The Foam/rock Projects Here Thread

[Gamepro_inc]

Florida Fighting Conchs

Florida Fighting Conchs

Does anyone have Florida Fighting Conchs in their system? Im not sure how they will be with a foam wall...I know urchins are a no no. I am looking for something to keep the sand bed clean in FOWLR tank. So with the new trend towards foam walls is it called FOWFR now, fish only with foam rock.

 

[newtank]

MALIII
I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the use of foam due to bouyancy. Of coarse I am biased because I did it and it and it worked great. I probablly have more foam than rock in terms of surface area. I waited until the foam started to set up and was no longer tacky, but yet still plyable, I smooshed the foam down, removing alot of air and reshaping the curvature to look more natural, used a serated knife to saw alot of excess foam, then coated in sweet water epoxy and two layers of sand, I also used 14 tubes of silicone sealant- not adhesive to "glue" the five pannels into my 265g DT. Still there with no sign of movement. I also placed a bead of silicone all along the perimeter of the pannels, so little to no water is behind the pannels, it's more art then science, and certainly subjective based on one's taste, but anyone who see's my wall is impressed, plus I have more surface area for biological filtration, no need to clean the glass, more natural looking aquascape, I think that the foam was easy to use and according to those who did it years ago pretty durable.

 

[MalIII]

Newtank,

I would like to see a photo.

I took my eggcrate and stipped everything off of them. I added more rock and redid the foam, using much less foam and I got it to work. The pannels were closer to neutral boyancy. But as I said, that pond foam will float an elephant!

 

[rhkingsfan]

Thanks to this thread (and Speckled Grouper's thread), I decided to bite the bullet and try the rock wall on my 100 gallon cube. Here are some pics.

Some of the buoyancy comments have me a little worried, but what I did was silicon the base eggcrate first, then I siliconed the rock walls and then epoxied them to the base eggcrate. I then stacked all my live rock on top of the base eggcrate. Its only been two weeks, but no issues so far. I used the great stuff pond and z poxy with sugar size sand.

 

[MalIII]

Rhkingsfan, nice Photos and very helpful. Nice Job.

Do you put the epoxy on first and then put the sand on it?
Do you epoxy over the sand too?

 

[rhkingsfan]

Thanks Mal. I used the epoxy first then sprinkled the sand over it.

 

[marc111]

I like these builds, but I would like to offer one suggestion. Espescially in regards to corner overflows. More care should be taken with the foam and the rocks chosen so that when you are done the rectangular shape and lines are concealed. Nature mostly hates straight lines and show should our backgrounds. With a little care in the foaming and rock distribution you can completely fool the eye into not noticing the main tank shapes we are trying to hide.

Keep it looking like a reef.

My 2 cents,
Mark

 

[bradhass87]

I figured I would tack on my 120g wall build.

I used the great stuff pond foam version. I also used fibre glass resin to adher the crushed coral.

It's been up and running for two months now. I'll get a new pic up soon.

 

[OCEAN SIZE]

BADASS, bradhass87.

Seriously. Straight cold pimpin'.
:bum:

 

[kyle1284]

Bradhass that is sweet!! Have you dumped water in it to see if it floats or stays put? How did you get such a dence look to the wall? It does not look "foamy" at all!!!

 

[ReefinRedhead]

a member of our local club turned me on to this thread. his wall inspired me to try my own wall. i see many of you use bondo fiberglass resin others say 'aint no way" no one has stated exactly why!

 

[wastememphis]

Here is my build:

 

[yousmellsfishy]

:eek2: WOW!!! Nice!!!!

 

[BPro32]

I'm going to need to consult all of these for ideas. I hope to start building my own foam wall within the next few weeks.

 

[ReefinRedhead]

i wonder, has anyone tried using those balloons that they make animals with . to make caves and such. seems that you could snake it around the eggcrate and tie it down. then cover with the foam and pop the balloon.

 

[customcolor]

i wonder, has anyone tried using those balloons that they make animals with . to make caves and such. seems that you could snake it around the eggcrate and tie it down. then cover with the foam and pop the balloon.

i would first try it out to see if the foam will release the balloon after its pop or just stick to that too. i found out that foam will stick to walmart bags but not garbage bags. so you never know.

 

[woolyt2]

is putting the epoxy resin on just so the sand will stick or is there another reason ?

 

[BPro32]

Anybody put the foam directly on the back of the tank with success?

Sorry I didn't read through every post here, just kind of looked through pictures

 

[ReefinRedhead]

i would first try it out to see if the foam will release the balloon after its pop or just stick to that too. i found out that foam will stick to walmart bags but not garbage bags. so you never know.

well my husband suggested using a condom that doesn't have a spermicide or lubricated. i'm going to give it a try and the balloon and i'll post up the results

 

[customcolor]

Anybody put the foam directly on the back of the tank with success?

Sorry I didn't read through every post here, just kind of looked through pictures

on an acrylic tank you can do this...on a glass tank dont do it....it may stay for a wile but it will slowly peel up..then you'll be mad!