Foam stuff for the "rock work" look????

[gatohoser]

Here's a quote from there website's info on the stuff:

"INCOMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER MATERIALS: Avoid contact with acids, water,
alcohols, amines, ammonia, bases, moist air, and strong oxidizers. Avoid
contact with metals such as aluminum, brass, copper, galvanized metals, tin,
zinc. Avoid contact with moist organic absorbents. Reaction with water will
generate carbon dioxide and heat. Generation of gas can cause pressure
buildup in closed systems. Avoid unintended contact with polyols. The
reaction of polyols and isocyanates generate heat. Diisocyanates react with
many materials and the rate of reaction increases with temperature as well as
increased contact, these reactions can become violent. Contact is increased
by stirring or if the other material mixes with the diisocyanate.
Diisocyanates are not soluble in water and are denser than water and sink to
the bottom, but react slowly at the interface. The reaction forms carbon
dioxide gas and a layer of solid polyurea. See Hazardous Polymerization
Section."

http://www.dow.com/webapps/lit/litorder.asp?filepath=pusystems/pdfs/noreg/741-62848.pdf&pdf=true

Doesn't say anything above that about this being only when curing.



Note that I'm not saying this is gonna change anything. I am setting everything up to do this DIY as we speak. I just thought that was an interesting fact. It obviously isn't fast enough to cause any problems.

 

[Beenalongtime79]

gatohoser,

Just go and do it! Somewhere buried in this thread are naysayers to the foam as well so all that you've brought up has been said and done.

Just put in the foam and start enjoying your reef already.

Peace,
John H.

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

there's no way this stuff dissolves in water

water is a polar solvent

this stuff is as non-polar as it gets. if this stuff actually dissolved in water, it wouldn't be used as waterproofing inbetween windows and doors.

trust me, it's a completely waterproof closed cell foam product

thing your reading has to only apply when its uncured

 

[gatohoser]

All I'm saying is look I found an interesting fact from the manufacturer. I KNOW it's not going to dissolve to any noticable amount but if I had done this I would want to know that there's a possibility its releasing CO2 in case something ever does come up. Anyways the manufacturer said it, not me.

Anyways, Rufio173, ran out of time today getting the external overflow box stuff together. Tomorrow will be a big day! I'm gonna install the external overflow mod like Tunjee and I'm going to put in a foam background. I'm drying some aragonite sand on a tarp outside right now to be "stuccoed" onto the foam. Gonna be a LONGGGGG day tomorrow

 

[Fishguru]

well my first batch of Foam centered live rock is curing as we speak, i'll try and get a camera to get some pics in a few days....

 

[Beenalongtime79]

Have a lot of foam gatohoser. The end product is definitely worth it I think.

You know it when your little brother who has never really been impressed by your tanks tells you that it looks cool and looks "so natural"

Peace,
John H.

 

[Fishguru]

Never heard of gatohoser, did you compare it to the foam listed? If you did how was the cost compared to great stuff, and where did you get it?

 

[Shouse94]

alright well i figured enough talk, i'd go to a tester side of this fiberglass wall and see wth i came up with. The sheet is only 15" by 16", the size of a short side of my tank. Definitely doesn't look like a real wall yet but maybe w/ some paint and real rock/gravel attached it could have some serious potential i think.


I used the rock bed to apply some texture to the wall.

Still have some tape and foil to scrape off


Doh, have a hole to patch, i only did one layer, didnt see a reason for anymore.

Overall not a time consuming job, but far from done. I think i like the look it gives me and it should look a lot better w/ some paint and rock/sand applied.

 

[Fishguru]

looks pretty good, how long does it take to cure, to move on to the paint stage?

 

[Shouse94]

Curing not sure, i've heard to usually give a week to let it completely dry but that depends on how you mix your resin.
Those pictures were only about an hour old, the 'ol florida sun sure helps quicken the process. At that point it's more than dry enough to begin painting. As far as curing in water, idk, probably let it dry for another couple days and than soak it in water for at least a week before it'd ever see my tank.

 

[Shouse94]

Here's laying down the strofoam blocks for the ledges, i can basically make anyshapes i want and as many ledges in a pretty easy fashion.

 

[Fishguru]

does it stick very much to the foil or the tape, am wondering what else you could use to make a form if it did......cant wait to see more pictures of it painted

 

[gatohoser]

Oh man...I'm exhausted. I been outside cutting away at my 29g tank for like 6 hours. That dremel gets HOT man. Got half of the 10" of overflow teeth cut out and one practice hole in a scrap glass and the bulkhead fit perfectly. I guess this is gonna take me a while to try out the foam. I might finish the tank cutting in about 2 weeks. Then I can try the foam.

Fishguru,
The ingredients listed in the picture I posted exactly match great stuff so I don't know if there's any difference but I'll tell you guys when its up. I'm gonna have 250w of MH and maybe some more of actinics over this tank so we'll get a good test of how it holds up without paint and cement. As for the price it was 8.68 or something like that. Not sure how it compares to great stuff or if you get more foam from one or the other? How many cans does it take to do a small tank guys?

 

[Beenalongtime79]

gatohoser,

Depends on how deep or thick you want the foam, whether you want to make any significant ledges. It will probably take about one can to cover everything w/ a thin veil of foam and then you can use a second can to make ledges and what ever you want to do.

Peace,
John H.

 

[ToUcHoFeLeGaNcE]

geez this threads still kickin huh....looking good guy's.

 

[Shouse94]

I have a question now reguarding decorating the backdrop w/ rock. I was looking at using fake rock that would be used to decorate the outside of houses or chimneys. Seems pretty good stuff, i can get it small and many different colors. It woudlnt be porous like some liverock maybe, and definitely not odd shaped.
I was thinking that maybe the flat, platformy rock would look better anyways though to get a lot of different shelving. What do you guys think, should it be fine. Other option is to just head down to Tampa and get some real small pieces from TBS. thanks

 

[gatohoser]

Bad news guys! I called up Hilti and they said do NOT put the foam in water. They said it won't ever even dry if you do. So I guess Great Stuff has a monopoly on aquarium backgrounds Hope nobody bought any yet! So home depot should carry great stuff guys?

 

[Carl_in_Florida]

I think they meant that you should not put it in the tank if the water is already in there. It wont dry in a wet tank.
Do not fill the tank for several days after applying this (great) stuff :lol:

Carl

 

[H20ENG]

Yep. I've seen Hilti used for ponds, so its fine. All Polyurethanes are nasty until cured, then inert.
Just let it dry first

 

[gatohoser]

Really? Cuz I asked the guy that specifically and he spoke with a technician for me and called me back with that response. Well might as well use Great Stuff cuz its 3 dollars cheaper. I just returned my Hilti and picked up the great stuff.

An update on my plans:
I just noticed that it would be cool to have my intakes for my mag 9.5 closed loop inside of the wall so I am going to cut a piece of 4" pvc long wise into quarters and use them as overhangs in the back wall to cover my inlets. Hopefully I can get the pipe to turn 90 degrees before it runs against the pipe overhang. I also am thinking of covering my starboard with foam and sand on the foam to make a realistic bumpy surface with protection beneath it. I'd make it just thick enough to cover it. I might run out of vertical room doing this though and it will trap a lot of detritus probably so I'll have to think about it. But considering I'm going to have 118x turnover in the tank maybe that won't be a problem