How to Build a Realistic Resin Background for your Aquarium or Reptile Enclosure, Step by Step.

In this video we join Steve Baines while he shows us how to build a resin background using polystyrene as a mould, Thanks to Tech Den from Caboolture in Queensland for hosting this educational class, Steve Baines has been in the fish hobby for around 50 years and has been a member of many fish clubs and president of most of them, he has won countless aquarium competitions and has been building these backgrounds for private, government, and educational centres for many years for fish and reptiles, you will see as he takes you through this step by step video that it could be accomplished by just about anyone with a bit of practice and is quite interesting on how it transforms through this video, the beauty of this style of background is that it can be made any size and for many more purposes, such as frogs birds or even just for decoration as they are durable and waterproof and could add a natural touch to many projects, your imagination is your limit, so enjoy this video and please like and subscribe for more like this, Thanks for watching.

[@australianaquarist]

Great video! These skills are becoming a bit of a lost art in both the reptile and aquarium hobbies. I’d encourage everyone to share this video with their local groups , and help bring back some DIY skills and the sense of achievement that comes with it.

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Thanks mate! yes it is a bit of a lost art, these days people will just buy one but when you build your own the beauty of it is you can do it the size you want and to your liking or habitat your trying to replicate 🙂

[@bipolaraquatics]

Here watching ❤❤❤❤

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Bainsey has some serious skill

[@jamesjamesnet]

So true

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Yeah he does make it look easy.

[@jamesjamesnet]

Jason, make another great video. Thanks!

[@australianbiotopes4563]

I'll try and have another out by Christmas if I'm not to busy.

[@rrotley1]

This would make a great multi-part series of videos from an introduction describing the aim/purpose, the materials/equpment needed, where the inspiration for a background could be found etc; then a second video demonstrating the different methods of carving/shaping etc the styrofoam. The next video would be the 1st resin coat; the mixing & safety steps, the adding of colour oxides, the purpose etc then adding subsequent resin coats. The final videos could be on the removal of the stryofoam and installation of the background, some trouble shootng tips and to finish the project, a Q n A video responding to the most popular viewer questions. That should keep everyone busy for a while. 😁

[@australianbiotopes4563]

This will be the aim in future with some I'm putting together but I thought I'd throw this one up like this as it was a talk given to some aquarium shop owners and employees that I was invited to film, I actually have some other methods as well when doing this that are interesting, but I thought I'd let him do his thing and keep it real although it was 2 hours and I cut it down to the important bits so people could watch without all the joking around and comments from the audience and give it a go them selves, but Thank you for your input it is on the cards in future as I have a couple of big projects down the track 🙂

[@nrledites7120]

A work of Art that, awsome looking background.👌

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Yes he makes it look easy, but he has been doing it for a long time.

[@IndoorEcosystem]

These came up amazing! I absolutely hate working with polystyrene but it makes amazing backgrounds when done right. One thing I will say! The first one you make is always a test run! 🤣So start small then try make a big one once you know what to expect!

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Yes it pays to practice a bit as the polystyrene is cheap but the resin isn't.

[@IndoorEcosystem]

@@australianbiotopes4563 Cheese and Chalk as they say 😅

[@marjoleinvnoort6961]

Nice video, I do the same with my reptile enclosures. But going to try it for aquarium to now.❤

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Thank you! 🙂

[@NickandBenji24]

When I was in high school (early 2000s), I worked with Steve in a pet shop and got to watch him make a huge background/scenario like this. Was amazing to see. Glad to see he's still at it haha.

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Yeah he's still building them and ponds to.

[@moritzlaszlo3115]

Really awesome job!

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Thanks 🙂

[@Joel-wn2cg]

This is great. Thanks for sharing!

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Thank you for watching 🙂

[@GenXHeart]

OHHH! I just finished gluing my rocks, this video may be "trouble" for me!! 😂

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Good trouble I hope, it will give you more ideas now 🙂

[@GenXHeart]

@@australianbiotopes4563 Absolutely! And thank you, I appreciate your work and all you're doing for future generations!

[@stoneysscapes7544]

I'm absolutely most appreciative to get this awesome tutorial . Looking good starting but I have a feeling that I will be out shopping for the supplies etc. I have 3 ft. & 4 ft. after thinking about how it might be interesting doing two right next to each other ? Competition mode lol 😂

[@australianbiotopes4563]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, I hope you do well.

[@chicobrasiletoingoiano2474]

parabens sou do brasil muito bom seu trabalho. queria ver outro video com mais detalhes obrigado

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Thank you!

[@NameName-do9hj]

Thanks Guys

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Thank you 🙂

[@Gilsfishroom]

Great video! How does he remove the Styrofoam?

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Thank you! you can just dig the big bits out with something sharp and then use the heat gun, but you just have to be careful you don't heat it up to much or the resin starts to get soft, so if it gets to warm just tapper off a bit, but you don't want to do that unless your doing a few coats of resin.

[@AQUARIUMFREAK123]

Do these resins that claim to be AQUARIUM SAFE also are stable and dont change the PH of the water the way concrete can ?

[@australianbiotopes4563]

The resin he used in this video is actually food grade, he used to use a type of resin like fibreglass and could no longer use it because of the health issues he had from it, he told me this one is totally safe for fish and humans.

[@CopperheadCustoms]

I resin not toxic?

[@australianbiotopes4563]

No this one is safe.

[@AQUARIUMFREAK123]

@@australianbiotopes4563 what BRAND RESIN are you useing that is aquarium safe ? and what is the drying time of the resin ? thank you.

[@australianbiotopes4563]

@@AQUARIUMFREAK123 The brand of the resin is in the video at 21:18 on the video and it's safe for fish he has been using it for years on displays ext. I can't give you a drying time because it's like most resins it depends on the temperature you are working at, the warmer it is the faster it cures.