DIY polystyrene

@nodac - I'm not even sure why you would want to seal it. Cement and Polystyrene will let water through, nevermind what you do. I don't see the problem with this however.

If you want to seal to stop the cement from 'crumbling' - fix the problem at the source, and mix the cement properly. How more water you add to the cement, how weaker it becomes. As I mentioned before, these videos showing how they 'paint' the cement onto the polystyrene is absolutely no good IMHO.

You can also throw dry cement over the wet cement whilst it is busy curing for additional strength, but it's still not going to help you unless the cement mix is correct. You do want a strong cement mix (so use lots of cement powder with a bit of building sand), but do NOT make a watery mix. The mix must look like a thick paste, and yes, it will be very heavy as well.

I can promise you, if the cement is mixed correctly it *will not* crumble. House walls are generally plastered with cement about 1cm thick... In 99.9999% of houses, I don't see the plaster crumbling off the brick work :cheesy:

FYI: 1 part sand to 1 part cement and water as needed to make a paste. This will give you a very strong mix - especially when you cover with dry cement as well.

 

Chemicals from the cement leeching into the water WILL POISON FISH - how are you going to counter-act that fact. You have to seal that cement completely otherwise you are heading for trouble - that I guarantee you.

 

The chemicals disolves during the cycling process / over time. The majority of video's I've seen does not seal the cement - it's not toxic once the chemicals are diluted to the point of non existance. Loads of fish farms will build large massive tanks and dams out of cement without issues to the fish. This is part of the reason why it takes so long for the water / cement to become clean again after you install it into your tank (weeks worth of 100% water changes).

FYI - not even panted, nevermind sealed, and he also talks about the cement neutralizing and not even affecting PH anymore in his comments... DIY styrofoam cement aquarium 3D background - YouTube It does take time and patience however. Notice also he mentions more coats of cement, and more importantly, THICKER coats. This will combat the crumbling.

 

BTW - but an *old* piece of cement or cement brick in your tank...

I will promise you you won't loos anything... The chances of a old piece of cement doing anything to your tank is the same as what a normal rock will do. The chemicals DOES go away (dilutes).

 

Anyone know how I can unsubscribe from this thread?
We're at Page 11 already going round and round in circles on the processes that's way more complicated than what they actually are.

 

Ryan's DIY method of madness to solve Nodac's conundrum of craziness

@nodac

Here's my idea:

1. Strip off that board you bought. Its not going to help you, infact its complicating things for you now.
2. Get your thick sections of polystyrene and carve holes into them for your stones. Burning holes might be better as it hardens the polystyrene. Fill that hole with Aquarium Sealer and stick your rocks in. Heavier rocks lower, smaller lighter rocks higher.



3. Then;
Choice 1: Seal the exposed polystyrene with Aquarium Sealer and paint with Dala Acrylic Non Toxic Paint (Find at art store)
Choice 2: Seal the exposed poly with white craft cement. 1st coat, watery. 2nd coat thicker. 3rd coat, an even thicker slob. 4th coat, sand added for texture (optional). Cure for two weeks with 100% WC until leeching process stops happening. (White flaky residue on surface). Paint with Dala Acrylic

4. How you're going to fit this to the tank is depending on which method you used:

With Choice 1, Id suggest magnets. You can slide them in whenever you need to and you don't need to empty your tank as its currently occupied like you said. If you fear that the magnets are not strong enough, then I dont know. But the weight of the stones and strength of magnets should outdo the buoyancy of the polystyrene



With Choice 2, id suggest using the Aquarium Sealer to glue the Background to the glass. Its strong enough to do so. Like I said, its the same stuff holding the glass of your tank together. The only problem is that you'd need to start off with an empty tank and do the leeching process as suggested.

That's my idea, that's how I would've done it. As many has suggested, there are many ways to this. You can even turn the tank on its side and pour in 5L of Sealer on to your back glass, and then just go ahead and chuck stones in to the thick goo of a wall and wait for that to dry.

