Rebuild with Rock and foam

[Bio-Nut]

As we have all surely experience, aquascaping is perhaps the ultimate challenge in reef keeping. You want the rock to look natural but at the same time you want it to serve the purpose of facilitating you corals. About two weeks ago I was trying to clean the back corner of my 90 cube and my over sized arm caught the edge of a rock and sent everything to the bottom.
So I spent some time looking around on the net and came across this thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1300282

For those of us that have experienced this, I am sure that this is going to be the answer to our problems. In addition I found this thread that provides a excellent way to mount the corals in the foam and rock. Look at the peg mounting video.
http://www.reefvideos.com/
Here are some pics of the process on my swap out!
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00865.jpg

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00871.jpg

More pics to come once tank settle out!!!

[WanaLeime]

That's a pretty cool concept....

ohhhhhhhhh the possibilties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Trickman2]

Looks good, love to see the final results

[WanaLeime]

Did you read post about taking a dremmel with a "cone" sander fitting to make the great stuff foam (after curing) look more porus (like live rock) before adding the epoxy and sprinkling sand...I think that is a nice touch....

Man I want to do this!!!!!!!!!

[Techknowledgy]

This is very very cool. My next tank is going to be done like this so I am following very closely.

[DaveMorris]

I did the foam thing on my tank and love the look of it. I do recommend the dremel sander approach. It will give it that little bit of extra texture. Also...do not under estimate the bouyancy of that foam. I guarantee you that even with the rock you have on it now, it will try to float. You need a lot of wieght. Looks great so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

[Bio-Nut]

Yeah I totally underestimated the buoyancy of the foam. I put about 75 lbs of rock on the structure and used three of the smaller cans of the foam and the thing floated like and iceberg. I ended up adding about another 30lbs of rock and zip-tied it to my overflow. "KNOCK ON WOOD" it has stayed submerged. I coated it with bondo resin and poured crushed coral over it to texture it! I will take some pics tonight to post of the progress.

[Yolo]

Will be keeping an eye on this as well. Any reason you used the current foam as opposed to the black?

[Jessy]

I might do this one day... or I might live vicariously through this thread.

[Bio-Nut]

I hadn't heard of the black foam. And this brand was suggested by the thread, I didn't want to take a chance with have it leach into the water column later.

[WanaLeime]

Handi-Foam...pond aquascape sealant

It's what I used for my back ground

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff286/WanaLeime/OMplumbing17.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff286/WanaLeime/OMplumbing2.jpg

I wish I knew about the "dremmel trick" back then............

[DaveMorris]

The Great Stuff foam is considerably cheaper than the Pond foam. Contents weren't listed, but many people have used it and had no problems. I did not coat mine with resin. I just put gravel on it while it was still sticky. Quite a lot of it already has coralline growing on it, so it won't take long for it to look exactly like rock. I am very happy with the way it worked out in my tank.

[Bio-Nut]

I filled the tank up all the way last night and turned on the skimmer. here are the pics water is still a little cloudy but all is well

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00881.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00883.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00882.jpg

[WanaLeime]

It's looking good...like minuture scale of a reef slope in the ocean!!!

I noticed you didn't do the "roughing" or adding sand to the foam......any particular reason?

[Bio-Nut]

Buy the time I read the part about roughing it up The set-up was already in the water. I did put sand on the foam some places didn't stick as well as I wanted but the entire top of the structure is actually foam covered with sand.

[nahtanoj]

very cool, almost makes me wish i saw this before i put the 120g together this week.

[RussM]

Payton's TruValue Hardware in Lakeside has black pond foam for $6/can.

[mazilla]

carefull, the foam on my false rockwall pulled away from the tank due to shinkage(hey, the waters cold ;) ). it's pretty symetrical at about 1/4" all the way around. I used aquarium epoxy on the edge beforehand and it still didnt help. I would hate to see some of those big rocks work themselves loose and hit the glass. I would just keep an eye out. It took a few weeks for it to happen in my 29g.

[MichaelRyanSD]

can I see what it looks like with the day lights on...just wondering if it still looks as good (which I am hoping for, since I may be doing this)

[mj1333]

I kinda like the way it looks in the first pic. Any way to hold all that rock together and hide the eggcrate without the foam?

