I was of course disappointed that the tank was fairly scratched up, and I was originally just going to paint the back black or blue, but then saw some articles online for DIY 3D backgrounds, and then saw something about a lit shadow box background.
I thought about incorporating both ideas. I figured the tank was looking so rough anyway, that even if it didn't turn out all that well, it's better than just a scratched up back as a background.
I grew up on the big island of Hawaii, and with the black pond foam attempted to make a Pāhoehoe (pah-hoy-hoy) lava cave/wall type background to help instigate homesickness, to look sort of like this:
Behind the back glass is a frosted piece of plexiglass, and this will be the front panel of a lit shadow box that will contain a few pieces of the pseudo rock. I'm hoping the haze will create the illusion of depth, like you're looking through the cave into open ocean. I'm not certain yet how to light the shadow box, which will be painted a
cheery Caribbean blue, I want to make sure the main lights don't drown out the shadow box.
There is a bit of space between the background and back glass, and a few swim through holes. There is also a compartment to keep the heater, skimmer, and a powerhead (to ensure no stagnation behind the wall) hidden and away from puffer teeth, (the foam rock was built on eggcrate, and attached to the bottom of the tank's eggcrate).
It's pretty goofy looking, even considering that it does somewhat resemble the pahoehoe lava, and it was not fun AT ALL to make; it was hot as surlaW out and the stuff is impossibly messy. I won't be doing this again, I'll just use 2D backings from now on, like painted or a sheet of fabric.
This is it with the baserock added, the scape is temporary as I will need to incorporate about 30+lbs of liverock that is in Balki's current tank. I haven't started work on the shadow box yet, I'll start on it once the functional parts of the tank are done. I still need to add his 30+ lbs of liverock from the tank he is in now, and I'm waiting for my circulation pumps to come in from Big Al's, right now there is just a powerhead with a prefilter to keep the water moving.
I'll add updated photos once I get the liverock in. I may not keep all the base rock in that tank, I have one more I need to set up shortly after completing this set up.
