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DIY 3D Background


Slough Shark
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I wanted to make a couple different backgrounds for my photo tank to reflect the different habitats various native fishes come from, so that my pics will more or less match that. I'm making one rock background, and one mud bank background. First up is the rocks.

I have a friend who used to be into model making, often utilizing styrofoam to make environments. He used heat and fire to shape the styrofoam into what he wanted, and it was such an effective method that I decided to use it in making my backgrounds. This method is perfect for making a natural texture on the styrofoam, and sanding is a total PITA, so I scrapped that idea early. I used a barbecue lighter at first, but it was nearly empty, so I ended up making a mini torch.

Enough words, my pictures will explain it better.

Here's my "torch", just waxed, folded paper gripped by pliers.

DSC_0003-1.jpg

The progress so far...

DSC_0001.jpg

I'm thinking I'll have to silicone another piece of styrofoam to the back of this to strengthen it. It's pretty brittle alreay and definitely won't hold up in the field like this.

As for the mud bank background, can anyone tell me of a black epoxy brand that I can use for the background? The plan is to coat the textured styrofoam in epoxy, then sprinkle the epoxy with peat.

Thanks for any help,

Taylor

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Not very handy myself, but what about using Silicone to stick sand on... press the sand on the silicone.. well yanno what I mean... dunno if that is what your looking to do... but it might work nicely.. oh and there is black Silicone that's aquarium safe...

Just a thought! :thumbs:

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I tried sticking sand to silicone on my DIY Tile Substrate project. The silicone didn't hold the sand very well and is too viscous to "paint" on to a surface, that's why I wanted to use a more runny epoxy paint in black or brown. I think a member here used this method with good results, I guess I'll search for his thread.

Thanks for the suggestion though mumba,

Taylor

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I used Beauty Tone 2 part epoxy. It was the clear stuff, did 3 coats of paint and sand, covered it quite well. Picked the stuff at Home Hardware I would think you could have them tint it black for you. Other option would be to paint the background black first then apply the epoxy and your sand or peat.

Edited by randy
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Thanks for the comments everyone!

The rock background is definitely going to have quikrete on it. I saw a great video on youtube that gives you the perfect tutorial:

Randy- your project is definitely the one I was thinking of. I want to use your method for the peat background, but I like the look of your sand/epoxy background that I might have to make a third background (it's nice to have options anyway). I'll just use the clear epoxy for mine too, for some reason I thought you'd used black for yours.

For the last step did you cover up the sand with epoxy, or did you cover the epoxy with sand? I mean, is the top layer a layer of sand on epoxy, or epoxy on sand?

Here's a pic of what I had yesterday:

DSC_0001-1.jpg

I've since siliconed another piece of styrofoam to the back of that one to strengthen it. Soon I'll dremel out some of the unnatural looking bumps and wrinkles, then it's off to Canadian tire to buy the quikrete and epoxy!!

Thanks,

Taylor

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Top layer is sand, did not put the epoxy on the top layer did not want it to be have a glossy finish.

With the quikrete remember to soak it for a few days it may raise your PH.

Edited by randy
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Thanks for the info Randy, that's what I figured. I won't need to soak the Quikrete because this is a removable background for my photo tank that I take with me to photograph wild fish. But that's a good note to remember for anyone who's looking to mount this on your aquarium permanently.

Thanks Erin, if you're talking pigmentation, then no I won't be. This is just for photography background purposes, not as a display tank, so that would just be extra work. But if you're looking into adding pigment for your own background, I'm pretty sure you can buy some (liquid, powder ?) to add to the cement mix. Then you can brush it on in layers to get different effects :)

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