Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => General Fishkeeping Chat => Topic started by: Alex_N on January 20, 2016, 02:55:58 PM
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......well a banked side.
Has anybody got any tips for building up a banked side without using a load of substrate.
Kinda like this: [see picture]
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One way to create a bank is to use a retaining wall or the raised side will gradually slide down till it is all flat. There used to be a member on here who did something along those lines. I can't find her thread so it must have been on the old forum (which was lost when the site had to change hosts in a hurry).
What she did was to find a bendy plastic strip which blended in with her substrate and silicone it to the bottom of the tank. Then fill one side to a higher level than the other.
I do realise this won't make the substrate resemble a nice curved hill, more like a terrace. But it is one way of doing it.
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There are a few sites about talking about polystyrene. Maybe something like that could be used.
I would probably go for quite couple of large rocks and put substrate over that. At least you know ifs definitely safe then.
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When I was planning my aquarium I came upon this inspirational article.
http://fish-etc.com/aquascaping-main/how-to-hardscape-your-aquarium
The relevant section is posted below:
• Have small pieces of thin flat slate ready, or cut plastic or acrylic squares and rectangles. You will not use these straight away, but you will use them to help you shore up, if you want different levels, and prevent substrate from slipping down once you work in your aquarium for real. The idea is demonstrated in the image below.
(http://fish-etc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Hardscaping-9-shoring-up.jpg)
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I had thought about using polystyrene but wasn't sure how well it would react in water or be dangerous to the inhabitants.
The slate is another material I had considered, but the expense puts me off from using it, large pieces ain't cheap.
I have come up with an idea to use plastic bottles [see picture] but once again not sure if it will be harmful to the inhabitants.
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I fear that over time the substrate will slide forward off of those bottles.
I'd imagine polystyrene wouldn't be suitable simply because of how bouyant it is.
I just had the following idea for a cheap material to use:
How about buying a couple of cheap plastic sandwich boxes or food storage tubs for a quid each from the supermarket, or poundshop, and taking a junior hacksaw to them.
Then you could end up with right-angled pieces where substrate would weight down the horizontal and the vertical will be your wall for keeping the substrate from sliding.
Hope I've explained that adequately.
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I know we're your coming from, I had a very similar idea.
I was hoping, with the bottles, that the cylindrical shape would create slight ledges. With a build up of substrate on each ledge it would stay put. Or possibly getting a sheet of thin plastic 'gluing' a larger grain of substrate to the sheet then applying a sand substrate over the top.
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I made a plastic fence (using a brown mushroom container) using my craft cutting machine, sewing them together in a length and then attaching a mesh the other side to hold the stones. The fence was then placed in the tank with stones anchoring occasionally along it's length. The other side of the fence had sand
I was able to "pile" up the gravel a bit but I'm not sure it would go high enough for you. If I can find a picture I'll try and post it.
If you still want to use bottles what about using marine glue to attach a row of the stones you will be using. Let it dry and it would then form a non slip barrier. Once the stones are the other side of it they should blend in with the glued ones.
You could use different sized bottles for the different effects.
I did also at one stage use different size food boxes because it stops the gravel from slipping completely forward
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Your fence looks really good, very effective look.
I'd prefer to use the bottles as I think it will give a more natural slope, but I guess it's trial and error to see what would work best.
It's pay day tomorrow so I'll have a play with bottles and tubs over the weekend and let you all know what happens.
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Don't forget you can use cyanoacrylate superglue safely in a fish tank. Just make sure it has set before immersing it. Silicone doesn't stick well to plastic.
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Thanks for naming a glue and the heads up on the silicon.
The tank is nowhere ready to go yet. Just playing with ideas at the minute.
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Managed to have a bit of a play this evening.
The bottles I've used are 1.5L, I think it would be to steep, for my use anyway, I may try 1L bottles.
The tubs on the right are looking like a better plan. I'm thinking of having a base level of 3*3 and 2*2 top level.
What do you lot think?
Apologies for the poor quality.
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What was the outcome of this? How did you get on with the substrate-scaping? Something I might look at in the future :)
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I scrapped this idea as it was becoming a big head ache very quickly lol
I have finished the tank now, all I did to create a hill was to use compost (John Innes #3) and a 5mm holed garden net to hold it in place.
I left about an inch gap free from compost towards the front face of the tank. Purely for the sole purpose of allowing the gravel to hold the net in place.
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It's looking good Alex. :)
I've also used bogwood in both back corners of my dwarf puffer tank to create a terraced effect, which worked quite well.