slate background on 10g tank

[tuvok]

I was hitting the web for inspiration and came across the following about a guy who made a background out of slate and Styrofoam:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=184535

Basically he siliconed Styrofoam to the back of the tank and glued the state to the foam. End results looked good. The example was on a 72g tank. I was looking at doing something similar with a 10g tank I have but I wonder if the thinner glass would be up to the task. Would the foam help offset the thin glass? Anyone with experience with this please pass on your observations.

[Adam]

I think with a 10 gallon you'd be ok to just silicone it to the back right away without foam.  Of course, this would make problems with hang on the back filters (glass is now much wider and may not fit) or a canister needs to have somewhere else to put its intake/outtake.

[tuvok]

Thanks for replying. My reason for the styro is twofold.

1. Slate and glass, I understand, do not bond well with silicone but apparently glass and syrofoam do work well with silicone. The plan then is to bond the styro to the glass and then glue the slate to the styro with Gorilla Glue which looks like it should produce a strong bond between the foam and the slate.

2. Styrofoam will add depth so that I can hide stuff like the HOB intake, heater and possibly a DIY sponge filter in gaps in the styrofoam behind the slate.

Don't know if this will all work but I'm eager to try.

[JoLy]

I just have to say that looks awesome.

[tuvok]

Well here it is so far, just check out the attachments.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Funkmotor]

Very cool.  Almost too bad you don't have more gear to hide back there!

One thing that I'll suggest is that you should mod your HOB filter so that the outflow goes over the top of the slate and out into the tank.  Just another piece of plastic, like a ramp, would do it.

I say that because the way it is now I think you risk having the filter work on only the water in that pocket back there.

Just a thought.

[tuvok]

Funny you should mention that, I filled it up today and ran some tests using potassium permanganate to dye the water and check circulation. Water does tend to stay in the pockets but there are a few holes allowing water to escape. After a few minutes the water was evenly tinted throughout the tank. Not sure if this means circulation is adequate. When I was planning the thing I meant to leave more of a gap at the top of the slate but forgot while I was doing the construction. I might try the plastic sheet trick once I'm done posting here.

[Agnate]

Definitely a +1 to Funkmotor's comment.

[tuvok]

Tried it out. Plastic won't work as the lip of the filter is too low to get plastic over the top. Next option is to put an airstone in the smaller pocket to push water from the other side of the tank towards the filter as dye tests show.

[Funkmotor]

I wouldn't put the plastic under the lip of the filter, I'd put it actually at the top of the ramp...so the water didn't go down the chute on the front of the filter but down your own one.

Doesn't have to be perfect...75% of the water down your chute should be acceptable.

Like this:


[attachment deleted by admin]

[tuvok]

The wall is too high for the water to go over the top using a ramp. I ended up using a dremel to grind/cut a channel at the top and put pop bottle plastic under the filter return. The plastic is under water behind the wall and acts like a lid for the pocket. When in use water hits the plastic and gets forced through the channel and over the top of the wall. The plastic might be a pain later on but for now it works.