HOW TO: Build an aquarium background TUTORIAL The king of DIY English German

HOW TO: Build an aquarium background TUTORIALYouTube↗ IA↗(long shot)
Pets & Animals 900.6K views 6.3K likes 192 dislikes 08 Mar 2015 Show Contributors 1

The king of DIY 1.7M subscribers Canada YouTube↗

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Dutch Securityfalcon DtcH

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Hi, everybody Joey here again, and welcome back so last week

I gave you a sneak peek to [a] 3D background with an integrated sand fall this week

I want to show you how to build a 3D background or

Structure a 3D background is certainly one of the most unique features you can create for your aquarium

[I] created my first background around [10] years ago

And fellow Hobbies have been doing it for far longer than that using a [tried-And-true] method of styrofoam and cement now

There are many ways to accomplish this so I suggest doing some further research in finding the method that works best for you

For example. I made a hollow fiberglass background in the past [so] in this video

I intend to simply give you some tips and inspiration to use on your own to get started. You'll need some styrofoam [now]

You can either buy [this] or you can get it for free at a furniture store that throws it out [everyday]

You'll want to get white styrofoam and the thicker the [better]

Start off by measuring the area in your aquarium that you intend to place this I like to start off with creating a thick base

So I silicone a few layers together having a general idea of the final product in mind will help

Now to be honest. I had no idea what I was going [to] create what I made this

I just knew I wanted some caves

Crevices and a lot of texture to use in this example there really is no perfect tool to use when carving so use what works?

best for you now I used a combination of razors and simple knives [you] might even want to draw out the

General formation that you'd like on to the styrofoam prior to cutting so you have a basic outline to follow

There's really no worry of cutting off too much as you can always replace it with another piece of styrofoam and some silicone my advice

Here is just to take your time. Cut slowly. There's no fast way to do this also

Have a shopback [or] vacuum on hand to clean up your mess regularly because this is really messy as you're cutting

Constantly fit it into your tank as you go as well making [sure] it's coming along as planned and it still fits if you plan

To have your filter [behind] it make sure that you carve out a large enough place for it and are

Constantly dry fitting it in place

So there's really no

surprises when you go to install it if you do intend to install a filter behind it just remember that you're going to need an

Entrance and exit for that filter the options and styles here are literally endless and I certainly can't cover everything with [the] basic

Formation completed I like to use a heat gun to lightly

Scorch the surface this makes a surface much harder however you can also sand it to achieve a similar

Texture sanding it will also help bring out definition heating it or sanding

It's also going to stop little bits of styrofoam from coming off in the future when pleased with the final outcome

I move on to cement now. I have seen basically every type of cement used with no real problems however

I like to use a hydraulic water stop cement as I can build it to up to whatever consistency

I like and it doesn't have a tendency to crack plus

It cures fast [all] you have to do is mix the cement with water and thoroughly combined it the more water you add the less

Thick the Mixture will be the first coat should be pretty thin

simply to give the second coat a better surface to stick to I tend to apply all of the coats with a paintbrush now the

Second coat will go on thicker

if you're finding that you're losing definition in your background during this application use your finger or

Pencil to help remove a bit of the cement from those areas or crevices

This is also a good time [to] tell you that you should account for this happening when you're carving

So make sure you carve slightly larger than you want to allow for the cement

let each [coat] cure in between applications

Now cure time depends on the cement use so just follow the [directions] usually after three or four coats you have enough

You'll be looking for a thickness of around two millimeters thick so [now] at this point

You can either install it as is or you can move on to painting if you like it as is

Silicone it in place and ensure all the sides are sealed so the fish can't get behind it

Wait at least 48 hours for the silicone to cure

You're using a lot of silicone so a bit of extra time is needed for this background at that time if you don't like something

About the background you can still cut some [off] and coat it again in the tank

Or even applying [thin] a thicker cement to help build it up a little bit more now comes the water

Changes after your initial fill your ph will skyrocket off the charts

So [you're] going to have to do continuous water changes until it goes back to normal this can take several weeks

Changing the water every three days is what I would [recommend]

Testing the water three days after each fill until the ph in the tank is the same as the ph coming from the tap

Once that happens you can go ahead and continue with the tank as normal however you may not want to have to do water changes

At all so coding the background and the clear Epoxy coating can be done

But it's much more expensive however it not only seals the background

But it also provides a hard protective shell

For painting you have a couple of options you can either simply buy some cement tint and tint it as needed or you can use

100% acrylic paint once cured. It's non-toxic now

It's not going to last forever underwater

But it will last several years [I]

Suggest using it Sparingly to create a more natural look you can also use a two-part epoxy paint, but again. It's not cheap

Formations in the tank are exactly the same except you can make them by simply

Stacking up a few pieces of styrofoam and silicone em together followed by the cement

It's very easy to create rocks this way as well as caves and really anything you want

Just ensure [that] you fully coat the structure with cement followed by silicone in it in place. That's basically it

I think that's enough information to get you started

Now obviously there's pros and cons to a 3D background one is not the cost

This is relatively inexpensive to make however

It does take a lot of time and effort to create one on another note the chances of somebody having the same background as you

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the video

I also want to thank you for watching and I'll see you guys next week when we build the sand fall

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