diy ornaments

I'm still searching, but thus far I have come up with almost zero. Are
there any articles on DIY aquarium ornaments, rock sculptures, object
ect. I have found one that used large dia PVC, but that's not really
what I had in mind. Thanks all!

styrofoam is commonly used with epoxy sealants to waterproof it.
www.netmax.tk (also a poster on use groups) has some information, look
in the right frame of the page for links. I know there are some good
sites with pretty detailed lists of materials etc. jsut keep googling.
These tanks can be quite gorgeous. I am in the midst of sculpting
extruded foam insulation for a paludarium.

It's frustrating. I know there must be information all over the net.
It's just a matter of finding the right keywords I guess.

I found one guy, made a mold in sand with a real rock and poured
concrete/sand in the mold. Cool I guess, but concrete contains
limestone. Limestone does really interesting things to the pH and
hardness of your water. Not good.

I'd be interested in seeing pictures if you have any. Extruded foam
huh? How bouyant is the stuff? --- How tough is it to keep submerged?
I know foam comes in many densities, but styrofoam is like 80% air.

You da' MAN! (woman?)

...... all that searching and our very own NetMax has all the info.
Thanks!!

"spiral_72" wrote in message
ups.com...
Limestone does really interesting things to the pH and
hardness of your water. Not good.
===================
It's great for stabilizing PH and for fish that like hard alkaline water. I
have it in all my pools and ponds. Sometimes in my fishtanks as well. It's
not real attractive though.........
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
NEW PAGE: Aquariums:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastada...ium-Page4.html
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Koi-lo wrote:

"spiral_72" wrote in message
ups.com...
Limestone does really interesting things to the pH and

hardness of your water. Not good.

===================
It's great for stabilizing PH and for fish that like hard alkaline
water. I have it in all my pools and ponds. Sometimes in my fishtanks
as well. It's not real attractive though.........

It has to be said that this all depends on the fish - if they need hard
water and high pH it's great....I have ocean rock in my Malawi tank but
wouldn't use it in any of the others...but I will say that it looks
attractive in this tank and suits the fish perfectly

Gill

Gill Passman wrote:


It has to be said that this all depends on the fish - if they need hard
water and high pH it's great....I have ocean rock in my Malawi tank but
wouldn't use it in any of the others...but I will say that it looks
attractive in this tank and suits the fish perfectly

Gill

What's ocean rock? Is it like those famous white cliffs you have in England?
Steve

I have seen Texas holey rock referred to as Ocean Rock. Usually its like
Texas holey rock with just smaller holes.
"Steve" wrote in message
. ..
Gill Passman wrote:


It has to be said that this all depends on the fish - if they need hard
water and high pH it's great....I have ocean rock in my Malawi tank but
wouldn't use it in any of the others...but I will say that it looks
attractive in this tank and suits the fish perfectly

Gill

What's ocean rock? Is it like those famous white cliffs you have in
England?
Steve

"spiral_72" wrote in message
oups.com...
You da' MAN! (woman?)

..... all that searching and our very own NetMax has all the info.
Thanks!!


If you like that one,
http://www.2cah.com/netmax/diy_proje...ulptures.shtml wait
until you see the new one I'm working on now. I took a 6 foot extruded
styrofoam billet and carved it down to a 'rock' wall full of hidey holes
for the fish. It is now 58" long and 20" tall. I just finished painting
it (took 16 colours to get the sedimentary layer-look), and I bought more
epoxy this morning, so the sealing begins this weekend.

Even my non-fish friends are impressed (or just humouring me while
becoming further convinced of my eccentricity ;~). I've taken a few
pictures along the way, so if it works out, I'll put them up on the site.

ps: in regards to your question, 1 cu.ft. of extruded polystyrene
(styrofoam, and you wouldn't use expanded styrofoam) is 1.5 lbs, or about
60 lbs lighter than the cu.ft of water it displaces, so this is your
buoyancy factor. So far, silicone seems to have held it down without
problems (not too surprising, considering silicone holds more weight over
a smaller surface when holding a tank together), but I think proper
surface preparation is key.
--
www.NetMax.tk

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:54:11 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

"spiral_72" wrote in message
roups.com...
You da' MAN! (woman?)

..... all that searching and our very own NetMax has all the info.
Thanks!!


If you like that one,
http://www.2cah.com/netmax/diy_proje...ulptures.shtml wait
until you see the new one I'm working on now. I took a 6 foot extruded
styrofoam billet and carved it down to a 'rock' wall full of hidey holes
for the fish. It is now 58" long and 20" tall. I just finished painting
it (took 16 colours to get the sedimentary layer-look), and I bought more
epoxy this morning, so the sealing begins this weekend.

Even my non-fish friends are impressed (or just humouring me while
becoming further convinced of my eccentricity ;~). I've taken a few
pictures along the way, so if it works out, I'll put them up on the site.

ps: in regards to your question, 1 cu.ft. of extruded polystyrene
(styrofoam, and you wouldn't use expanded styrofoam) is 1.5 lbs, or about
60 lbs lighter than the cu.ft of water it displaces, so this is your
buoyancy factor. So far, silicone seems to have held it down without
problems (not too surprising, considering silicone holds more weight over
a smaller surface when holding a tank together), but I think proper
surface preparation is key.


I had envisioned a backdrop rather than something on the bottom of the
tank. I bought one once, spent a long time fixing it up, it had been
damaged, then found I couldn't get it into the tank due to the cross
member at the top on the tank.

I thought a couple of bad words, then threw it away.