If you are bored with the ever-peeling film "backdrop" against which your fish live, then this article is for you. This master-class for making a background for an aquarium with one's own hands was given by the same ordinary owner of fish, like you, dear readers. A pushed him to this idea two factors: the beauty of the voluminous background for the aquarium and ... its high cost. Therefore, taking as a basis the theme of fortress ruins, he proceeded to make his own handicraft. Let's begin also we!
We will need:
- a sheet of expanded construction polypropylene;
- a bit of cement;
- a tube of silicone for gluing the elements of the structure;
- cement storage tank;
- Brush and / or toothbrush for working with the finished cement mixture;
- sharp knife;
- spray;
- sandpaper (parameter 180/320);
- a pen.
Master class for making the background of the aquarium with your own hands
- Cut the polypropylene sheet according to the size of the aquarium and mark on it the future pattern of the fortification wall. This will be the basis of the homemade background for the aquarium.
- Blade of the knife on the scribbled horizontal and vertical lines make grooves in the sheet. Should get a groove depth of about 5mm.
- Now it is necessary to sand the resulting pattern with sandpaper. This not only makes it possible to round off the corners of "fortified bricks" for greater realism, but will also become a pledge of more reliable adhesion to cement mortar in the future.
- From a separate piece of polypropylene, the author suggests cutting out the decoration of the future wall - the arch. It is made according to clause 1-3 of this MC.
- We connect all parts of the structure with silicone. Before full drying we fasten details with toothpicks.
- It's time to mix cement with water until the shampoo is thick. The finished mixture must be applied with a brush to our construction. In this case, with a finer brush or toothbrush, it is necessary to walk particularly carefully through all the spits and grooves. During the "coloring" process the structure of the spray gun with water for better cement adhesion. In total, you must have three layers. After each layer, wear the structure in the bathroom and rinse under a strong stream of water. This will strengthen the cement and / or show weaknesses.
- Since the polypropylene material is light, the installation of the finished decorative background for the aquarium is carried out with the replacement of water, previously adding the structure legs with the same material. They can be easily strengthened in the ground and sprinkled with decorative stones for greater reliability.
- Important point: during the installation of the background of fish it is better to move for several days from their aquarium. This will allow the filter to normalize the composition of water after the appearance of a new foreign body.
Thus, the production of a voluminous background for the aquarium took us a minimum of time, effort and materials. It is especially pleasant that using this algorithm, you can both make a background in an aquarium on the theme of "fortress", and look for your ideas for implementation. Do it!