Join me for a strange one...

[serpentman]

It's looking good. My only critique would be that I would avoid a symmetrical pattern to give it a little more "natural" feel.

 

[noahm]

you could try and use sand on the bottom so that you can vary the shapes and keep them from having a flat bottom.

I think what you are suggesting is casting the projections in a container of damp sand where you can shape the bottom. Correct? You could even form a flare at the back edge if you use a square container so it had plenty of surface to embed in the back pour.

 

[kcress]

Thanks Kcress,
that's exactly what I was trying to describe. the sand does a nice job at holding the newly mixed "rock" in it's shape until it dries without having a flat bottom to it. I believe it also adds to it's strength by making the rock thicker in places based on the shapes you make in your sand mold.

I am having a bit of a hard time with the sand concept. I can't see how, in the process of forming fin-like shapes, you don't end up with the impressions having smooth man-made looking internal surfaces.

It's looking good. My only critique would be that I would avoid a symmetrical pattern to give it a little more "natural" feel.

So... My clever 'heaved strata look' isn't fooling you? :fun2:

I think what you are suggesting is casting the projections in a container of damp sand where you can shape the bottom. Correct? You could even form a flare at the back edge if you use a square container so it had plenty of surface to embed in the back pour.

I'm a little skeptical that a bunch of fins -even green ones- will integrate adequately into this large thin panel to prevent a general panel failure in handling. The 34" height is a bit daunting.

I wonder if I can cast these panels in three sections with adjacent ones separated by plastic wrap so the joints can non straight - random. Then I could handle the 34" panel in three manageable pieces. Could I make the three so they interlock well enough to free stand?

I'd be fine with integrating green fins into the panels if they were only about 11" each.

 

[serpentman]

So... My clever 'heaved strata look' isn't fooling you? :fun2:

I mean I'm totally fooled. :lolspin:

Actually, when all is said and done and corals are mounted and grown in, the symmetry shouldn't be apparent.

 

[kcress]

Here's what I have so far.
I'm not impressed.....

I am still pursuing the horizontal fins sticking out of the back panel. Because I can't make them tall enough out of the material, WHILE I lay up the panel itself, I am pre-casting the fins two different ways.
One way is to mold them into the sand. This is what I set up for that mission.

Here's the grooves that I'll fill in with the rock mix.

Here is the the mix added.

Here's an alternative for casting fins. I laid down sand that will preclude the dread Flat Side problem. I dropped lots of broken pieces down for texture. This will make one large pizza that I can break up for shard fins.

Tomorrow I'll turn these all out and we'll see what happened.


.

 

[dzfish17]

Ive been waiting patiently for an update (didnt want you to feel pressured). I wish I could add something but I havent started playing with the diy rock yet. I hope you dont mind but Im hoping to use some of youre ideas for my future build. Have you put any of the pieces in the tank to see what they will look like?

Dave

 

[kcress]

Ive been waiting patiently for an update (didnt want you to feel pressured). I wish I could add something but I havent started playing with the diy rock yet. I hope you dont mind but Im hoping to use some of youre ideas for my future build. Have you put any of the pieces in the tank to see what they will look like?

Dave

Greetings Dave. No I haven't put any in the tank. I shudder thinking about it as my acrylic tank scratches if you hold something sharp within about 3 feet of it.

Certainly use anything you see here!




Here's the fins that the sand casting produced.

I'm concerned that these coarse but thin structures will fail. They are quite weak, some breaking at the thinnest spots while just removing them from the sand.

Here was the pancake stuff. It would work - no dread flat bottom.

It's really hard to express depth with a 2D camera. I'm always amazed at how flattened everything results. Whatever depth and texture you can make out... Multiply it by 10X to approach reality.

 

[kcress]

If this is feeling slow to you.. It's killing me. :hmm5:

Then I think about the curing cycle..




So! In an effort to speed up things. I'm bailing out of this Portland based MMLR.

I have shifted to full ceramic. I will be laying up everything in clay and firing it all. I will be bisque firing it only, so that it remains entirely connected to the water inside and out.

Shifting to clay will allow me to build the cross sections I want without strength concerns.

Stay tuned. I will start this immediately.

 

[XSiVE]

ceramic! Im excited to see how this goes!!

 

[Dustin1300]

I love this build and cannot wait till the clay build starts. Too bad I don't have access to a kiln as I've not seen rock built in this way before....

 

[BeanAnimal]

I was going to ask... didn't the guy up the street have a pallet of clay you could dig into?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Ceramic! Interesting, can't wait to see what you come up with!

 

[kcress]

ceramic! Im excited to see how this goes!!

You and me both. Was funny. I went over to my ceramics buddy's house to talk about Portland based rock. I was going to ask if he knew of any mix that would be like cake frosting so I could make little spires and more detail and he was like - "No! Just use clay, I'll set you up."

I love this build and cannot wait till the clay build starts. Too bad I don't have access to a kiln as I've not seen rock built in this way before....

Thanks Dustin! Me too! I have to sketch up my needed dimensions so he can set me up with what I need to do the work. Nice part about ceramic is that I can make it in smaller inter-locking pieces if I desire. Something really hard to do in Portland.

I was going to ask... didn't the guy up the street have a pallet of clay you could dig into?

Yeah - you got it buddy! He's the guy.

Ceramic! Interesting, can't wait to see what you come up with!

Hi Sugar. He points out that I can also paint with glaze anything I want any color I want. I can't actually see any advantage to that but if you guys do, please point it out.

 

[XSiVE]

I'd be concerned with paint / glaze chipping off, though I suppose it's like a dish in the kitchen at that point isnt it? so it wouldnt just chip off on its own.. I guess the drawback at that point would be if you had a rock smash into it, you then have a big white spot if the ceramic + paint glaze chips similar to dropping a dish from a small distance.

 

[dzfish17]

Very interesting! (in a german accent)

Dave

 

[dantimdad]

I wouldn't glaze it. Ceramic is pourous and therefore would house a lot of bacteria. Leave it bare and let coralline color it eventually.

 

[JasonBJones]

KCress- If you are not 100% set on going with ceramics yet, I think you can make a wall that looks natural and gives you the ledges and things you are desiring using MMLR. I built my walls out of MMLR and I have been really happy with the results. I used pieces of dry rock and built the walls around it focusing on trying to make sure I didn't make it look artificial.

If you like it and want to learn more, I am happy to share my process. I will say waiting on it to cure was a PITA. Here it is:

 

[dantimdad]

That's only a 20L! It looks huge in the pics!

 

[kcress]

I'm with you dantimdad! That looks like about 70 gallons from here.


JasonBJones; Thanks much for the offer. Your's looks very natural. I like it a lot. It looks likes like it has a fairly large cross section. Is it very heavy? I'm concerned that 34" x 21" panels would be too heavy to handle. Thoughts?

Either way I'm interested in your process. Did you make a bunch of rocks then 'crete' them together directly into the tank?

 

[RiffRaff]

this build is absolutely absurd. God, I love it so.