after I saw a picture of this tank




It was clear too me I must make this tank a reality in my own home.

I'm planning on using dry rock with a small amount of cement to create the volcano. Anyone know the proper way to cure cement for use in the tank?

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Well it wont fit but one way is to put whatever you want to cure in a toilet tank and rinse it for a while in there with all the flushing you'll do while you wait.

Are you sure that is cement? That is a ton of weight to put on the bottom of the aquarium. What about these fake rocks they sell for landscaping in the garden centers?

Or driftwood?

There's a way to do that with fiberglass as well, I just dont know the recipe.

hmmmmmm I have been googling for hours, i found some stuff on building fake rock backgrounds but nothing about building a volcano :( anyone else have some ideas?

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looks amazing...however not sure of cement and whether it could be poisonous(small trickle a day)....getting the right kind of rock or synthetic stuff would be better, will have to search a bit....

I am personally planning to build a kind of waterfall or a miniature volcano with quite a bit of detailing would look awsome, a worry that fishes should not try to jump out as we may not be able to close the lid.

Rgds
Siva

If you are wanting to make one of these yourself, I'd suggest using Quickrete (cement) and styrofoam. If that volcano was made of 100% stone it would probably break that tank it is in. The process for making a volcano should be similar to that of making a background - cut styrofoam, silicone it together/to the tank, let it cure, put a thin coat of Quickrete, let it cure. Go back in a day or two and make another batch of Quickrete and add cement dyes to create "realistic" coloration!
I am currently working on a project like this myself, and am hung up at having used Great Stuff "Gaps & Cracks" - expanding spray foam. I read that this was super useful stuff to create "blobby" or smoothed surfaces, unfortunately even after 3 days it is still curing (shrinking) and my cement just cracks right off of it. I'm working on a photo-blog right now that I can prematurely publish for you guys if ya want!

EDIT: Cement isn't poisonous so much as it will realllly effect your hardness and pH. I've read that you can just cycle tap water through it with power heads for a week, replacing the water every other day until it is normalized.
EDIT: I scrapped the whole project and gutted it - because I know somewhere in there I used GE Silicone II, which has a poisonous mildewcide . I will try again once I clean this heap of mess out!

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