After finishing with the foam and zip ties to hold the rock to the eggcrate... I used epoxy to cover the foam (protecting it from UV degredation) and sprinkled on aragonite to cover it.
The square blue holes will hold the tunzes. You are seeing the side views and bottom, which will be hidden when viewing from the front. Since the rock structures are hollow, I am hoping the pumps will pull water from the open areas right below, thus, circulating water through the live rock. Also, the rock "floats" off the substrate to hopefully avoid detritus build up.
These two pieces sit flush against the back wall of the tank to hide the center overflow, tunzes, the back right corner. I did some testing to see which parts will be hardest to keep the coralline off, and, I am covering these areas with rock structures. It is my taste that I prefer a clean blue background to create an illusion of infinity. These rocks will also be shaded with blue around the periphery to add a "3D" look and make them appear less flat then they really are. Then, I will create pillars and arches for the forground.
Tomorrow, I will shop vac off the extra aragonite and do some touch up work.
I threw a piece of uncured rock in my sump, and my skimmer started producing skimmate within 30 minutes. LOTS of it.
I have a feeling the system is really going to get a good test when I put the rock in to cure. Hopefully, by this weekend. Then, I will only have light installation to tackle!
At this point, it looks like I will get by with about 200 lbs. of live rock and other 50 pounds of "TUFA" to use as random base rock. All of this is dry and I will need to decide if I want to risk seeding with any "wet" live rock. I suppose I could put this in my sump. That might keep certain pests (predatory shrimp etc...) out of the display.
)... in my situation I need to avoid negative pressure in the basement. So, if I exhaust basement air, it must be "fed" fresh air. If not, I could pull CO back into the house from the water heaters.
