The Puffer Forum

Balki is currently in his 29 gallon, and for his upgrade, I got this 40" x 16" x 20" 55 gallon off of craigslist some time back cheap, and I liked the vintage metal framed look. We only had time to get it at night, and when we got it home and saw it in the light, we noticed that three of the glass panels were pretty scratched up, and I realized that this really isn't a vintage look, it's really an old as surlaW tank. But fortunately one of the wide viewing panels wasn't quite so scratched up, so it will do for the front.

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.

That looks really really cool! Outstanding job! I can't wait to see the finished product!

Thanks reaper
It's really more of an experiment tank, as I have nothing to lose because the glass looks like surlaW and was pretty cheap, and I've never made any 3D type background, but always wanted to try it. Now I know it's not for me!! Maybe it would have been better if it were less than a hundred and shut-yo-mouf degrees outside when I was working on it. lol

I've never tried making a 3D background before, but really like the lava effect. It might be worth looking into on a cooler day.

It was pretty interesting to make, I didn't really take pictures along the way because the stuff is pretty messy, it was hot, and it's not much to look at in the way of process. But there are threads on reef central by a guy who uses the black pond foam in his tanks, he's pretty thorough with the instructions.

bertie says he and his wife make 3D backgrounds , I think he said for all of their tanks. I'd really like him to maybe start a thread and post some pics of them, I'd like to see them.

I'd like that too. This is a great way to hide tubes and wires, while making the tank more complex and interesting for the puffer. It's definitely something I've wanted to try for a while, but haven't had the motivation/know-how to do so.

Would you possibly be willing to do that bertie?

you done a really good job of that. I bet the photos dont do justice o the real look tho. Very well done

That tank looks awesome man, really good job. Ive never seen a 55 with that shape before, Balki will LOVE it

Thanks bertie. I am pretty much a surlaW photographer as I have a medical condition that causes my hands to have an almost constant tremor, but honestly the glass of the tank is unfortunately scratched up more than I'm comfortable with, and it is a bit goofy looking lol.
But when I move, whenever that will be, Balki can get a brand new scratch free tank, as big as we can afford!

Get a tripod, even a chair that you can rest the camera on should help out

xrayjeeper83 wrote:That tank looks awesome man, really good job. Ive never seen a 55 with that shape before, Balki will LOVE it

Thanks
Yeah the dimensions are what sold me on the tank, it holds more water than the standard 55, and I liked that it had more width too.

Most of my pictures are taken with my phone, but I do have a little POS PAS now. I have to make a mount for the tripod too, it didn't come with one and I couldn't find one anywhere.

Bwahahahaha! They censored our walr us !

All these projects people have going on really make me wanna start one

wait so surlaW is now censored lmao