The Aquarium Project

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

It's been a few months since I was here (hello again everyone) and I'm not sure where to put this post, but I think this forum will be right....Been workin on this project for the past 5 weeks now.

Got a little free time this evening to do some more work on the background. Went to Home Depot and bought some more GE Silicone #1, a gallon of Drylok, and a masonary brush (short stiff bristles) and got back to work on the background tonight.

In the picture I have the four main pieces cut out, trimmed and shaped. I still have three more smaller pieces to make to go across the top.



These pics show a bit better how the masonary brush helps to get the thick Drylok paint down deep into the crevices to show the texture better. Roughing the foam with a drywall scraper leaves a real nice realistic rock surface look.




This is just the first base coat to see if anymore shaping needs to be done. Next will be a 2nd coat and then some shading with some earth tones to create some more depth and 3D looks.

Got a little bit of time to work on it some more today between rods. Just have one more piece to finish building and then shaping then I can coat the 2nd section with Drylok. But was able to get the 2nd coat of Drylok on the 1st section earlier in the week and now did some of the shading paint work on the first section.

The shading I am doing is using a darker Grey in the lowest spots on the "rocks", then going over that as well as some of the medium raised surfaces with a medium earth tone brown. Then going over the most raised portions with white to give the whole surface some more depth/3D look. The method I'm using is dry brushing to get the desired look.

The start of dry brushing the deeper areas that are to be shaded. The one deep crevasse here is just dry brushed with some darker Grey at this point...


Here it is after the darker Grey, Earth tone brown and white shading is all done on it...


And the complete first sections two pieces which make up the left 1/3 side of the tank all completed...


Decided to get a tad more done before I called it a night. I now have the rest of the background carved out and shaped but still have to mount the smaller piece and get it all in line across the top (trimmed down). Then it'll be time to finish the first coat of Drylok over the rest of the bare foam, then a 2nd coat, then shading like on the first sections....



Also started working on the first of the side pieces. Doing the sides in thin 1" foam board so it does not take up anymore tank space than need be. Decided to also build in some small caves into the side board. The larger cave with have a small divider in it so that it will hide the intake for the canister filter behind one side of the divider, while still providing a hiding cave for some fish. Above that is a smaller ledge supported by a rock shaped post to give it strength and provide another "home" for fish...

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

I almost took out the little cave because I didn't like it at first, but now I'm glad I didn't scrap the little overhang cave that I built. Because I ended up adding a ton more detail to the side panel in the form of shaped foam rocks and just coated it with Drylok and now I really like the looks of it. Once it's dry and all the shading is done I think it's gonna be a nice little home for a few fish for sure.

This is the one side panel with the first coat on it...

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

First test run with the lights this morning. I still have A LOT of work to do such as 2nd coat of Drylok, lots of shading left to do, have to fill and sand some of the seams to smooth them out. But here is a pic with the lights set up behind the opening which will show you what I have had pictured in my mind to give it the whole "Underwater cave looking out to the open water" look I am going for.


First here are the lights I will be using. They will be a total of four of these lights (two for each opening). They are 20" long Cold Cathode lights which are used for lighting up computer cases in case modding hobby on computers. These have been converted over to normal household 110 power with inverters and a wall plug. The opening is covered with some light blue Christmas wrapping paper then the lights positioned behind it with a small space between the lights to focus the intensity more at the top of the opening so that it fades from top to bottom so it gives the effect of the water getting deeper the lower it goes in the opening...




Here is a pic with the lights on and the first of the two opening light up, and the room lights on as well.....




And a pic with the cave lights on and the room lights off....



And a close up...

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

Well things are moving along well on this now. The complete back is done as well as the left side panel. All that is left now is the right side panel and then the whole background unit will be done and I can then start on building the wood stand, canopy, and lighting system for it.

I went back over the whole thing today with some flat drab olive green and dry brushed that on to many of the areas to give it the look of algae growing on the rock walls. So now it has light grey for the main color, then dark grey in the creases, earth tone brown in some spots, olive drab in others. Then I went back over all the raised portions with white paint and dry brushed all those raised high spots to give it the look of being worn and lighter on the tips of the rocks.

Once I get the right panel done (which I started tonight) then I'll be finished with the background. In the meantime I cleaned the tank today and placed it all in there to snap a picture...

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

Here is a 3D sketch I made of the stand and canopy I plan to build. There will be doors covering the two lower cabinets, and there will be plexiglass covering the three upper shelves.


On the two outer top shelves will be some rock displays of Texas Holy Rock (an underwater fancy looking rock). Then in the center shelf behind glass will be this which I picked up awhile back....

[briney dave]

looks really nice: I have seen similar techniques used in constructing coral reef tanks. I honestly don't know what materials are used to avoid toxins leaching into the water.
on bigger tanks you can create a sense of the tank having more width: this is especially true with led lighting where small pods can be attached to the outside rear glass where there are gaps in the rock to create more drama

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

Finally some updated pics.....

The last side panel is all done so now the background itself is pretty much finished and ready to install into the tank in the next day or two after a good cleaning and some painting of the bottom of the tank is done.


Side panel...



Filling the tank fully to double check there are no leaks as well as to test out the new water changer...




Some equipment that is ready for the tank....


50ft Vacuum&hose water changer
Blue Cold Cathode lighting (pair of 20" bars and pair of 12" bars) for the cave openings
Dual T5 HO lights
Hydor inline heater
Lifeguard digital temp gauge with alarm
Normal in tank thermometer
LED Moonlight strips
Timer power strip
Water test kit
Cleaning tools & nets

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

First coat of white paint on the bottom (outside of tank). I painted the bottom white because I plan on using white sand so I figure this will help to keep them digging fish from exposing the bottom of the tank a bit.



And after 2nd coat is dry, tank flipped over and glass all cleaned. Will be siliconing in the background tomorrow.

[Lotech]

That's a BIG project Steve. I'm looking forward to seeing the completed presentation. I'm sure it's going to be a good one.

[hardhat]

This is a great project. I have a friend who is into aquariums that I passed this info to. However, I do not beleive that he is up to the task like you. I will be looking forward to seeing your completed masterpiece.