Use it - Dont use it. Your thang! If we fail, we scrap everything and try again. Its NOT the end of the world.

 

personally - I would NEVER EVER put raw unsealed cement into my tank - but that's me !

 

I work for "Dala" so to say and while our water based paints are non toxic that is for human contact I can't say if it would be fish safe however. It is important to note that what is safe for us humans is not always safe for fish. So unless a product specifically says aquarium safe I would be careful using it in my fish tank.

 

oh and click tread tools (top right) click unsubscribe from this tread

 

Well @ryanj252 did use dala paint here on this build Ryan J's Amano Style Tank, I don't know how long he ran the tank, but he didn't complain of any fish deaths.

 

Thanks Ray. I think I might've over-reacted on that unsubscribe, will stay to watch. But as @Good_Times pointed out, I used two jars of the water proof, non toxic Dala paint on my cement background. And its been running for 3 years now and I still have all the cardinals from when i first put them at that time, plus some new ones. I obviously started with the Hardy fish first and watch their reaction, but I can tell you, there was no reaction whatsoever.

About 3 years....and counting...before i break it up!

 

How many rep points do I loose for quoting Justin Bieber's lyrics?

 

You might loose your'e membership on TASA.
:laugh:

 

@ryanj252 i feel the same way though. it has just been going in circles and making me want to abandon this whole idea

do you suggest just going with cement and then curing it in a bucket and then only siliconing stones to the design?

or does it need to be sealed with that paint as well??

i want to get the next step started this weekend so its not all talk on the thread anymore

 

Hehehe - remember that there are many ways to skin a cat! If all of them works which one is the best!? The one that fits in with your unique priorities the best of course ... be it time, money, visual effects or practicality. People have used cement without a sealant by giving it enough time to leach all the harmful chemicals out with success before. Doing large WC can remove the bad stuff and the cement will eventually stop leaching out (but how long? and what?). Personally If I don't know exactly what the trace chemicals are and have no means to measure them I feel worried and hesitant to try it out. Yet there it is - people have done it and it worked 100% for long periods of time. ryanj's tank ran for 3 years without incidents so who am I to discourage it? BTW I think we must change the thread name to DIY drawings of DIY 3D backgrounds! @ryanj252 - that drawing kicks @ss! what program did you use? @L~C~G you had me at Fire eel! I had one loooong ago and they are really like a pet dog eating out of your hand. Your tank is one of the best looking cichlid tanks I have ever seen, the colours are simply amazing. I do believe you know what you are doing and don't mean to imply otherwise with my questions about the Durapond. I am just worried and sincerely hope that you had a bad batch or something. Going through what you did would have probably made me abandon the hobby - that was really sad. Your experience might be a lifesaver to anyone else that used the product so some good will come from it. I will look for the warning signs. I intend to get to the bottom of this and will be getting feedback from a technical expert from Duram regarding the Durapond tomorrow. I will share his response on this thread.

 

Finally some pictures for you guys. Hopefully ill getvtime to get quickcrete this week

 

Hey @nodac ! Thats looking good. Just an update on the Durapond. I have received a reply from their technical staff regarding some questions that I asked about their product. I am going to create a new thread for it so that in the future, if anyone wants to use it they can make their own decisions regarding its safety. Keep up with your project and post more pics as you go along.

 

@Zuraki thank you. good idea on the thread for future builders. im going to try find quickcrete and use that. seems easiest. just need to make sure it cures properly before adding any fish to the tank with it in.


pictures will definately follow!

 

Hey @nodac ! Any updates on your build? I am anxious to see the progression! But I takes a lot of time

 

@Zuraki sorry things have been hectic at work (got a new job and arranging my resignation from current and training staff).

this saturday i am waking up bright and early with the hopes of getting alot of fishy things done. meeting at 7.30am and then its off to prep fish to take to Altum and buy some from him.

then its time for the hardware store to get some pvc cement and get working on this DIY again. i will take pics of it as i mix the cement and apply it. going to do a medium paste for the first layer, not watery because then it will crumble.