[Jessy]

I kinda like the way it looks in the first pic. Any way to hold all that rock together and hide the eggcrate without the foam? How about using only egg crate for the bottom under the sand, and then use acrylic for the back panel and the risers. That way you don't have to worry about hiding it. It will be clear. You'd need a pretty sturdy thickness of acrylic to zip tie to, but It might be worth it. I too liked the first look very much.

[Bio-Nut]

Here the pics as promised. One and a half weeks since I put in the rock and I almost cant even see in because of all the copapods and artameia. I thru oin some random reef pics too!

full tank shot!!!
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00885.jpg
some of my stonies mounted and placed with air line tube
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00887.jpg
few of my aussies
So.cal sunset
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00897.jpg
Fruit punch
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00898.jpg
Rusty Roads
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00902.jpg
Zippers
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00896.jpg
Dreamz
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00892.jpg
Kewl
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00891.jpg
Black eyes
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00893.jpg



and my "lime in the sky"
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/chian0076/DSC00041.jpg

[alittlesalty]

I am on the fence.....Dont get me wrong this looks great in your tank. Just seems like a big commitment

[DaveMorris]

Here is my foam work. It can be done to enhance the real rockwork as well.

25139

Can you tell what is foam and what is rock?

[Bio-Nut]

It is a commitment, but the amount of time that you will be putting your am in the tank to fix corals every time the shift me it well worth it to me! If anyone feels the need to ask for help with converting their system, I am always willing to help. I have been called the real Bob Vella by anyone who has seen my handy work.

[WanaLeime]

looks great Ian!!! this guy is BOB VILLA, awesome craftsman!!!!

love that "lime n the sky" trade? ;)

should have those frags ready for you on friday...picked up some frag shears from Marlo earlier today....

[low]

wow thats really nice

[Bio-Nut]

sure thing Dennis! I will cut a piece off tonight that way it will be good to go for you Friday!

[mazilla]

Just remember what i said about shrinkage, keep your eye out for potential landslides. I would constantly give the rocks a little wiggle to make sure they have not detached themselves. That foam will pull away from the edges of the rocks as it starts to compress a little. I'll post some pics of my foam wall as soon as i can.

[Bio-Nut]

thanks for the advice

[WanaLeime]

Thanks for the frag Ian.....

I know those frags I gave you...will do well, especially with your set-up...

[davocean]

Awesome thread, and tank looks great.
I'm going to do a foam back wall on my new tank soon, w/ pillars on acrylic rods.
This thread has given me good ideas, thanks.

[bigcasino75]

this looks cool i may have to do it on my next tank I was just thinking about adding some pvc caves and swim thrus for the fish may be a idea to try

[Bio-Nut]

If I could give one bit of advice. Take your time and plan it out, and use the least amount of foam as possible. just fill don't use it to make formations, it will float like an iceberg. If you can do all this in the tank when dry.

[DaveMorris]

If I could give one bit of advice. Take your time and plan it out, and use the least amount of foam as possible. just fill don't use it to make formations, it will float like an iceberg. If you can do all this in the tank when dry.

I agree 100%. Getting my foam shelves to sit on the bottom was a pain in the butt. I would use as much real rock as possible and "glue" it in place with the foam.

[WanaLeime]

I did my foaming while the tank (glass) was empty. I put a rows of silicone near edges and in the middle of the foam work between the glass and foam....never had any problems with it "peeling" off and floating.

[DaveMorris]

Mine wasn't foamed to the back of the tank. I just did the shelves. I should have siliconed them to the bottom.

[scooterpipe]

Wow Great protential for great critters!
Very creative spacing for flat space for corals.
Love to see it!

[Bio-Nut]

I am always wil to share my ideas with others. All are welcome to check it out! Wanaleime has seen my craftiness first hand. those who want to come see it just shoot a PM.

[KT-150]

I am always wil to share my ideas with others. All are welcome to check it out! Wanaleime has seen my craftiness first hand. those who want to come see it just shoot a PM.

yeah he would stop talking about it!:D