Foam/Rock Wall for my 265 gallon Tank!

[scubabum1983]

water goes in next weekend. Im in the process of making the water right now. 140 gal for the main tank, and another 50 for the sump.

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Speckeled you have the prettiest tank I have ever seen in my life , I am not joking . I shed a tear looking at the finished pics.

I am getting a used 29 gallon Biocube from a friend that I might try this on . Hey its free so why not ?

C'mon now it's not that pretty...... but thank you very much for the compliment. Trust me, it's not been an easy year and I have fought every pest known to mankind and had other issues aswell.

But if I had to do it all over, I would do the Rockwall again!

 

[arnoldreef]

beautiful tank whaooo!!!!

 

[blazing]

sup Speckled did u have any problems with ur fish dieing when u added them? i did a foam background on my tank and all the fishes i add seem to die except a maroon clown and a couple damsels. i used great stuff pond foam which said reef safe and i didnt add the epoxy to the foam though. the tank has been running for about 2 - 3 months now and i seem to still have no luck. did u run carbon for a while before u added any live stock?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

sup Speckled did u have any problems with ur fish dieing when u added them? i did a foam background on my tank and all the fishes i add seem to die except a maroon clown and a couple damsels. i used great stuff pond foam which said reef safe and i didnt add the epoxy to the foam though. the tank has been running for about 2 - 3 months now and i seem to still have no luck. did u run carbon for a while before u added any live stock?

No, I had no fish die and I didn't run any carbon either. I think you have a different problem. Did you add the fish too quickly or did you have an Ammonia spike?

 

[blazing]

no i added the fishes slowly and no amm. spike.

 

[Speckled Grouper]

If the foam released anything bad, then I would think all the fish would have died.

 

[joel00782]

Wow i was going to actually make the rock but if i make a foam wall it's going to look nicer than just rocks in the middle where can i find the egg crate.I know i can find the epoxy and the foam in HD

 

[scubabum1983]

done and in pics how it explains the exposed back wall, its the swim through behind the pillar.

 

[customcolor]

you liked my design didnt you lots do

but i hate to to tell you but the one you made WILL float. just think of all the air that the foam closed cells have trapped in them. but the way you stated how you where going to keep it in, i dont think you will have troubles with it.

Mine is for a 65 gallon tank, and is nearly done. There is a cave section (missing area in the background), and a single pillar. The background spans from left to right, and from teh bottom of the tank to the bottom of the overflow, which is almost 18".

It weighs in at precisely 20 pounds. I'm pretty surprised at how heavy it is given that it is not loaded with rock. To float, it needs to displace 2.5 gallons or more of water, but I don't think that it will.

I have a "coast to coast" style (though not edge to edge) overflow in the tank, so it won't float upwards (you can see the cut out for the overflow). There will also be a piece of egg crate on the right side (as viewing it) to keep the bottom of the structure at the rear of the tank, and I am going to use some dabs of silicon to ensure it does not go anywhere. Overkill? Likely, but if you're going to use a hammer, why not get the biggest one in the toolbox? hahahaha

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Wow i was going to actually make the rock but if i make a foam wall it's going to look nicer than just rocks in the middle where can i find the egg crate.I know i can find the epoxy and the foam in HD

The eggcrate is at HD also. It is known as lighting diffuser. About $ 11 per sheet.

 

[prolawn_care]

Would you reccomend the solaris lights?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Would you reccomend the solaris lights?

Well, my goal was to save electricity and not having to use a chiller. I did achieve that goal.
The fixture developed problems and PFO sent us replacement parts that took care of them. Then they went out of business and we where on our own. No more support. We have since replaced all power supplies by modifying computer power supplies and are fixing to replace some burnt out LED's.
I also supplemented the fixture with T5's to get better color.

Would I buy it again knowing then what I know now. No.

But I do believe LED's are the lights of the future, somebody will come up with a fixture that works.

 

[prolawn_care]

Thanks for the advice! I'm planning on doing a tract lighting system with some high wattage bulbs and see if that works the same or close. Cant do much more than add extra light.

Insane build by the way! I'm gonna head the same direction with my next build!

 

[SaveOurReefs]

Speckled Grouper,

The tank looks great, thanks for sharing!

 

[NoHooks]

Awesome! For once it pays for me to be so slow in setting up my 240g - I now have new ideas. Thanks!

 

[NoHooks]

Speckled Grouper - your sand looks very white. What type are you using?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Speckled Grouper - your sand looks very white. What type are you using?

The sand is live sand I collected from the ocean....

 

[NoHooks]

Thanks. Can't get any more natural than that!

 

[ZoaGuy]

Wow, that looks great! You had some great suggestions as well.