Background Covering Methods

[deranged chipmunk]

Paul already touched on the 2 main ways to cover your background, the silicone version and the titebond version. as always, i have a few other tricks up my sleeve i am going to apologize up front because this will be a lot of text, i don't have many pics of step by step, and none of the enclosures i used these methods on are up and running. Quite a number of the tanks were experimental, so i could test methods and to acquire new skills. if you have the patience and are not in a rush, i highly recommend building a practice tank or two. most of the materials are not expensive, so why not practice. example: you have this brand spanking new 18x18x24 and you're not sure what to do with it, but you have an old 10g aquarium laying around, why not build a practice tank for just about $20 you can do a foam background in a 10g tank ($3 for foam at walmart, $4 for titebond and a few acid brushes from a hardware store and $3 for a block of cocofiber from the petstore).

most "disasters" i see in tanks are AFTER they were already built and most of the problems come from rushing things. i cannot emphasize the fact that vivarium building is something that should take time. the more time you put into it, the better your vivarium will look. Paul mentioned allowing foam and silicone to cure for 24 hours, i prefer to wait 48 hours. i also normally wait about a week before i start to cover my spray foam backgrounds. this gives the foam plenty of time to finish expanding. just because the foam "seems" cured, is not necessarily the case. it can continue expanding for up to a week. the reason i mention this is because the coverings i want to cover are solid, and will crack if the foam moves even a fraction of an inch. so let's go to it, shall we

DRYLOK PAINT

drylok is an incredible covering and also one of the easiest. say you just carved out that big mass of spray foam to look like rocks. or you carved a sheet of styrofoam to look like a rock face, now, how do you actually make it look like rock? simple, DRYLOK!! it's literally one of the easiest materials to work with. it can be tinted using acrylic craft paints you can buy at the craft store or walmart. remember when tinting paints, if you are going for a darker color, tint slowly. start with one drop of acrylic paint and mix well, it can turn dark on your fast. layering is the key here. start with darker colors and work your way to the lighter ones to give the 3d and realistic effect, followed by accents to increase the sense of depth.

since drylok is a waterproofing paint, guess what it is great for? you guessed it, water features!! the problem with water features is the fact that water, even a trickle, WILL cause erosion of your background covering. some people combat this by using brown silicone to adhere their coco fiber to, but over time, you are left with this dull, ugly brownish silicone that just doesn't look natural anymore. Drylok will stand up to the erosion process much better since there is nothing to wear away.

how do you use it? simple. mix and paint it on. leave it to dray a day or so, then add the next layer. when your painting is complete, give it a week to fully cure. if you are looking for a more gritty texture, you can always add in a little play sand for texture, or, you can use the next material on my list:

RESTORE CONCRETE REFINISHER

this product is my newest "secret weapon". it was first brought up on this forum by member Tyson, and i scoffed at the idea of using it, but then i did more and more research into it and found it to be an excellent covering. Tyson, if you ever read this, my apologies for doubting you buddy!!

this is the product i speak of: Restore 1-gal. Deck and Concrete Resurfacer-49104 at The Home Depot there are 2 versions: 4x, which is smooth, and 10x which has grit in it for texture. i used the 10x in my steam punk tank to get a nice, rocky look. it can be tinted just like drylok, with acrylic craft paints. the procedure is the same as dryok, tint and paint it on. i did find that one smooth spray foam, it needs several coats to get nice coverage, so plan on multiple coats, allowing each a few days to dry thoroughly between coats. this product is also prone to cracking from the foam expanding and contracting, so this is a method where you ant to allow the foam to set up for a week, minimum, before applying it.

NON SANDED GROUT

if you are going for the rock look, nothing beats the real material. i am going to warn you up front, this is NOT a quick process, by any means. this is a lot of apply and wait. if you are looking to create a rock background quickly, then another method is for you. this process can can weeks or months, depending on how big the enclosure is.

after you have your background material the way you want it, you will mix the grout to a smooth slurry. you want it a little thinner than you would use to grout your tiles, but not so thin that it will crack as it dries and cures. after you have your grout mixed, you just spread it on. you want thin coats here, allowing a minimum of 48 hours between coats. don't worry about any background showing through at first, because you are going to do about 5 or 6 coats on all surfaces. less, in my opinion, can promote cracking, more would be better. you can also tint the grout with acrylic craft paints.

once again, after you have all layers in and dry, allow one week for everything to cure completely and hopefully, you should have a wonderful grout background that will not crack. i would recommend using this more so on a styrofoam background, since it won't expand and contract.

HYDRAULIC CEMENT

hydrauic cement is basically a cement that is specially formulated for applications where there is the possibility of water. now, i started playing with this, but never got to fully test it. i only add it in here as a option. i cannot fully recommend it, because i never finished testing it's long term effects. i am sure it would have the same curing process as concrete (which can take up to 6 weeks). if anyone has, or would like to work with this stuff and add their findings here, that would be great. otherwise, i should have some data next year.

that should be about it for alternate coverings. if i missed any, feel free to add away!!