Alternate background ideas

[Nuts for guppies]

Looking for some unique and cool ideas for a in tank background. I’ve thought about buying like the prefab backgrounds for mounting inside the tank. But I want more opinions and suggestions on some ideas for a background. I thought about using the stone tile used in showers and on the outside of the houses. Like the stacked slate in the attached picture 

[CT_]

That could look cool.  I hear the old school way is to use spray foam and carve out whatever shape/textrue you want and then paint and seal it. 

[JaredL]

I've been wanting to do this for awhile. Is it a tank that's already set up? One thing to consider when using stone is how it will affect your water parameters. I saw one post on here where someone used fake stone vinyl type tiles to build a background and attached it to the outside of the tank. That to me seemed like a good idea to get the look without much hassle. The downside would be that you don't get the texture inside the tank if that's important to you. 

[Nuts for guppies]

16 hours ago, CT_ said:

That could look cool.  I hear the old school way is to use spray foam and carve out whatever shape/textrue you want and then paint and seal it. 

I’ve seen that too but I just don’t particularly want to take the time to do that. Not to mention I’m artistically challenged to say the least.  

[Nuts for guppies]

6 hours ago, JaredL said:

I've been wanting to do this for awhile. Is it a tank that's already set up? One thing to consider when using stone is how it will affect your water parameters. I saw one post on here where someone used fake stone vinyl type tiles to build a background and attached it to the outside of the tank. That to me seemed like a good idea to get the look without much hassle. The downside would be that you don't get the texture inside the tank if that's important to you. 

I’ve got a tank that I am going to be setting up soon. I was thinking about it because of the added texture inside the tank. The type of stone I’m looking at using is natural slate for it so I feel like it wouldn’t cause an issue with the water parameter. The main thing that concerned me was the mesh that’s used to connect it all together. Plus the glue used for it to attach to the mesh. The only way I know to find out is to do it. I just hate to kill a fish while doing it. I tried to find where someone who has already done it to no avail.