Home Sweet Home! DIY Cave...

[Aquarian]

I have seen some DIY caves here and there online and I couldn't resist trying to make one. It was alot of fun and I encourage anyone to do it. I bought a piece of pvc pipe (3 way) from Home Depot and cut off about 1/4 off the bottom for more of a cave look. Using Aquarium Sealant (from PetSmart), I glued dried gravel (from my tank) and a few plants onto the pipe. It cured for over 48 hrs before I introduced it into the aquarium and my weather loach loves it! A few of my bala sharks have gone through it and one of my black skirt tetras hid in it when I was trying to net him.

 

[shawmutt]

Very cool! It just looks like part of the substrate.

 

[William]

Neato!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Allivymar]

LOL Love the loach pics. Very nicely done - they look great. I'll move this to DYI in a few

 

[Menagerie]

Wow, I may have to try that!

 

[Aquarian]

Thanks! I had so much fun with this project... and feel so warm when I see someone using it!

 

[William]

Now that I think about it, its probably good that you cut a little off the bottom to make it more a cave then a tunnel.

Should anyone ever get wedged in there all you'd have to do is pick it up, it would be very hard with a tube.


Again, very nice!

I'm inclined to do something like this myself, now.

 

[Aquarian]

Good point William! I never even thought about it that way... but yes, it would be as simple as lifting it to free someone! I just did it because I wanted to lessen the surface requiring glued gravel!

 

[Frankie]

whoooppee Aquarian - I've made one too. I can't wait to fill my tank & watch the clown loaches play in it.
Thanks heaps for the tip.

 

[MikeWinLDS]

What did you use to cut the PVC pipe? I've gotta think about cutting out the bottom of mine too... Would definately sit better in the tank. Awesome! The only suggestion I would have is that you should've gotten that black ABS pipe, or if you wanted, people on CF have even dyed their pipes for their UGJ black using Rit Dye, they boiled the pieces in Rit Dye, took it out, soaked it, wiped it off, soaked it again, keep wiping it off until no more black comes off the towel. White may be a little to reflective or not match the substrate too well. You've got me scheming to take a hacksaw to this guy right now.

 

[swanandmokashi]

very very nice ...yeah how did you cut the PVC pipe though ?

 

[ellisz]

A dremel would easily do the cutting.

 

[MikeWinLDS]

I didn't have any fancy tools, although my dad probably did, but I didn't know where to find them, so I just found a handsaw in the tool shed out back and started hacking away. It took me forever, well maybe like 30 minutes, I don't know. Check it out, my Banjo likes to hang out in there sometimes.

 

[swanandmokashi]

very nice cave MikeWinLDS !!

You guys see any problem in not cutting the pipe at all ..as in use the entire pipe, submerge the bottom inside the gravel and use it as a cave?

I am going to try to make one for my 3 Gal FW. Will let you know how it turns out!

 

[Aquarian]

Sorry for not checking back in so long

I'm not sure what hubby used to cut the pipe with... he did it in the garage. I asked him to cut it so it would lay "flat" on the substrate and also because I didn't want to run into any problems with anyone outgrowing the cave and getting stuck...

BTW, my loach died a few months ago. Now the neons hide out in it, and occassionally balas swim through.

 

[JProx]

i used my rotozip with the approiate bit (i don't remember, but could check if needed) and removed the burrs with slight grinding wheel, on my dremel.

if you choose to use the rotozip just wear gloves, and eye protection, and follow all safety precautions, little plastic particles will fly around.

 

[Fishalicious]

I didnt even bother cutting the PVC. It wasnt a big deal, it sticks right in the gravel. Only thing is, you'd have to have enough gravel to make it look like an actual cave.

I RIT dyed mine black, too. Looks much better this way. Alls you have to do is throw in the package into boiling water and boil the PVC for however long it takes to make the PVC black. It'll go through a light green then a dark green stage then black. What you do after this is simply pour out the black water down your sink (assuming your sink is stainless steel) and rinse the piece in cold water thoroughly. Then I let them soak in water for 24 hours and then rinsed them again in cold running water. Finally, I took a white paper towel and dried the inside making sure there was no black left.

...Siliconing was a B*tch
-Dan

 

[Guest]

haha I went through silicone hell myself. It took me all day to scratch all that goo off my fingers. YUCK. And the stupid rocks kept falling off but it was all good in the end.

 

[Aquarian]

Oh yes! What fun it was!

 

[JProx]

oh man, thank you fsh for reminding me of the hell, i blocked it out of memory. it took me 2 tubes of silicon to complete my tunnel, over 2 days to remove all the left over silicon from my hands, lost alot of arm air, and the gravel kept falling off mine as well, i just wish i would have had the good sense to use a bigger grade of gravel for the tank, and the tunnel.