Aquascaping a 75g

[tarhull87]

I want to simulate the look of dock pilings in the shallows on a tropical beach.
Such as this,

you can imagine wooden pilings, some kind of hollowed/rotted out, and white sand and blue water, that is what I want to have my tank look like.
In it I will have some inverts and fish but that is all, likely no corals and maybe seafans or gorgonians.

What do you all think I could use to properly simulate these pilings? Wood wouldn't be a good option cus of leaching and stuff, right? Let me know what you all think.

 

[OneReef]

This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but there are a couple of nice pics in this thread of guys who made some rock pillars......
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1320061&highlight=pillars

 

[Reefing102]

depending on how fast you want this set up, you could make your self some DIY rock pillars this way they would be solid and you could make your own notches for the gorgonians.

The only thing is the DIY Rock takes a little bit to cure

 

[new_world_disor]

hmmm thiis could look preety awesome. what about getting hold of ( or making ) some concrete rods of some sort ? you could just use concrete around acrylic rods ?

 

[tarhull87]

I really like the wooden look though, do you think I could use wood pilings or dowels or whatever and coat them in some sort of fiberglass epoxy or epoxy resin to keep the water off of them? Or would wood ever be able to work?

 

[respite]

You should be able to use any wood that has not been chemically treated without problem. Driftwoods may leach tannins causing a chronically low pH. I think the hard part would be to get the wood pillars water logged enough to no longer float.

 

[tarhull87]

Ha good call on the floating factor, hm.. I feel like I could find a way to fix that. I'm worried about leaching mostly.

 

[LNell]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11940737#post11940737 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by respite
I think the hard part would be to get the wood pillars water logged enough to no longer float.

You could put them in a tub of water with some rocks on top to keep them down until they become waterlogged. Or just attach them to rocks in the tank and bury the rocks under the sand.

 

[tarhull87]

Do you guys know if barnacles can be grown in an aquarium environment?

 

[tarhull87]

Actually I think I would rather have mushroom coral and coralline grow all over the pilings, maybe try and grow some GSP on them too, that would be cool, do yall know if they will grow vertically like that?

 

[tarhull87]

I could also use PVC Piping, wide stuff, as the pilings, that is pretty aquarium safe and would hopefully get covered in coralline fairly quick, could be a nice easy alternative to wood.
Hadn't thought of that.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I did something like this... I had wood and screwed it into an acrylic sheet for the bottom under the sand.

 

[osprey77]

coat larger PVC pipe with great stuff foam and let them grow over.

 

[frankrip]

Be a great setting for an old Corona bottle too!

 

[tarhull87]

I love the Corona idea!
Is great stuff foam going to be non-toxic for that environment? I definitely am thinking PVC will work the best now though.

 

[red13miller]

Very cool idea... I say PVC would be your best bet

 

[Stealth91RT]

You could still coat the pvc with fiberglass resin and mix some fiberglass strands in there to simulate the texture of wood.

 

[tarhull87]

That's a good thought, fiberglass and resin won't pose any health risks in the tank, right?
What should I do with inside of PVC? should I leave them hollow up top maybe slightly below the waterline so they fill with water?

 

[Reefing102]

the great stuff foam is safe for saltwater.

A different foam but still safe is

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...allpartial&Ntk=All&pc=1&N=62728&Ntt=foam&Np=1