Youngsilver
C'est un touche-Ã -tout
Inspired by you,I am going to be doing this with my 55when i get back from dallas, since stacking rock in a 55 so impossible.
Cement Reef Take #2
- Thread starter dugg
- Start date
dugg
New member
Well thanks, if i were doing another one, here is what i would do different. 1st. I would eithier build an external overflow, by cutting the top 1/2 off of the back glass and build an overflow on the back of the tank to take it to the sump. That will open a ton of usable space in the tank. 2nd. I wouldn't place my returns in the bottom of the tank. I would drill in 4 returns across the back and cover the pipes in cement work, enclosing them into the rocks. 3rd. after pouring in the floor, i would try and build the rockwork, and caves using layers of the foam used on the walls and glue, then cover the entire thing in 1/4 inch of the cement, a layer at a time, not using the accetorator. It worked good but was expensive for what it did. The foam will be fine staying inside the rock. It will act the same as a very pourus liverock wall. The foam is individual bubbles, so large debris can't go past the surface, only the microscopic stuff can go through it, plus the entire surface is covered in cement. Ant caves would need to be pre coated on the underside before cementing them into the structure. I also wish i had used bigger bulkheads for my overflow. The 3/4 inch ones just don't flow much. I have got the outside part of an external overflow hanging on the back, with the U- tube going into my internal overflow to make up for it.
I don't think i will ever put up another tank, no matter what size it is, without doing the cement treatment to it.
I don't think i will ever put up another tank, no matter what size it is, without doing the cement treatment to it.
dugg
New member
I had thought about that, but i was told that the cement will break the glass as it cures if it is applied to the glass instead of the foam. The egg crate would let too much cement contact the glass. You could use the egg crate for building ledges after the walls and floor were done though. I used needle point backing in mine. It forms curves and bends real nice.
Go to the main forum page and give a bump to 39 old post lol.
Go to the main forum page and give a bump to 39 old post lol.
dugg
New member
Ok Travis, i finally got some pics taken after some good cleaning 
. The rock that isn't covered in coraline was just added yesterday. It was rock that i had in my sump. I got tired of the open sand bed look. Everything that has survived the many pittfalls i have had over the last year with pumps burning up, and the ballast getting smoked in the flood and poisoning the tank, is starting to come around and actually grow instead of repairing damage. The red brain on the rocks had released from his skeleton all of the way around, but has somehow survived, and is growing a new rim of skeleton on top of the old one. None of my sps made it through the problems. It seems they don't like ballast smoke, or 86*+ temps. I finally broke down and added some powerheads to the tank a month or two ago. My overflow won't handle enough flow to get a decent current going, so i added 1 sieo, and a small 200gph ph in each corner. The small PH is buried in rocks. you can only see the output nozzle on it.
As you can see the coraline is doing real good, and the walls have lots of critters living on them. Hundreds of tiny red featherdusters, some GSP, and various polyps and mushrooms have been growing on the walls. I would say the best thing about the cement walls other than looks, has turned out to be the pod feast that it provides for my fish.
. The rock that isn't covered in coraline was just added yesterday. It was rock that i had in my sump. I got tired of the open sand bed look. Everything that has survived the many pittfalls i have had over the last year with pumps burning up, and the ballast getting smoked in the flood and poisoning the tank, is starting to come around and actually grow instead of repairing damage. The red brain on the rocks had released from his skeleton all of the way around, but has somehow survived, and is growing a new rim of skeleton on top of the old one. None of my sps made it through the problems. It seems they don't like ballast smoke, or 86*+ temps. I finally broke down and added some powerheads to the tank a month or two ago. My overflow won't handle enough flow to get a decent current going, so i added 1 sieo, and a small 200gph ph in each corner. The small PH is buried in rocks. you can only see the output nozzle on it. As you can see the coraline is doing real good, and the walls have lots of critters living on them. Hundreds of tiny red featherdusters, some GSP, and various polyps and mushrooms have been growing on the walls. I would say the best thing about the cement walls other than looks, has turned out to be the pod feast that it provides for my fish.
dugg
New member
Here is the most recent pics i have. I had a pretty long stretch of bad luck recently with heat and PH issues.Every since the kiddo put whatever that was in the sump, the tank has been acting really crazy. It has been on a cycle of about once every 5 to 6 days clouding up for 2 days and then back to crystal clear again. At first i was going crazy trying to figure it out and doing water changes ect. to fix it when it clouded up. Now i have decided to stop fighting it and just let whatever it is run the coarse. Most everything is doing fine. I have lost a few of the sps frags i bought from Paul a few months back. Two of the monti caps, the staghorn, and the acro nana have retired on me. All of the losses were really fast. Fine at lights out and all but gone the next morning. I still have all of the zoas, the porites, hydrophora, and the monti digi are all doing fine and growing well. The monti caps that are left have already started speading on to the cement walls, and the hydrophora has about 7 new branches starting to grow real nice. I attribute the losses to the unstable temp problems before and directly after i added the chiller, and the PH issues i was having. The PH is now staying very stable even during the cloudy days that it is having. I have tested everything multiple times during the clouding events, and it all comes out perfect. Prater got to see this last week when he was here. It was cloudy the day he dropped his trailer off, and crystal clear 2 days later when he returned for the trailer. The lights are off now, but i will get a new pic tomorrow if i get a minute. The rocks in the last pics that were fresh white rocks are now solid coraline. I also had an issue with my cheato recently that i think may have been the clouding problem. All of my cheato turned white like it was covered in calcium precipitation. I removed all of the cheato last week except one small piece that was in my FO tank that i placed in the sump, so we will see. I never heard of cheato crashing before, but the last clouding event was triggered by stirring the cheato around in the sump. I think it was the drastic PH issues that caused it all personally. It was swings from 8.4 daytime to 7.1 at night, so i figured that was drastic enough to have triggered all of the issues.
douggiestyle
New member
i caught this as a link in the diy forum.
if your calcium and alk are not in ballance then the calcium can preciptate causing a cloud. do a bit of research. or post the problem in the chemistry forum. its been a while since ive had the problem, so im a bit lacking in correct verbage. so ask randy in the chemistry forum.
if your calcium and alk are not in ballance then the calcium can preciptate causing a cloud. do a bit of research. or post the problem in the chemistry forum. its been a while since ive had the problem, so im a bit lacking in correct verbage. so ask randy in the chemistry forum.
matthewnokc
New member
hmmm
hmmm
this might be a good idea to do to my scratched 58 gallon
it really turned out well!
hmmm
this might be a good idea to do to my scratched 58 gallon
it really turned out well!
matthewnokc
New member
LETS NOT FORGET SPRAY FOAM!!! I love this cement idea
it can be a great thing to do to old tank that you have laying
around
dugg
New member
I tried the spray foam out first, it was a huge failure. The foam shrinks and tried to float even with a huge rock imbedded in it. I plan to try egg crate for my next tank instead of the foam. Using the egg crate, the panels will have to be started outside of the tank, then assembled inside the tank and cemented together. You can't get the wet cement on the glass, or it will break the glass as it drys.
Travis L. Stevens
Active member
You should be able to find RIT Dye in your local supermarket, whether it is WalMart or a local chain. It's usually found in the laundry aisle.
