I'm in the planning phase of a Caribbean Seagrass Biotope Tank. I want it to have no visible plumbing or gadgets. I've got one of those Tunze powerheads that mounts on the top of the tank and hangs down into it. I want to keep it right where it is but I want to hide it. I tried to find a decoration that would do the trick but none were tall enough, etc. to work. My tank is 30" high.
So, in keeping with the Caribbean theme, I decided to make my own mangrove root, to both add to the caribbean look and hide my powerhead.
It has to be tall enough and it has to be hollow at the top to fit my powerhead and it has to allow water to flow into and out of it. Oh, and it has to be able to fit under my hood and down through the top of my tank. I have a very large custom-built aquarium cabinet and removing the top sections would be a real pain. Given all the design constrains, I'm starting to lean toward building it in pieces.
As for the medium chosen, I did some research and came up with an epoxy clay called Magic-Sculpt. It's a two-part product that cures chemically and is non-toxic when cured. It's supposed to be pretty sturdy but UV can harm it, so I'll likely paint it.
Anybody know of a good paint that would work in an aquarium?
I built a support structure that mimics the space in my tank. I made a hollow main root out of plastic drink bottles. I made the root armature (skeleton) out of heavy wire. I then used foil to bulk up the roots, so that I don't have to use a boat-load of clay.
Here are some pics of what I have so far:
Hopefully you can see the wires and plastic bottles that form the basic structure of the root.
The epoxy clay.
A crude sketch with mangrove root on the right.
The roots with the foil added. Starting to look like something!
So, that's what I've got so far.
As for changes, I'll probably remove the long bottom section of the main root. It doesn't look natural and after looking at mangrove photos I see that they don't really grow like that anyway. I'm thinking of replacing the soda bottle with PVC, so as to provide a sturdier base structure.
Any ideas or suggestions?