The Foam/rock Projects Here Thread

[yousmellsfishy]

There have been alot of suggestions about how to secure the foam to prevent it from floating up. Here's my recommendation: Use as much real rock as possible and use the foam only to fill in the spaces in between the rocks. The foam rock walls that I've done ( 4 and counting ) were all done with enough rock that they actually weren't bouyant. - problem solved. Plus, IMHO, the texture of the real rock can't be beat.

 

[CoRPS]

Agreed, about 90% of my wall will be rock

 

[yousmellsfishy]

I am particularly interested in yours, CoRPS, as my next project will also be a 20L AIO.

 

[yousmellsfishy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13754034#post13754034 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EWC88
Yousmellsfishy, when you did yours, I see you zip-tied the rock to the eggcrate, then did the waterfall foam thing, then added your home-made sand. Did you add the sand right after you added the foam?

I let the foam cure for a couple of days then added the sand. Also, after the foam hardened, I cut out the zip ties, as they were no longer needed to hold the rocks in place.

 

[CoRPS]

I didn't do anything today, I probably won't be finishing the wall until next weekend, it's really a pain in the ***.

I have to chisel the rock, drill the rock, find a good spot, zip tie it... oh man.... Anyway I'm going to try and do a bit more tomorrow though.

Bad part is I got the regular Great Stuff foam instead of the pond foam. I'm a little nervous about it.

Edit: You should check out my post about shaping the foam while it's still soft. The piece I took a picture of is sitting on my desk and even though it's a pale color I mistake it for being a rock all the time. (bottom of page 3)

 

[EWC88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13754128#post13754128 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yousmellsfishy
I let the foam cure for a couple of days then added the sand. Also, after the foam hardened, I cut out the zip ties, as they were no longer needed to hold the rocks in place.

How did it stick to the foam if i was cured? Was it still sticky or did you have to put something on it for it to stick?

 

[maddmaxx]

yousmellsfishy when you said you added the sand a couple days later. do you mean onto the foam? if so it was still sticky enough to hold the sand......

sorry bout the quesiton, but it is helpful

 

[yousmellsfishy]

I would say that the regular Great Stuff is fine if you coat it with epoxy and sand to give it UV protection.
As for the epoxy, the choice seems to be "Z-poxy finishing resin". I used Bondo brand in my 5.5 build and that tank's been up and running now for almost 7 months and there has been no problems - so far

 

[CoRPS]

Guys, I think he meant he let the foam cure for a few days and then put epoxy + sand on it.

 

[yousmellsfishy]

I painted the foam with 2 part epoxy resin after the foam was cured, then sprinkled the sand on the epoxy while it was still wet.

 

[yousmellsfishy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13754182#post13754182 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoRPS
Guys, I think he meant he let the foam cure for a few days and then put epoxy + sand on it.

yes

 

[EWC88]

Ok thanks for the info, last question, what kind of exposy did you use?

 

[CoRPS]

He answered that already.

"As for the epoxy, the choice seems to be "Z-poxy finishing resin". I used Bondo brand in my 5.5 build and that tank's been up and running now for almost 7 months and there has been no problems - so far"

Only a few posts above yours

 

[yousmellsfishy]

Posts are coming in fast and furiuos

 

[Kreeger1]

I used silicon all around it, It came lose in the middle then ripped.
It happen 3 different times for me too. I never saw the egg create threads and gave up on it a few years ago.
Erik

 

[customcolor]

that sucks man. was it pond foam or just the reg. great stuff?

 

[Kreeger1]

It was low expand great stuff, I then coated it 3 times with kryofusion paint.

 

[2_zoa]

Sorry I don't know if this has been covered or not but.... Can this be used as LR replacement? I can't see how unless you count Coraline but that is about it from what I can figure. I am asking cause as soon as my new nano is done my 29g bio cube is getting torn down and rebuilt for better filtration, and I am going to do a foam/rock wall on the back. Hence the question, if it can be counted as LR or not?

 

[CoRPS]

2_zoa, as far as I can tell. NO. This stuff is most definitely not live. It can become live eventually but it won't for a while. What a lot of the people are doing is using a ton of LR in their fuge/sumps and doing frequent water changes. Or at least that's what I'm planning on doing.

Here's my plans for my sump in my false wall:

 

[jpcoll01]

NanoDX

NanoDX

Here is my 12G Nano DX. I made it with egg crate and pond foam (black) used fiberglass resin and black/white sand to cover it. Also used live rock and dead coral to fill some holes... I soaked it in RO/DI for over a month after it was done simply because I was nervous, waited until all smell went away then put in a live tank.