75 Gallon Native Stream Tank Build

Thanks for asking Calvi.  I've made some progress with the roots.  The rope that I purchased looks pretty good.  I need to finish up some of the structure still, but after that, it will be time to seal it all together with the grout, then paint with Drylok/cement dye.  I'll take a few pictures of my progress of what I'm done, and also as I move forward. 

Also, I'm scrapping the idea of using foam on the roots, because I don't want them to float.  And, I want them removable for maintenance purposes.  I just want to set them in there securely.  I think that the grout will hold them down, but I'm also thinking about filling the PVC pipe with sand.

I've been on three fishing trips over the past four weekends, so my time has been limited.  It's tough to turn down a good fishing trip!  Also, this last trip this past weekend was out of my boat, so getting that ready took a bit of time.

B.O.A.T. = Break Out Another Thousand

Nice!  Gotta love big catfish!

Thanks for asking Calvi.  I didn't work much on this project this summer simply because of a lack of time to do it.  I spent a lot of time outside collecting and sampling our brackish water this summer with the focus on my brackish tanks.  As the weather cools, I'll get back on this project and finish it.  I need to get on it because this project is holding up my larger brackish tank project.  Hopefully soon I'll have something to share.  Most likely, I'll be outdoors next weekend.  If we have bad weather, I might do some work and make progress on the roots.

Awe not annoying at all Calvi.  I haven't worked much on this tank build in a while, but, I decided that the first chance that I get, I'm going to go ahead and paint and install the background and work on the roots separately.   On Sunday, I cleaned up my work space and organized my painting supplies to prepare for finishing up the rock work, so I'm motivated.  I've been studying on the net different techniques to use because I want to get it right the first time.  I have a plan of action, now I need to take action

My time has been consumed with family matters mostly, and any free time that I had was spent on the ice fishing.

Awe not annoying at all Calvi.  I haven't worked much on this tank build in a while, but, I decided that the first chance that I get, I'm going to go ahead and paint and install the background and work on the roots separately.   On Sunday, I cleaned up my work space and organized my painting supplies to prepare for finishing up the rock work, so I'm motivated.  I've been studying on the net different techniques to use because I want to get it right the first time.  I have a plan of action, now I need to take action
 
My time has been consumed with family matters mostly, and any free time that I had was spent on the ice fishing.

That's awesome Calvi!  Can't wait to see it.  You have a good eye for aquascaping.

As far as my 75 goes, today I will pick this project back up.  Right now, I'm prepping my work area.  More to come.

That's awesome Calvi!  Can't wait to see it.  You have a good eye for aquascaping.
 
As far as my 75 goes, today I will pick this project back up.  Right now, I'm prepping my work area.  More to come.

That's awesome Calvi!  Can't wait to see it.  You have a good eye for aquascaping.
 
As far as my 75 goes, today I will pick this project back up.  Right now, I'm prepping my work area.  More to come.

That sounds cool Calvin!  I had a 10g saltwater set up, just a fish only tank with 2 fish, but it was a nice tank.  I kept a bright magenta pseudochromis (a type of basslet a.k.a. dottyback) and a small Hypsoblennius hentz (feather blenny) that I caught in the Chesapeake.  The biggest problem with that tank was me spending time watching it instead of studying!

That sounds cool Calvin!  I had a 10g saltwater set up, just a fish only tank with 2 fish, but it was a nice tank.  I kept a bright magenta pseudochromis (a type of basslet a.k.a. dottyback) and a small Hypsoblennius hentz (feather blenny) that I caught in the Chesapeake.  The biggest problem with that tank was me spending time watching it instead of studying!

That's a good problem compared to not having a tank at all

Edited by 9darlingcalvi, 10 June 2018 - 04:17 PM.

Thanks Calvin.  I actually made some progress this past weekend...baby steps.  I cleaned up my work area yesterday, laid down tarps, and arranged my painting supplies to get ready to start the paint job.  I decided to go ahead and paint and install the background, and then get the tank up, cycled and running.  I will work on the roots afterwards.  I hope to have the painting done by this coming weekend.  If I'm happy with the results, then I will silicone everything in place next week.

My push to get this project done is more or less being driven to get my large oyster reef tank set up, because I'm using the stand as my work space.  

Update:  Well, a while back I cleaned up my work space and got everything ready to paint.  I will paint the base color of Drylok this weekend.  After it drys, then I will start mixing pigment to create the final wall coloration.  After that, after everything dries, I'll silicone the all into the tank.

I created a video of how I created/carved this well along with a few other tips.  Hope you all like it:  

This afternoon, I painted the base layer of Drylok onto all three pieces of my background.  Basically, I wanted to kind of seal this thing a bit, and hide the pink color of the foam board.  I'll add one more full layer, this time, of a darker charcoal color which will be the base color of the rock.  After that, my plan is to use a very dark color for the cracks and crevices for depth, and then apply a few colors of highlights and detail on the fossils.  I imagine that this will take me a couple weeks to complete.  After that, I will install the background into the tank with silicone.  Here are a few pics:

Application of the base Drylok gray color.  I slapped it on pretty good to make sure to get into all of the nooks and crannies:

I didn't take a pic of the right section that I did first, but here is the middle section after the Drylok was applied.  It's starting to look like rock and not pink foam board!

Here is the left section, almost done, before the removable piece was done.

Here is the left section completed, removable insert in place.

All three sections done, base layer applied.  Next layer, base rock coloration.  I'll start tomorrow, and hopefully, I can get all three sections done.