Using Arilief's post as a guide I set out to make my own "rock tank". Though no where near as nice as his I am very pleased with how it turned out. I had this tank sitting around and thought I would give it a try! I learned a lot and I'm sure my next one will be MUCH better!
Here's the tank with the foam hot-glued in place. I got the foam from various packaging I had laying around at work from servers, hard drives, etc.
Here's the wall after the first coat of concrete. This was hands down the biggest area that I would do better next time. First I mixed too much up at once so it started drying out quickly. Secondly, I didn't mix up thoroughly enough. It was lumpy and made following coats apear lumpy as well.
The second and third coats helped to smooth out some of the lumpyness but as you can see I was unable to get all of it out with the amount of time I was able to spend on it.
Here is the finished product. I still need some more plants but I'm pretty happy with it so far. Enjoy!
looks nice. What kind of concrete did you use? Did you wash the rock wall in any way to neutralize it?
-Jon
It was a floor leveling mix (laticrete) that I found in the Tile section at Lowes. I'll take a look at the brand name when I get home tonight. It was in a small carton in powder form. I used the whole carton for this tank. Cost was around $10. I forgot to take pictures after I was done painting but that made all the difference in the world! Just the black wash added a TON of depth.
After each coat of concrete I filled the aquarium with water and white vinegar for 2 or 3 days. After the final coat I let the aquarium filled for about a week, doing a water change mid-week. It was actually pretty easy but it definitely time intensive!
Wow, you did a great job! The rock placement is very natural looking and the cement work looks very natural also. I am very glad that you neutralized everything! I hope that everyone remebers to do the same.
Great Job!
30gallon Tall w/Artificial Rock Wall
Linear Mode
