Foam/Rock Wall for my 265 gallon Tank!

[erics3000]

i take a maxi jet and blow behind my foam made overflow structures. It does build up a little poop but at the same time gives a hiding area for smaller fish.

 

[Speckled Grouper]

My wall is far from water tight, as I have the back wall drilled for the closed loop and fish, serpent stars, shrimp etc use the holes to hide in. To be honest, I haven't given that any thought. But as long as Nitrate and Phosphates are zero, it shouldn't matter, right?

 

[texhorns98]

Good point about your CL. See, then you have flow behind your wall. I'm worried that poop ans food might end up being caught up back there. I guess you can always blow it out like erics3000 said, but what on earth would you do if you had an algae bloom back there!!

 

[Speckled Grouper]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14413951#post14413951 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by texhorns98
Good point about your CL. See, then you have flow behind your wall. I'm worried that poop ans food might end up being caught up back there. I guess you can always blow it out like erics3000 said, but what on earth would you do if you had an algae bloom back there!!

Not really because the returns are in the tank and not blowing behind the wall. I guess time will tell. I am also thinking, if Nitrates and Phosphates are low, there is nothing to worry about.

 

[erics3000]

I would still blow it out once ina while evan if you have good water parameters. I don't thin you will get much algae bloom back ther because ther is not that much light.

Looking foward to your new post and pics..

 

[Speckled Grouper]

I wouldn't be able to blow it out anyways, there is no way to get back there except a little area right around the CL returns.

 

[pheinzig]

This is mine, I pretty much have you to thank.

I have two packs of epoxy left, so what I plan to do is later today flip it over and dump the sand off it. Then use my last two packs to "Touch up the foam in bald spots.
I went through about $120 worth of epoxy/ $30 worth in sand/$4 in brushes/$80 in foam. So yes it wasn't cheap...but then again neither is live rock and with this foam wall, I wont need as much LR^^
Ill probably start off my 125 tank with 50lbs in the sump and mabee another 20-30 in the DT just for looks. If I find Im needingmore, I can always add more later.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[texhorns98]

pheinzig,

That's looking pretty cool! Are you worried about getting detritus and "gunk" trapped in the eggcrate that will be on the floor of your tank? What are your thoughts about blowing behind the wall, etc?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

That looks very good. I like the swim through cave, it will be great for holding coral too.

I originally had planned to use eggcrate on the floor to hold the "wall" down but it wasn't necessary. Regardless, it should be ok after it's covered with a few inches of sand.

 

[pheinzig]

Egg crate is left over from the original mold. I had plans of putting in some towers but took them out. This is the finished version:

I will cut it out as I place it in the tank. As for the back wall....I am going to silicone like crazy. I got 6 large tubes today of Dap 50 year. Ill have that puppy in tight against the wall.

I like the lava bulge. It looks pretty real, like lava oozing out of the ground.

I packed it with salt and then rinsed it off when it dried.

 

[Speckled Grouper]

I can already imagine that bulge covered with zoas.....

 

[zack1a]

Where does one procure this pond foam either online or otherwise.


Thanks,

 

[Speckled Grouper]

If you have any True Value Hardware stores in your area, call them, not every one carries it but if they do, that's where it's the cheapest.

 

[zack1a]

Did they carry the one you prefered, Touch n Foam Pond was it?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Yes, that was the one that worked best for me
http://www.touch-n-foam.com/landscape.php

 

[pheinzig]

If I may interject....I used three kinds of foam...I went to 4 hardware stores and all they had was a couple cans. When I went to ACE I found a dozen of great stuff. I wish now I had found the great stuff first.

It had double the coverage, and the color came out black. The others emptied after a few seconds of spraying.Great stuff did way more.

If i could do it over. I could have cut my cost by $40

Go for the great stuff UV pond foam. Its $11 a can and I found it at Ace.
But it has double the foam as the other 2 UV pond foam brands I bought.

And once again thank you so much Grouper. Your totally rad for posting what you did with foam. I did my best to follow everything you did. And it turned out awesome. Thank you for this wonderful improvement to my future tank.

 

[Dustin1300]

I cannot wait to see pics of it matured!

 

[Speckled Grouper]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14445852#post14445852 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pheinzig
It had double the coverage, and the color came out black. The others emptied after a few seconds of spraying.Great stuff did way more.

And once again thank you so much Grouper. Your totally rad for posting what you did with foam. I did my best to follow everything you did. And it turned out awesome. Thank you for this wonderful improvement to my future tank.

Hmmm, that is weird, the Touch n Foam was pretty good and had decent coverage for me.

The funniest (well may be not) thing is, that there are Aptaisias sprouting up all over the fake wall but nowhere there is live rock
I stay on top of them with Aptaisia X by Red Sea...

And no worries about Coralline Algae, my fake wall is turning purple!!!

 

[dslknl_1]

what a nice display of DYI

 

[pheinzig]

I didnt use "Touch N FOam",so I cant compare what I had in covarage vs the great stuff, and 2 other brands of "Pond Specific" foam. The special pond foam was a dissapointment compared to great stuff.