sam.basye
New member
I have finally decide to create a build thread! It took some convincing, but here I am. 
I recently just finished the foam rock wall in my 26gal bowfront I acquired for cheap off eBay about a year ago. The tank has been in storage for months until recently; now that I have a place to set it up. I started the hobby with freshwater tanks in my college dorm room and have since added saltwater to the list for about a year and a half now. My first fish were two Atlantic Killifish (small bait-fish found fighting the waves as they wash up in SC - about 2" long). I have had a couple of Pico tanks with various types of corals and inverts. My current setup includes a 5 gal tank with a green chromis, pistol shrimp, Clibanarius vittatus hermit crab, a dwarf hermit (tan w/ orange joints and zebra eye stalks), a speckled olive snail I never see, mithrax crab, small white whelk and a small orange giant horse conch, (both of which will not make it to the bowfront as they kill all other snails), a red mangrove propagule and coral which include: neon green torch, baby neon green hammer, orange tube coral, reddish montipora spongodes, green digitata, green/purple stylophora, and two different types of green star polyps.
The first order of business for the build was to design the wall. I wanted to cover the entire wall and the intake on the Tetra 30-60 HOB filter I had in addition to some of the sides. The plan was to conceal everything so that I is clean and natural looking. I bought a mini skimmer a while back so I incorporated it into the design as well.
The wall is made of eggcrate, black pond foam, lace rock, zip ties, shells, and contact cement covered with beach sand from Clearwater, FL.
I started building the wall this past summer and the project kind of got put on hold for a while. I first measure the tank and cut the eggcrate to fit. I drilled holes in the rocks were they would be zip-tied to the eggcrate and then foamed around them. I used both Beckett pond foam and Touch "˜n foam landscape foam, both performed equally well. I threw on some crushed lace rock after application, but only a little stayed put.
The foam was applied in random patterns to prevent "œlines" and unnatural looking rockwork. After about 10-15 minutes, the top of the foam has dried with a skin-like layer. That is when I would press the foam to release the air and prevent unappealing glossy black bubbly looking foam. The foam at this stage can be pressed out to a thickness of about ½" to ¾" or left alone to about 1 ½". If the foam gets on anything it's not supposed to, probably won't be able to remove it. If you foam the eggcrate on top of a trash bag, it won't stick to it, it will stay sticky.
The foam that spread through the back of the eggcrate was cut flush with my dremel after it was completely dry. The foam can be cut and chunks can be torn out for a more natural look. I only did this when it had folded over when pushing air out or had big round blobs.
I didn't take into consideration that the top of the tank has a plastic lip and of course"¦ the wall didn't fit anymore. I had to break the wall in half to get it to fit and force it together once inside the tank. I then re-foamed the seam and any other gaps or holes that I saw. I had to cut down the foam at the outflow of the HOB filter to prevent bubbles and I cut teeth into the over flow area.
I opted to cut a small piece of acrylic to super glue beneath the left outflow (right side has the carbon and floss, Left side just has floss so it flows more). Left side is where my mangrove propagule will live. The water flowing over the top of the wall was causing bubbles to shoot into the water-no like. So the piece of acrylic solved the issue. The low flow side just runs over the edge of the wall and down.
I decided that I didn't want Snappy, my pistol shrimp, burrowing under the foam wall and living in the back so I siliconed the edges and the bottom of the wall. The wall was such a tight fit and the use of silicone keep the wall from floating.
This left me with about a 2" gap behind ¾ of the back wall. The skimmer is situated in the center of the back all with the heater to its left and the HOB filter to the edge. The intake tube extends down into the center of the "œbuilt-in refuge" against the back of the foam wall. I have an under-cabinet fluorescent tube fixture that will be mounted behind the tank for the "œfuge". Undecided of its contents as of now however"¦
I had to build a 2x4 extension to the cabinet it would be sitting on as it was not quite big enough for the tank.
The sides of the tank where the eggcrate shows through will probably be covered with some form of window tint to black it out, yet still be removable.
I modified the fluorescent lighting hood by removing the fixture and splicing a 12v dc fan to work with the existing light switch on the back. The light is a Current USA Orbit Marine LED. It is slim and should function for what I'm going to keep. I liked the ramp timer feature that it comes with. It fits nicely inside the hollowed out hood and is fairly bright.
I also re-purposed a small flashlight by taking out the contents and installing a 3w t10 12w LED that will be mounted to the wall for the mangrove propagule.
I will be adding my mini canister filter to the tank once my current livestock can be relocated to the bowfront. Not sure where the return flow will go as of yet.
As of now, the tank has been cycling with RO water for about a week and I'm about to mix the salt. Next action is to start the cycling with some live rock within the next week and I'm planning on stocking it around the first week of January. This gives ample amount of time for everything to run its course and to not rush anything. I couldn't be happier with the way the wall has turned out so far.
If there are any questions, comments, or concerns with any part of the build, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer all of them!
