So, after I had finished carving I applied my first coat. I used white Drylok as the base (4 cups) and added Quikrete dyes (1/4 cup red and 1/16 cup brown). I let this dry for a few days to makes sure it was good to go. I used all of the extra left over from the front to coat the side and back twice to ensure it was nice and strong. I wouldn't add any more than that for fear of stretching the dimensions.
The next coat once again used the Drylok as a base (4 cups), to which I added brown Quikrete dye (1/8 cup brown). I covered up most of the red, purposely skipping over the deep crevasses so they would retain the red.
For the third coat I used what was left of the brown (About 2 1/2 cups) and added Brown (About 3/16 or so). It wasn't dark enough, but my father told me that if I were to add too much of the pigment it would destroy the Drylok, so I decided to add Acrylic into the mix. I used Mars Black (About 2 1/2-3 teaspoons). At this point I felt it was sufficiently dark enough, so I applied it, being sure to skip over even the more shallow crevasses.
Once that dried, I moved on to the last coat. I used a similar mix to the second coat, but added some yellow acrylic until I had the sandy color I was looking for. Then, using a natural sponge, I would take a little bit of the paint, dab it off on a paper plate, then lightly dab it onto the background. This is what really made it look amazing. So, I'll post some pictures of where I'm at right now!
So, here's a full background shot, including the plumbing.
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
Here's some details, flash on and off, and different spots.
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
I had to cut it into pieces (Pre-painting) to get it to fit. I cut the big piece I had to cut in half at an angle to make it easier to blend.
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
Here's the back and sides.
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
Here's the spraybar.
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
And here's the intake to the SunSun Canister Filter.
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)
![Attached File](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_extra/mime_types/gif.gif)