because I have put quite a bit of effort into it...
Here is a video of the tank when I had just put a 48" light fixture on it(to get a vid of my fish):

VIDEO0004_zps74488d59.mp4 Video by augieelectrawolf | Photobucket

So what are your thoughts on what I should do? If I do make a new one, I would very likely do it differently.... I will be eagerly awaiting your responses *c/p*


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## TroyVSC

Sorry to hear about your difficulties with the background. Either way the best logical time to fix it or remove it is when you have drain the tank anyways.

Btw love the fish in the tank. I like the background too. Wish you the best of luck


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## Manafel

I'm thinking about just putting the panel back on when I drain it, and also taking the opportunity to do a few touch ups with quikrete. Just sucks because I will have to leave my fish in the totes again for 24 hours or so again. I don't like stressing out my babies D:


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## Raymond S.

I thought about this since I've read about using styraphome (can't spell kat) as a background material. Silicone just does not
stick well to some surfaces and those plastic tubes which come up from an under gravel filter are one thing it don't stick to.
Working in multiple layers would make this as simple as it could be. But if not multiple I would ponder a while.
The layer next to the back should have a hole in it, lets say finger size, near each corner and one or two in the middle.
The next layer would have a larger hole in it, lets say the size of a quarter($.25). This would give you an anchor.
This would likely work best if using three layers as the top layer would cover this. You could of course use more if you thought it
would be more secure especially if using a large piece of backgroung. You could even make two holes finger size diagonally 
across a corner 2" in and 4" from the top on one and 2" in and 4" from the side on the other on the layer next to the back.
The next layer up would get a hole which would be long enough to cover both the holes in length but only would need to be
about finger wide. Of course you could make these wider if you liked but it would make a U bolt like the one holding leaf springs
on a car or rear of a pick up with the two ends against the glass. I'd use the black silicone for this.
The silicone was exposed to air as you poured it into these but still will take longer to solidify than normally.
How you would accomplish this "after-the-fact" is up for grabs...sorry...
just a thought


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## Manafel

Ok, time for a long overdue update:
I finally got proper lights for the tank, and the background has been in for about a year now(I think) it looks a lot more natural now and I haven't had any problems with it since I re-siliconed the section back into the tank.


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## typikon237

This is a beautiful background. I had a few questions:

- How did you spread the quickrete?
- Did you seal the quickrete with anything?
- What kind of paint is used?
- How do you maintain the surface, as far as cleaning algae off the quickrete?


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## Manafel

typikon237 said:


> This is a beautiful background. I had a few questions:
> 
> - How did you spread the quickrete?
> - Did you seal the quickrete with anything?
> - What kind of paint is used?
> - How do you maintain the surface, as far as cleaning algae off the quickrete?


Hello!
1. I applied the Quikrete with a paintbrush(though I went through about 3 Brushes for this whole project) first you apply a watered down coat, then you can make your following coats thicker because the first coat gives them something to attach to. 
2. I had the option to seal the background in Epoxy, but for such a big project it would have been expensive, so I didn't seal it with anything.
3. Quikrete sells dyes for their cement. This is what I used. You can use their colors to mix and match to get the color that you are looking for.
here is a link for Quikrete's lines: QUIKRETE® - Cement Color (Liquid)
All you do is mix a little of the color into the normal quikrete solution. but Be careful, because a little goes a long way.
4. I think that the algae on the background would make it look even more natural, but if it ever got out of hand, I would just do a blackout of the tank. If the background gets damaged(I had 4 plecos in this tank before, and they chewed the quikrete off of the BG, leaving the styrofoam exposed) I lower the water level and re-apply some more quikrete and let it dry for about 24-48 hours.


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