My DIY Rock/Foam Reef

[Kannin]

220 gallon with external overflows... 72" L x 30" W x 24' H.

 

[aries70]

very cool I like it, good job

 

[DOTZ]

WOW! Looks awsome. Care to elaborate more on the build?

 

[Turbovinny]

very nice!!!!!!!!!! any more close up of the center piece

 

[corpus7]

how did you make the rock?

 

[Kannin]

I started by constructing a framework from eggcrate...

Then I zip tied 150 lbs of Marco Rock to it...

Then I filled in the gaps with Great Stuff insulating spray foam. (this actually tightend up the structure alot)...

 

[Kannin]

Then I used an epoxy finishing resin on the foam and covered it in sand and crushed coral...

 

[Kannin]

I learned this all from a thread by a guy in England named Tiggsy. I just know a good thing when I see it...

Hopefully, you can see the center piece a little better. It's got a 3 way pass thru for tangs + a gobie cave behind it. The structure has several other pass thru type caves and gobie type spots as well...

 

[ShipOFools]

i am thinking of doing this but am worried that the foam will leach into the tank. have you heard or read anything on this? also what epoxy resin? or are they all the same?

 

[alpine]

ShipOFools
The foam is inert when cured,so no problems with it leaching anything into the tank.

Kannin
Great work on the wall,I see Tiggsy has left his mark on the hobby with this combo he came up with.I am planning on doing the same to my nano in the near future.I have to say your setup looks way better then tiggsy's does,and you dont even have water in it yet.

Gonna have to keep an eye in this thread to see what the final outcome looks like once you have corals and fish in the tank.

 

[rick12]

looks great! will the wall you constructed seed and become live over-time?

 

[Vinnie71975]

Does Anyone know what kind of epoxy finishing resin to use when doing the Spray foam rock work? Will the stuff you buy for Fiber glass work(without using the fiberglass pads of course)? Cause the Fiber glass Epoxy resin with hardener is about all i can find where im from.

 

[alpine]

Rick12
Yes the rock will become live over time.

Vinnie I replied to your PM.

 

[Kannin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11658864#post11658864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alpine
ShipOFools
The foam is inert when cured,so no problems with it leaching anything into the tank.

Kannin
Great work on the wall,I see Tiggsy has left his mark on the hobby with this combo he came up with.I am planning on doing the same to my nano in the near future.I have to say your setup looks way better then tiggsy's does,and you dont even have water in it yet.

Gonna have to keep an eye in this thread to see what the final outcome looks like once you have corals and fish in the tank.

Thank you for the nice words. The tank of the month used the same stuff.

 

[Kannin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11658939#post11658939 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Vinnie71975
Does Anyone know what kind of epoxy finishing resin to use when doing the Spray foam rock work? Will the stuff you buy for Fiber glass work(without using the fiberglass pads of course)? Cause the Fiber glass Epoxy resin with hardener is about all i can find where im from.

The epoxy that I used was a two part finishing resin that I bought at a model train store. Tiggsy used a product called "Z-Poxy" fro Zap, (the original super glue company). I could only find it on line and I needed quicker so I used the other stuff.

 

[Kannin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11658904#post11658904 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rick12
looks great! will the wall you constructed seed and become live over-time?

I have some very rich (in life) live rock and cheato in my other fuge that I will seed it with. I'll also use some coraline scrapings to speed up the process.

 

[alpine]

Hey Kannin
Just a little hint to help you with the spread of coraline algae.I always use a small fully coraline encrusted rock with a powerhead or one of my returns pointed at it to spread the coraline around.

Believe it or not it actually works.I was very skeptical about 6 years ago when a friend told me to try it.After a month,you could literally see that the coraline was spreading across the tank covering all the rocks and glass.

 

[Tunjee]

Very nice! How did you make the external overflow?

 

[Kannin]

Thanks Alpine... for thew coraline tip.

Tunjee... I purchased the tank with the external overflows on it.

 

[truthdesigns]

WOW Nice job!!!