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Rocks: Latex (004)


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Hey All,

As it says i have got myself one of those fake rock backgrounds for my tank and was wondering if anyone could give me the best advice they have to get it to stay in place.

The tank is 6ft long and 32inches high and thus if i just sit the backing in the weight of it pulls it over.

So if any of you have some great ideas on how best to affix it to the back wall that would be appreciated.

I have thoguht of silicone obvioulsy and will need to create some sort of mechanism to hold it in place while the silicone drys. Haven't got much beyond that yet so as mentioned any thoughts all are appreciated.

NOTE: i will be able to drain the tank completely prior to puttign it in place.

Mark

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Hi,

Unfortunately these fake backgrounds need to be siliconed in prior to filling a tank and then a good one to two weeks to stand empty to allow for proper hardening of the silicone.

I find that there are still gaps left between tank and background and waste and uneaten food gets trapped in these small pockets and decays.

If you choose not to silicone then the above problem escalates and fish also get trapped behind.

My experience has been that while they are great looking, realistic backgrounds the potential problems they cause are not worth it wink.gif .

Cheers

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You say that you are able to drain the tank? Perfect!

Lay the tank on it's back and attach the background, using gravity to hold it in place while the silicone dries wink.gifrolleyes.gif

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Hi Mark,

I agree with the comments made by Ailine - water circulation with these "fake rock" backgrounds is a problem. The best way that I have found to combat this is to fill the back of the mold with expanding foam, sand it back to achieve a flat back and seal it with silicone. Press it on to the back of the tank - you will need to use a fair amount of silicone to for adhesion to counter-act the buoyancy of the expanding foam. It works; no more trapped food, fish or bad water.

HTH.

merjo

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Thanks for the feedback, laying the tank on its back is a bit of a problem, it is a built in display tank and is 15 mm glass all of it. The tank by itself weighs about 400 kilos.

So it is not moving, i like the idea of the foam, that is one of the dilemmas i have there is almost no flat surface on this background to actually adhere to the glass with the silicone.

Mark

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Merjo,

Like your idea of the foam filler stuff, is there any particular brand or anythign that does this best.

i will need about ten cans i reckon for this baby.

Other problem with that is that it wont flex when you do that will it?

If not i wont be able to get it into the tank.

this is getting too hard.

Mark

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Hi Mark the powere head idea is a good one and works well, I have also seen them with the filter out pipes placed behind the backgrounds( cant see, good for a display tank) and a few meshed holes along the bottom of the background to allow water to flow behind it. also can hide heaters behind them.

As for th attachment, a bead of silicone along the edges should be enough to hold it in place, while the silicone is cureing brace the background with some wood, foam etc from the front,

Laying the tank on its back would be the way best idea, but as its built in ohh well.

Then wait atleast a week and hey presto..

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