Sam
Build Pics - better pics to follow in around 2 weeks when I have my camera.
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I recently just finished the foam rock wall in my 26gal bowfront I acquired for cheap off eBay about a year ago. The tank has been in storage for months until recently; now that I have a place to set it up. I started the hobby with freshwater tanks in my college dorm room and have since added saltwater to the list for about a year and a half now. My first fish were two Atlantic Killifish (small bait-fish found fighting the waves as they wash up in SC - about 2" long). I have had a couple of Pico tanks with various types of corals and inverts. My current setup includes a 5 gal tank with a green chromis, pistol shrimp, Clibanarius vittatus hermit crab, a dwarf hermit (tan w/ orange joints and zebra eye stalks), a speckled olive snail I never see, mithrax crab, small white whelk and a small orange giant horse conch, (both of which will not make it to the bowfront as they kill all other snails), a red mangrove propagule and coral which include: neon green torch, baby neon green hammer, orange tube coral, reddish montipora spongodes, green digitata, green/purple stylophora, and two different types of green star polyps.
The first order of business for the build was to design the wall. I wanted to cover the entire wall and the intake on the Tetra 30-60 HOB filter I had in addition to some of the sides. The plan was to conceal everything so that I is clean and natural looking. I bought a mini skimmer a while back so I incorporated it into the design as well.
The wall is made of eggcrate, black pond foam, lace rock, zip ties, shells, and contact cement covered with beach sand from Clearwater, FL.
I started building the wall this past summer and the project kind of got put on hold for a while. I first measure the tank and cut the eggcrate to fit. I drilled holes in the rocks were they would be zip-tied to the eggcrate and then foamed around them. I used both Beckett pond foam and Touch "˜n foam landscape foam, both performed equally well. I threw on some crushed lace rock after application, but only a little stayed put.
The foam was applied in random patterns to prevent "œlines" and unnatural looking rockwork. After about 10-15 minutes, the top of the foam has dried with a skin-like layer. That is when I would press the foam to release the air and prevent unappealing glossy black bubbly looking foam. The foam at this stage can be pressed out to a thickness of about ½" to ¾" or left alone to about 1 ½". If the foam gets on anything it's not supposed to, probably won't be able to remove it. If you foam the eggcrate on top of a trash bag, it won't stick to it, it will stay sticky.
The foam that spread through the back of the eggcrate was cut flush with my dremel after it was completely dry. The foam can be cut and chunks can be torn out for a more natural look. I only did this when it had folded over when pushing air out or had big round blobs.
I didn't take into consideration that the top of the tank has a plastic lip and of course"¦ the wall didn't fit anymore. I had to break the wall in half to get it to fit and force it together once inside the tank. I then re-foamed the seam and any other gaps or holes that I saw. I had to cut down the foam at the outflow of the HOB filter to prevent bubbles and I cut teeth into the over flow area.
I opted to cut a small piece of acrylic to super glue beneath the left outflow (right side has the carbon and floss, Left side just has floss so it flows more). Left side is where my mangrove propagule will live. The water flowing over the top of the wall was causing bubbles to shoot into the water-no like. So the piece of acrylic solved the issue. The low flow side just runs over the edge of the wall and down.
I decided that I didn't want Snappy, my pistol shrimp, burrowing under the foam wall and living in the back so I siliconed the edges and the bottom of the wall. The wall was such a tight fit and the use of silicone keep the wall from floating.
This left me with about a 2" gap behind ¾ of the back wall. The skimmer is situated in the center of the back all with the heater to its left and the HOB filter to the edge. The intake tube extends down into the center of the "œbuilt-in refuge" against the back of the foam wall. I have an under-cabinet fluorescent tube fixture that will be mounted behind the tank for the "œfuge". Undecided of its contents as of now however"¦
I had to build a 2x4 extension to the cabinet it would be sitting on as it was not quite big enough for the tank.
The sides of the tank where the eggcrate shows through will probably be covered with some form of window tint to black it out, yet still be removable.
I modified the fluorescent lighting hood by removing the fixture and splicing a 12v dc fan to work with the existing light switch on the back. The light is a Current USA Orbit Marine LED. It is slim and should function for what I'm going to keep. I liked the ramp timer feature that it comes with. It fits nicely inside the hollowed out hood and is fairly bright.
I also re-purposed a small flashlight by taking out the contents and installing a 3w t10 12w LED that will be mounted to the wall for the mangrove propagule.
I will be adding my mini canister filter to the tank once my current livestock can be relocated to the bowfront. Not sure where the return flow will go as of yet.
As of now, the tank has been cycling with RO water for about a week and I'm about to mix the salt. Next action is to start the cycling with some live rock within the next week and I'm planning on stocking it around the first week of January. This gives ample amount of time for everything to run its course and to not rush anything. I couldn't be happier with the way the wall has turned out so far.
If there are any questions, comments, or concerns with any part of the build, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer all of them!
Sam
Build Pics - better pics to follow in around 2 weeks when I have my camera.
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