the next step
once you have got all the peices made and your happy with it it,s time to cut it up so it fits between the cross bars on your tank.
what i did here was put the center tree trunk into place then cut down the side of it at an angle like this





once its cut up and fits betweem the tank cross peices its time to put the tile cement on to the background
mix the cement into a paintable paste and give the background a thin coat. this then needs to set before the next coat. its best left for 24 hours.
the next coat is then painted on but needs to be thicker but not too thick. once dried add another coat of the same thickness as the second coat.
make sure you do all the background front back and all the sides and theirs no celtec board showing.
it should then look like this.



ive used sandstone for the background and mahogany for the tree peices

once all the peices are fully coverd its time to seal them with the g4 pond sealer.
when doing this make sure you have plenty of time as it takes around 5 to 6 hours to complete this
paint the first coat on very thin and leave this to dry untill it is just sticky before adding another coat. then the same again leave till its sticky.
then repeat for the 3rd and 4th coats i do the back first as the background needs to be fully sealed.
after i painted the back i decieded i did,nt like the colour of the sand stone it looked too yellow.
so i mixed some mahogany and sandstone together and thinly brushed some over the front to make it look like this


then i sealed all the peices then it looks like this
.
i also did not stick the tree peices to the background before coating them with the cemant and sealer.
thought this would make life easyer for me and it also makes sure its all properly sealed. then i just stuck them on with silicone
its now looking like this all done



im still not sure if i like the colour of the rocks though
its just going to sit there now for three days to cure then it will get a good wash down before adding to the tank.
once the background is in place and the tank filled with water the shine goes so dont think your going to end up with a shiney background.
will add pics when its in the tank.

Sweet , looks great deano- the close ups of the rock sections( with the revised colour) look heaps natural but I can see how you're not happy with the colour in the full picture shot ( it still looks very sand stoney).
But hey overall a great effort - it will be good to see what other members come up with

J

yes j will be good to see what the other guys come up with.

im still not too sure about the background though maybe it will look better once under water with more bogwood and plants in the tank.

I think that looks Brilliant mate, i would be proud of it once its in the tank and has moss growing on it, it will look stunning

That looks fantastic Deano!! Great job!!

Great Thread Great Job and Great Picture's.....Well Done Mate....

cheers guys i will post some more pics when the tank is all done

Hows this project coming along?