Foam Reef Wall For IM Nuvo16

[ST1Doppelganger]

So I've decided to finally get my nuvo up and running and will be doing a foam back wall to have more mounting areas for my SPS corals.

It's going to consist of dried live rock attached to light diffuser with great stuff pond foam sprayed in between the rock gaps (softener salt thrown over the foam during setting to add texture). It will then be coated with a resin and have aragonite covering on it.

Here's a few pics of what I have started so far.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

My question for you guys is what do you think if the favia skeletons that I have towards the top of the wall? I'm kind of undecided on them and don't know if I should use some of the regular rock and remove them or if they will add a nice effect on the visual appearance once they are foamed in and have coralline algae growing on them.

 

[fishgate]

It looks fine. It is all going to be covered by coraline or some other growth eventually so it doesn't matter that much.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

It looks fine. It is all going to be covered by coraline or some other growth eventually so it doesn't matter that much.

Yeah I know but I'm still just unsure of the initial look of it part of me says it looks good and will make some nice foam shelves that I can place encrusting or branching corals on and then part of me thinks it looks a bit odd.

Does anybody have any suggestions on what epoxy to coat the foam with?

 

[clay12340]

My question for you guys is what do you think if the favia skeletons that I have towards the top of the wall? I'm kind of undecided on them and don't know if I should use some of the regular rock and remove them or if they will add a nice effect on the visual appearance once they are foamed in and have coralline algae growing on them.

I personally don't like obviously identifiable coral skeletons in a tank. I can never tell if they're decorations or epic failures that you never bothered to remove. That's just my personal opinion, so take it for exactly what it is worth.


The great stuff foam gets a lot of complaints from some of the RC members. They usually recommend the black pond foam instead. It is apparently more UV stable and less likely to break down etc. For what to coat it with the best looking ones I've seen have been a mixture of epoxy resin and sand brushed on and then topped with more sand. It seems to look really natural. As for what resin it seems like most people use whatever is available. You could look at the MSDS, but it all seems to be pretty safe once cured.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

I personally don't like obviously identifiable coral skeletons in a tank. I can never tell if they're decorations or epic failures that you never bothered to remove. That's just my personal opinion, so take it for exactly what it is worth.


The great stuff foam gets a lot of complaints from some of the RC members. They usually recommend the black pond foam instead. It is apparently more UV stable and less likely to break down etc. For what to coat it with the best looking ones I've seen have been a mixture of epoxy resin and sand brushed on and then topped with more sand. It seems to look really natural. As for what resin it seems like most people use whatever is available. You could look at the MSDS, but it all seems to be pretty safe once cured.

Yeah the dead skeletons are what got me hesitant on doing this just yet on the other hand they are a heck of allot more porous then any if the live rock chunks I have to use.

Yeah I know about the great stuff foam issues but that's why I went with the great stuff pond one thats black and uv resistant.

Do people have any feedback on this foam or should I return it and get the touch n foam thats online?

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

Bump for more honest opinions on the favia skeletons before I decide to take the plunge of foaming it in place.

I'm very open to changing it up

 

[enforcer8621]

IMHO I would go with dry rock. Just me though. Best of luck with the project. I'll be doing mine as soon as the rock gets in.

 

[enforcer8621]

BTW, let me know how much foam and epoxy you use so I know how much I'll need.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

IMHO I would go with dry rock. Just me though. Best of luck with the project. I'll be doing mine as soon as the rock gets in.

Yeah that's what I'll probably end up doing. I might crush the favia for filler in between the rocks.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

BTW, let me know how much foam and epoxy you use so I know how much I'll need.

Mines only a 16 gallon tank how big is your tank wall going to be and I think I'm using more rock then what most people do when they makes theirs.

 

[enforcer8621]

Mines a 29 biocube and I'll be using as much rock as I can fit.

 

[cas1069]

just keep in mind how much the foam expands when picking out your rocks. when i did my foam wall i did a test strip just filling up the eggcrate and it expanded about an inch off the crate, so smaller size rocks can easly be lost in the foam as it cures

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

just keep in mind how much the foam expands when picking out your rocks. when i did my foam wall i did a test strip just filling up the eggcrate and it expanded about an inch off the crate, so smaller size rocks can easly be lost in the foam as it cures

Thanks for the tip I was already planning on for this pretty much the foam is just going to be the mortar for my wall.

I plan on 80 to 90 percent of my wall being rock and the other 10 to 20 percent being foam where I can mount SPS corals in to.

 

[KafudaFish]

Another hint to cut down on the amount of expansion and get the tube look is to screw the straw on to open the can but remove it before spraying.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

So I finally decided to start the process of the foam rock wall.

Here's a few pictures of the process and I will be doing epoxy and coating the ugly black foam with aragonite then silicon ing in process as well as filling the gap between the side of the tank and background with more foam which will then be covered.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

A few pics to show the texture of the foam

 

[fishgate]

Looks good - make sure to attach it in such a way that it can be removed. You might find (like me) that you don't like it in a year or so.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

Looks good - make sure to attach it in such a way that it can be removed. You might find (like me) that you don't like it in a year or so.

I plan on getting coral to grow on it so i hope it dosent turn in to that

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

Looks good - make sure to attach it in such a way that it can be removed. You might find (like me) that you don't like it in a year or so.

By the way im having issues figuring out what epoxy to use to coat the foam with so make the aragonite stick. By chance do you remember what you used?