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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.
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This is how it started:
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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).
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After much carving...
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I ended up with this for the background:
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and here's the whole ensemble:
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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.
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.
