Ideas for making your own Aquarium decorations.

[angelcobb]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but here goes. Sculpey clay is the best stuff invented. Its easy to work with and its soft. You bake it till hard in the oven. I get mine at walmart in the craft section. Its about 15 bucks here for this big box (1.75lbs / 795g) They do sell smaller boxes. This stuff does not dry out untill its baked. They also sell colored sculpey but its a bit more expensive and you cant get large amounts of it like in the picture.


I also buy paints that you can bake in the oven. I bake the clay first then let it cool. Paint it and then bake again. This is the paint I buy its very cheep ( one dollar to two dollars a bottle )and a little goes a long way. The brand is folk art and its called Enamels. If you just use this it kinda looks like "flat" house paint. This bottle is 2fl. oz /59ml


After I have baked the clay and re baked it with the paint I add the gloss cover. Its about 3 dollars at walmart. Its called Sculpey Glaze Gloss. The bottle I have is 1.2oz but this also goes a long way


A great way to make caves is to use tupperware bowls. Flip them upside down and cover them in plastic wrap. Tape the plastic wrap to the inside of the bowl so it doesnt move when your placing the clay over it. The plastic wrap aslo serves as an easy method to remove the clay from the tupperware. Then just pull the plastic wrap loose from the clay. Dont cut the opening to the cave till its been baked. A regular knife can be used once it comes out of the oven cause its still a little soft but HOT. Be carefull cause its easy to break it into peaces when its still hot. As it cools it gets harder. I usually stick mine in the freezer for a few minutes to cool it faster unless I need to cut it. Once it gets hard you can still cut it but its harder.



You can aslo make your own river rocks. (These are not baked and not painted. I made them small just to show.


I have used this in my regular fish aquariums and in my snail tanks for years and it does not change the water quality and all fish and snails are still alive. Once I have compleated the project I wash it before I add it to the tank. You dont have to use the gloss. The regular baked paint is fine but the gloss helps it stay shiney and easy to wash algea/slime off.

Some random things I have made not for the aquarium though


Play dough tools are great to use with this clay.

Here is a little arch way I made For one of my aquariums...pre baked and not painted.


Im not the best "crafty" person but for those of you that love crafts and are very good with clay, its a great a cheeper way to fill your aquariums with decorations. This stuff will not float unless you put big air pockets in it or make something very small.

I have not used this in a salt water aquarium!

[Pollux]

thanks so much for posting that, i've always wanted to make my own ornaments but ive been worried about using craft clays and paints and clazes in my aquariums. i doubt i'd be able to find those brands you have proved safe over time though but at least I know it's possible.

[angelcobb]

I got all of that from walmart in the craft section.

You can also find it all on ebay.com