DIY 3D Angkor Wat Backdrop / Background

[Sulla]

Hello just thought you guys would want to see the DIY backdrop / background I am working on for my 125. It is based on the temples of angkor wat in Cambodia. After all the carving and shaping is done using the HotWire foam carving tools I will then cover it with quickrete with color and acrylic fortifier added. Below you can see my photosketch made using many images of temples and photoshop and then my progress todate. Let me know if you have any kind of feedback.

 

[Mr Burns]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT IS UNFREAKIN' BELIEVABLE!

you are quite the artist, no doubt about that. if you wanted to go all out, you could airbrush the color onto that then cover it with a clear epoxy....

i can't wait to see how this turns out

 

[Sulla]

Thanks I am glad you like it I thought about painting then covering it with apoxy but after looking at all the online articles of making backgrounds etc I think the conrete will look more relistic. I did buy several different conrete colors so I will have a pallete of light grey to black to red to tan to creat depth etc with. Its always fun on a project like this to see how its going to turn out.

 

[Mr Burns]

sounds like you have it all figured out! hurry up and finish so we can see some pics...but don't rush

 

[DonnieP]

About the paints!

Sulla
A lot of painting with the cement will be lost in the long run! I found that after about two months a nice coat of algae will cover the background and when it does the colors from the painting will be lost. I also found that shading the cracks and crevaces was not necassary since the light from above gives it all a natural shading in these areas.. Your project looks great, I too will be looking forward to the finished background. If you would like to take a peek at mine, I have enclosed a link to my site below where I have the whole project documented. My last update on the tank was when it was eight months old, its now been a year and I have had no lose of fish, several spawnings, and the water parameters are great.. good luck on yours..
Donnie
http://www.catfishheaven.net/day1.html

 

[DonnieP]

Opps!

Sorry about the multiple attachments, first post on this board, its a little different..

 

[Sulla]

Thanks Donnie for all of the advince. Your site was the one that inspired me to do the background this way


Also as a general update I had more time to work on the background today. I made the cutout in the far left side piece where the canister filter intake will be. I even added the grate to keep fish out and cut tunnels out to the front of the foam between the bricks so I get plenty of flow but you cant see the grate. This far left piece is basicly finsished exept for the conrete

I also started working on the face this is going to be the hardest part by far I believe. After working on it for a couple of hours I think the foam is only going to act as a rough background and I will shape most of the face by hand with the concrete. also I am having to make the face a little smaller to move it back from the front glass of the tank. But over all I am happy with the progress.

PS More pics on the way.

 

[BillyZ]

Thats going to be very nice when finished!

Welcome, both of you, to Aquarium Advice

 

[Sulla]

OK well I had some moving I had to do today so I took the day off from working on the background and decided to post a group of the latest photos.

This first image is of Donnies tank after being up about a year and having a nice covering of algea. It looks really great now.

This image is of the side of the background that I am finished carving on. Also this image was taken before I cut it off of the main block and made the passages down to the inlet for the canister filter.

This is a picture of the end piece fitted into the tank.

This is an image of some of the "Non-aquarium" plants I got today to round out what I need for the tank. Between the ones I have and these I will have a nice green tank with lots of interest besides the background. Thats about a 3' by 3' area they cover. I went ahead and picked them up so I could start soaking and cleaning them.

This is an image of the space for the inlet for one of the canister filters (the other inlet will be on the other in with the returns coming out behind the face.

Top View

A view of the front look closely and you can see the light coming thrue the inlet tunels going to the canister filter inlet, also on the bottom left you can just see the grate I am using.

This next image shows me starting on the face and gives a good idea of the process I am using to make a rough background to mold the cement on.

This is the latest progress on the face before I stoped last night.

more to come....

 

[Guest]

Sulla, Donnie 8O

Both of you are amazingly talented!

I'll keep a close eye on this thread for your progress Sulla.

 

[webmoose]

the concepts are awsome... I really like the face on the wall.. very very cool

 

[Sulla]

Thanks again for all the great feed back

Didnt get time to do much today exept to finish "remodeling" the aquarium stand and getting it painted. The stand is semigloss black so the aquarium will stand out more. I also plan on painting part of the each end of the tank to cover up where the background is attached and also the wood colored molding of the tank. I will try and get some pics up soon.

 

[malkore]

I'm so very impressed with this idea, and can't wait to see more!

 

[BillyZ]

Great progress! Are you using just a hot wire for the carving? Have you found that's the best/easiest tool for working with styrafoam? I'd imagine it keeps all the little foam balls to a minimum )

I like how you have the filter inlets laid out, very well thought through. Do you plan on putting any mesh screening on the holes to keep fish/stuff from getting into the intake?

 

[swanandmokashi]

this is simply awesome !

 

[DonnieP]

About the filtration!

Sulla
Have you given any thought to adding a corner overflow box to the setup? I incorporated the overflow because being a saltwater reef keeper for about 30 years I know the importance of filtering off the surface layer of water.. With the overflow in place, the surface water is kept crystal clear and clean of any organics, hence perfect oxygen water contact for better oxygination.. I tried the canister filters but nothing even comes close to the overflow.. In my setup, the water runs over the corner overflow and down over 2.5 gallons of bioballs to a 20 gallon sump below the tank. the water is filtered in the sump via a Penquin 330 duo bio wheel and passed over activated carbo and returned via a rio 2500 pump.. This setup has really worked great for me and was well worth the initial cost of setup..The corner filter box is hidden by a thin section of styro-rock..

Here is the overflow from above

 

[DonnieP]

Can't get this attachment thing!

Try this!

 

[Sulla]

BillyZ I am only using the Hotwire set to carve and then a heat gun for some light smoothing. Your right this really does keep the snow down

I dont think I will put any mesh on but I might silicone another grate of the same size onto the back facing the oposite way so I can put a round sponge insert into it to keep out baby fish if I ever have fish that do any breading.

Donnie I think for filtration I am going with a Proquatics 2400 Canister/BioWheel Pro 60 (I have these) and an Eheimm 2229 Wet/Dry Canister with an Eheim surface extractor. I think this should be more than enough for the 70 -90 gallons the tank will end up running. But I would be glad to get any feedback I can as I am much better at the carving than the fish part

Also does any one have any suggestion about water movement. I can add places to put powerheads behind the background to get water moving some. Any thoughts on this?



Surface Extractor
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=EH3535

Eheim 2229
http://www.epinions.com/content_32014438020

 

[BillyZ]

are you planning a FW or SW setup with this? That will make most of the difference in what kind of water movement you want.

In general, I would say do like you did for the filter intakes, at not so visible spots, leave a space you can plumb a piece of tubing for a jet of water. What kind of substrate will you have?

 

[sumphead]

I am very curious about this with saltwater applications. This combined with some handy acrylic works makes the little light bulb above my head go halide! Donnie, how hard is this when covered with the concrete? Any curing issues causing PH spikes from the concrete? Also how thin are you mixing the concrete?

R-