Alternative Aquarium backgrounds

[darkG]

I am trying d-c-fix adhesive vinyl on the inside in my small tank. Not yet wet:

Edited April 2, 2021 by darkG

[Brian]

I have used just about everything over the years.     I have settled on paint.   It is cheap, I can remove and change.   Paint.

Good Luck and let us know how it comes out.

[Lifeisgood]

That’s a great description (much better than what comes with new electronic equipment 😁) and it sounds doable.  I will take your advice and not try the second option.

[Lifeisgood]

5 hours ago, StephenP2003 said:

The first one is foam board as a base, then cover it with great stuff foam. Immediately top with a crap-ton of sand, and I mean basically make a sandcastle on top of that foam. This will sort of prevent the foam from expanding too much, and the sand will imbed itself into the foam. Alternatively, you can go lighter on the sand, and let the foam creep out above the sand, and this will create a more cavernous look in the end. I didn't do this because I keep small/medium fish and didn't want anyone to get stuck somewhere.

Let the foam under the sand pile dry for a few hours. Then dump all the excess sand on your floor unless you were smart enough to prepare a tarp first.  

Coat with a polyurethane - I used oil-based minwax brand.  Or, you can use krylon fusion paint to add your own custom colors first. I used a bit of black, beige, and brown to add some depth. 

Let it cure for a comfortable amount of time. I waited a couple weeks.

Second one, it's randomly cut up pieces of styrofoam topped with concrete that I dyed various colors. Not something I would repeat.

That’s a great description (much better than what comes with new electronic equipment 😁) and it sounds doable.  I will take your advice and not try the second option.

[darkG]

I found sculpting and glueing styrofoam, then painting / spackling with watery fast setting concrete, similar to Stephen's #2, really doable. I would do it again. I didn't use a coat.

Edited April 2, 2021 by darkG

[PlaneFishGuy]

I have a tank that I ordered online not realizing it came with a very high quality white background - I had reservations about it but was so excited to get a tank going I tried to keep and open mind. Now its the only part of my tank I really cant stand 😞. Its ok if you want to tinker with some lighting effects and put on a little disco party for the shrimp, but for me it kinda feels like staring at my iTank. I am sure for some situations or if your going for a modern/clean look its a great option for some people and it did make a pretty nice background for my profile pic. 

Tried scraping an area on the back below the substrate and its on rock solid... 

All that to say.... @Brandy in the future Ill keep in mind your acrylic paint-regret-scrape technique.

[StephenP2003]

1 hour ago, darkG said:

I found sculpting and glueing styrofoam, then painting / spackling with watery fast setting concrete, similar to Stephen's #2, really doable. I would do it again. I didn't use a coat.

That's a great effect and similar to what I was going for with the concrete. Where I went wrong was being scared away by people who say it will raise your PH for a very long time. My PH is already 8.0 out of the tap, so I wanted to prevent this from happening. I coated the background with flex seal, and the gloss finish ruined the look in my opinion. 

This is what I had before I screwed up and coated it with flex seal:

 

[darkG]

Yep, pH. Must be considered.