DIY Aquarium Foam Background

Adding an aquarium to your home provides both a tranquil oasis and a beautiful conversation piece for guests. Creating a foam aquarium background is a way to create a beautiful and unique habitat for your fish. Keep in mind a few tips while you are building your aquarium masterpiece.

  1. Planning

    • Determine the overall finished look you are going for. As with any creative task, plans are often altered after you get started. It is important to have a basic idea of of what you want your end product to look like before getting started. You will also need to factor in filter and tube placement to ensure that everything will fit properly in your aquarium. Your foam background can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be.

    Supplies

    • Gather your supplies. You will need a 1/2-inch-thick sheet of Styrofoam that can be cut to fit the back of your tank. Additional Styrofoam pieces may be needed if you are planning on building caves or are going for a multidimensional effect. Styrofoam cones and balls may also be used. You will also need paint brushes, one bag of concrete mix, one to two cans of expanding spray foam, a utility knife, one to two tubes of silicon and cement pigment. Supplies may vary depending on the look you are trying to obtain.

    Construction

    • Build your aquarium background. There are several methods that you can use to construct your foam aquarium background. You can begin building right inside your tank or construct the background outside of your tank. If you choose to build your background outside of the tank, you will need to make sure that you know the exact dimensions of your aquarium and factor in filter and tube placement to ensure that the finished product will fit properly. Toothpicks may also be needed to hold multiple pieces in place. Then, begin using the expanding foam to fill in all of the cracks and seams. Let everything set for at least a day. Then you can begin covering the structure with your pigmented cement. Since you are constructing the background outside of the tank, cover the back to keep it free of cement. After the cement has set you can silicone the structure to the back of your tank.

      If you are constructing your background inside of your tank, cut and silicone your Styrofoam to the back of your tank. From there, you can finish constructing your background inside of your tank.