Foam/Rock Wall for my 265 gallon Tank!

[Speckled Grouper]

thats an amazing tank I wish i had the time and patients to do something like that and let it grow to some as beautiful as your tank is!

Thanks, Jimmy, but is grows by itself, I just add "fertilizer"....
Had a little Alk problem due to malfunction of the calcium reactor, but I will take some new tanks shots as soon as everything gets back to normal...unless it all dies......:worried2:

 

[Gamepro_inc]

Just curious, have you had any problem with the foam falling apart over time, I read reports of this even with pond foam? I love the look and plan on doing this to my 90 but was worried about the long term, how long has your been up?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

My tank has been up since August of 2008 and I have no problems with the foam whatsoever. It's rock solid, coraline is growing on it and I would do it again any time.

 

[Mav2]

Thankyou so much for your thread :spin2:

....with your's and others help, I created this (2 weeks ago)

 

[kcress]

Mav2; That really clean and nice. Well done!

Do I detect LED lighting?

 

[Mav2]

Thanks very much (...sorry to hijack your thread Speckled Grouper....) I'm still waiting on my Light units to arrive but in the meantime Im using a old 36" light unit and 2 aqua ray (actinic blue) LED's ...their visual effects are pretty impressive.

Speckled Grouper, how is the tank? Do you have any recent FTS? I think I read somewhere you were battled sone cyno algae, a while ago. How is that going?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Mav, that looks great!
My tank had some trouble due to an Alk drop and I lost most of my Montis and some Birdsnests. So not much to look at right now

 

[Jarret]

As everybody else has stated already, you did an amazing job with the tank Grouper. The rock wall looks fantastic and looks very natural.

I am definitely going to be implementing a foam rock wall when I set up my first tank

 

[Mav2]

Thanks very much Grouper. Your Tank is amazing and I'm sure it will be back to it's best in no time at all. Good luck, you deserve it :wave:

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Thanks Mav, I am doing a lot of water changes and I hope to be on track again real soon. Happens to everybody sooner or later I guess.....

 

[newtank]

Any guess as to what caused the Alk to drop? It couldn't be related to the foam or epoxy right?

 

[newtank]

Speckled- Did you use silicone sealant or silicone adhesive to mount the rock pannels to the glass/overflows? Also once the pannels cured and you completed the seams and they cured- did you fill your tank with tap water then drain, or did you fill with RO?

Thanks again, sorry if I missed it somewhere...

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Any guess as to what caused the Alk to drop? It couldn't be related to the foam or epoxy right?

Nooo, it was related to my housekeeper unplugging the Calcium Reactor :worried::eek2::hmm4:

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Speckled- Did you use silicone sealant or silicone adhesive to mount the rock pannels to the glass/overflows? Also once the pannels cured and you completed the seams and they cured- did you fill your tank with tap water then drain, or did you fill with RO?

Thanks again, sorry if I missed it somewhere...

Yes, we used Silicone to attache the panels to the glass. We filled it with tap water before we put NSW in.

 

[newtank]

Do you recall if the type of silicone you used was sealant or adhesive? only curious because your tank was my muse, I have the same 265 and did my wall much the same way, but realized after the fact that I used sealant not adhesive. I'm thinking I'll be ok becuase I used 14 tubes...seems bonded. also when you added tap water did you run it for a while before draining and adding NSW? any testing in between? Mine is all done, just getting ready to wet the wall. I hope your tank comes back and your new house keeper works out!

 

[newtank]

heres a few pics of my speck inspired tank. Maybe someday I will get around to a build thread....:beer:

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Wow, your tank looks great!
To be honest, I don't remember what we used, I think it was the Silicone Sealant though in the tube. We ran tab water for a day or so to leak test, maybe not even that long. Did you let everything dry for a week?

 

[newtank]

Good news, the silicone sealant works, no floating pannels and I saved over $70 by not using the adhesive. I did the tap water leak test for the 4th time, everything going well- but our local utility company uses a LOT of Lime to condition the water, so I have spent a lot of time with vinegar and a pan scraper removing the white film off of everything. I'm afraid the remaining residual in the pipes will raise the PH short term, I guess we will see. two days of RO filling then we add the salt! Thanks again for your documentation, it;s given me the confidence to try it and I'm glad I did.

AB

 

[RaudelJr]

Beautiful rock walls!!

I just happen to be another person with the exact same tank!!! 265gal!! HMM what am I going to do? I already have 195lbs of Live Rock, and about 100lbs more soon for a total of at least 300lbs of Live Rock.
I kinda have a short beginners thread here where a bunch of you are helping me learn this new hobby: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1836056&highlight=raudel

Now with all the reading on Rock Walls I don't know what I should do?
A bunch of Live Rock in the center of the tank isn't going to cut it! NOPE! Not after reading this thread!

Well for starters I need to push my Stand builder! He is taking his sweet time and I can't wait any longer.

Newtank, can't wait to see how ur tank turns out.

Raudel

 

[newtank]

Hey why not get started on the walls while you wait? The only thing I would do differently on mine would be to take a little more time in getting the radius for the overflows to more closely match the shape of my pannels. I used a ton of silicone on the back pannels for the overflow covers becuase they came out more like squares then quarter rounds. I was able to flex them a good deal, but I'm just saying be patient and cut the egg crate in narrower strips and zip tie them loosely so you can get the shape tight.

You have to wait forever for the curing and such, so if your waiting on the stand getting the pannels done may be a good idea. One more thing, I used sweet water for the epxoy, which is used in public aquarium build projects- it;s a little pricey, but if you add up the cost of all the small kits and inconvienence the sweet water is the way to go IMHO.
Keep your build thread going!