looking for black foam

[sillygoose]

I am going to build some sort of background for our 180. Does anyone know where the best place to get the black foam stuff is? The stuff at Home Depot and Lowes is almost $13 a bottle. I know Great Stuff is way cheaper but I know the pond stuff is fish safe. Also, in some of the threads I've read, people prefer other stuff better than great stuff (greater stuff?). I may need a bunch.

 

[BonesCJ]

I always got mine at SW saltwater, you can also order it through Drs Foster Smith. I like the great stuff and it has worked very well on multiple tanks and is still holding strong on my 210, it took me 6 cans to do that tank, which is a foot longer than a standard 180

 

[SahuaritaMike]

13 a can is pretty good actually. I used to go to the lowes on ina and outside in the pond section they seem to always have some expired foam (only by a month or 2) and I used to show the cashiers and they always got manager approval to discount the heck out of them like 75% off. . When u are ready to do it u will need to silicone some egg crate to the glass in order for the foam to stay in tack if not when u fill with water the foam will come off because it won't stick to bare glass. My 2 cents

Mike

 

[sillygoose]

Thanks guys.

 

[mattsummers]

i used 3 cans in my 50 gallon

 

[sillygoose]

Matt - did you use any rock in the background or is it all foam? Mine is currently foam that is covered with coralline but I wanted to do some rock work too. I'm getting an idea of how much foam I might need.

 

[mattsummers]

i attached a lot of rock with silicone, then foamed. all of my rock in the tank is attached with silicone and foam, then i took a grinder to the foam to make it a more natural shape. then covered with sand using epoxy.

 

[Jmnazari]

Just curious, what type of epoxy?

 

[sillygoose]

I'm not sure yet. I will probably use one of the ones recommended in the DIY threads. I'm torn. I know a lot of people don't like the black foam backgrounds but I like the one I have now. I like how the black is a dramatic background for my corals and for the coralline. But if I want to incorporate any rock into the back, that would look horrible without covering the foam with sand. I need to stare at the tank this weekend and sketch out some possibilities. And soon enough it will be covered with coralline anyway - I hope. I do know that while I like some of the more elaborate rock backgrounds as inspiration, my final design will be much more subtle whichever way I go.

Any thoughts on black vs sand?

 

[aquaph8]

Matt, you should post some pics of yours, it might help. Sillygoose, cant wait to see it.

 

[savageAJC]

sillygoose, use lots of rock it look better. I didnt epoxy mine for my 20gal but the coralline covered it up pretty quickly- i LOVED the look of it.

In my tank right now its pretty lame because i havent been taking care of it. the whole tank is just..sad right now haha.

but the foam expands A LOT. itll keep expanding for hours so watch out for that..

 

[sillygoose]

Thanks for letting me know to watch for expansion. Does that mean to use less than I think I want?

Do you have any pics of your 20?

And the light colored rock didn't look weird with the black foam??

 

[BonesCJ]

as the foam cures you can squish and press it with your hands to form it into shapes

 

[savageAJC]

^ wear gloves this stuff is a hassle to completely get off. I would recommend using a bit less than you want. If itsmateo is around he'll vouch for using less haha =p
Most of the rocks I used were
Darker colored or covered in dead coralline already lol.

I also put empty turbo snail shells here and there and my
Blenny loved to hop back and forth between them.

I should still have pics of the tank I'll do them
Out when I'm home

 

[sillygoose]

cool - I'd love to see