# fake rocks and background



## the_deeb (Apr 21, 2008)

Disclaimer: this build is an aquarium not a viv, but I thought that the construction might be of interest to users who are into rocky looking setups.

I'm in the process of putting together a new 65g Tanganyikan aquarium (was wrestling between setting this tank up as a paludarium or an aquarium but decided to go with a regular aquarium). I decided to make a rocky background and some matching foreground rocks. I used pretty much the same technique that I used to make the roots in my old paludarium (minus the vines).

I was inspired by some of the awesome uplifted granite that I walk by on my way to work (I know, I know, this is NYC's central park and not Lake Tanganyika but I thought it looked nice.










This is how it started:










Here's the basic outline of the background and styrofoam stacked and siliconed to make the rough shapes of the foreground rocks. I decided to do a partial background instead of a full background (will eventually be painting the back of the tank black).










After much carving... 










I ended up with this for the background:










and here's the whole ensemble:










I decided to carve out some tunnels and caves in most of the rocks to provide the fish with some hiding places and to increase the water volume and reduce the buoyancy of the rocks:










The caves are fairly inconspicuous from the front but are larger and more hollowed out in the back










Next, I painted the background and rocks with Drylok. I did two solid coats of medium grey tinted Drylok (tinted with "charcoal" concrete pigment) and the added some darker tinted stuff to shade the hollows and crevices and ended with a light dry brushing of some brownish highlights.

Here's the background:










Some close-ups of the rocks:



















and here are all the pieces together:










I'm currently siliconing the pieces into the tank and will then paint the outside of the back black.


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## wesly2007 (Jul 6, 2007)

sweet that will looking cool with cichlids in it. What species r u gonna keep in it?


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## Lbacha (Sep 7, 2011)

How are you attaching the foam to the tank, silicone?


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## dendrothusiast (Sep 16, 2010)

...whoaaa that's some good carving skills there man.


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## B-NICE (Jul 15, 2011)

where did you get that styrofoam? that bg is hot bro. where are you from in NYC?


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## moraki (Nov 5, 2011)

Very nice work, dont take this the wrong way but you did an amazing job with somewhat crude tools. Id be interested to see what you could do with some proper carving tools like i have laying around.


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## theCREECH (Feb 28, 2011)

wow. that is really nice!

You captured the natural feeling of the rocks perfectly. Great eye when you were carving.


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## B-NICE (Jul 15, 2011)

I had spoken to you via pm, so disreguard my location question....


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## the_deeb (Apr 21, 2008)

Thought I'd post an update in case anyone was curious to see how the finished product turned out. Current inhabitants are just some praecox rainbows, but I'm planning to add some Altolamprologus calvus (cichlids), Synodontis multipunctatus (catfish) and a Mastacembelus elipsifer (tanganyikan eel).


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## Erikb3113 (Oct 1, 2008)

That looks great. I like the low light look with the beams being visible. Very nice


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## Rusty_Shackleford (Sep 2, 2010)

Awesome tank!!! I love to see a nice Tanganyikan tank come together. You should put in some Cyprichromis as a midwater fish.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

the_deeb said:


>


Really great Adeeb!

A big part of why this is so convincing is the use of light and shadow.


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## Shinosuke (Aug 10, 2011)

BEAUTIFUL tank! Thank you for sharing... I wish my tang tank looked half that good 

Cyprichromis are great fish. I've got some bulu-point cyp's and they're my favorite fish in that tank - colorful, active, and the alpha male is constantly "flashing". I've got a pair of synodontis in the same tank and they're probably the most attractive freshwater fish I've ever had but are very shy. 

I had a white calvus as well but had real problems with aggression - it was constantly going after some gold occie's. If at all possible I'd recommend adding the calvus at the same time (or later) and at roughly the same size (or smaller) than the rest of the fish in the tank.

Please keep us updated, especially if you get the eel! I seriously considered getting one but didn't think a wild caught animal would survive in my awful local city water.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Great tank, but it just makes me miss your archer fish tank


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

unbelivable carving . great job


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## MrMonterrubio (Sep 29, 2011)

That's what I call carving skills.


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## got2envy (Jan 7, 2011)

Update?? Love this tank


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## mrfrogdude (Jun 26, 2011)

What size tank is that? Looks great!

Mark

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


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## ndame88 (Sep 24, 2010)

Nice Job!!! Question, after covering the foam with Dry-Lok, did you put anything on top of the Dry-Loc? Silicone? Pond Sealer?


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## the_deeb (Apr 21, 2008)

Thanks for the comments



mrfrogdude said:


> What size tank is that? Looks great!
> 
> Mark
> 
> Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


The tank is a 65g



ndame88 said:


> Nice Job!!! Question, after covering the foam with Dry-Lok, did you put anything on top of the Dry-Loc? Silicone? Pond Sealer?


Nope, the Drylok was the final coating. 



got2envy said:


> Update?? Love this tank


Thanks. Here's a recent video I made of the tank:


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## SWReptiles (Apr 20, 2012)

I think that would be a great winter project this year! Looks great


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