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Surely someone has tried a Lego theme in a tank. I would love to do it myself, but it would totally mess with my existing theme. Maybe I'll do it in my 10-gallon.
I have tons of castle Legos, but I have tons of space Legos too, but they would look like scuba divers! I have the regular townspeople and pirates too. I could totally make a couple of small cities in the tank. Man, the next time I clean my tank, I just might do it. I'd just worry about how dirty the stuff would look after a while. Only one way to see...
I have seen a tank on one of the forums I freequent that had leggos in it. So, yes, it has been done. However, the person used the huge friggin leggos and it, IMO, looked horrible. If it were the small ones, I think one could do something very cool with them.
I really do want to do it and use the small Legos and set up scenes, but it will be a while before I get around to it. I've got a couple busy weekends and then I'm off to an overseas trip. I have the Legos to do it, but you might not see it from me for a month. In the mean time, this idea is a great idea. Brilliant ideas should be shared. Someone else feel free to do it before me.
I had thought of it too. I think they float though, especially if you build something out of water -- there'd be a lot of air trapped inside, so you'd have to do something to sink them, bit of a hassle. I'd probably just silicon some minifigs to a rock or something
One easy way to sink any large scenes would be to build a hollow base/pockets for them and fill the pockets with gravel or sand. If you were having a lot of figures walking around you could also make something of a spike from the feet with a base that would hold it down. Something like this:
@
[] figure
||
------- gravel line
|
| spike of single square pieces attacked to one or both feet
|
-------- flat square/rectagular piece of some size
This would be neat. Even though it's not my thing (I'm into a more natural look), I would love to see this in someone else's tank!
There are three considerations to keep in mind:
Toxicity - probably not a concern since Legos are designed for children. I'm sure the dyes in them are nontoxic.
Floating - Lego blocks float. Each block contains a large open space that traps air. The plastic is also less dense than water - they'll be bouyant even if you remove all the air. They sell large green Lego base sheets that can be cut to size. Gravel and rocks on top will keep the base and attached sculptures submerged.
Loss of tightness- I have no idea what long periods of time in 76 - 80oF water will do to the tight fit between blocks. There's only one way to find out! You may find it necessary to silicone or epoxy each and every block together - ugh!
Legos are non toxic. I put plenty of them in my mouth as a kid. As far as floating goes, I'd weigh down a platform and hope everything else stays together. I don't think the fit is a concern in the water. I've played with Legos in the tub and left Legos in hot cars. They're pretty resilient.
Now the question is, what theme should be done? I have some pirates, a lot of castle, quite a few regular present day people, and a whole lot of space people.
I'm in the process of setting up my first tank. It's a nice big 75g. I have pretty much 0 decorations / plants / stones to place in it at the moment. Sounds like free reign to give the legos a shot. I called my parents yesterday to let them know I was going to be stopping by to pick up my old legos. The laugh my mother blurted out was priceless. She didn't even bat an eye, what can I say. I'm a Toys R Us kid...