The Foam/rock Projects Here Thread

[gholtmeyer]

I could not find any of the black UV safe pond foam in my area when I needed it. Or I would have gone with that.

 

[letimmons]

The black pond/landscape foam is only like $4.50 a can or less, why would you use anything else?

Look for a brand called "Touch N' Foam". That was the best priced stuff I could find without buying it in wholesale quantities.

LOL, i just posted earlier that the cheapest i could find it in my area was for $11 a can... My area being Salem, Oregon and then i see that your from the Portland area!! So i goes i should say its $11 in the Salem area.. Where did you find it for that cheap in Portland???

 

[AquaticEngineer]

LOL, i just posted earlier that the cheapest i could find it in my area was for $11 a can... My area being Salem, Oregon and then i see that your from the Portland area!! So i goes i should say its $11 in the Salem area.. Where did you find it for that cheap in Portland???

Bi-Mart of all random places

I think I've bought out every Bi-Mart in the metro area at least once in the last year,lol.

 

[divinedragon13]

tip if get pond foam on you or floor lava soap works to get it off

 

[AquaticEngineer]

tip if get pond foam on you or floor lava soap works to get it off

Acentone works the best Melts that stuff right off, kinda dries out your skin after the 30th time though :lolspin:

 

[Bulldogsteve]

Acetone does not touch great stuff pond foam. lol
I had spots on me for days.
Steve

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Acetone does not touch great stuff pond foam. lol
I had spots on me for days.
Steve

Gotta hit it with acetone while its still wet. If you let it dry you just gotta wait and peel it off. I got some in my hair last time and just had to shave my head, not fun.

 

[Bulldogsteve]

Well i sure am glad i did not get any in my hair as i dont have much left.
:spin3:

 

[Poeticlydead]

Gotta hit it with acetone while its still wet. If you let it dry you just gotta wait and peel it off. I got some in my hair last time and just had to shave my head, not fun.

How? - In your hair? - :headwally:

 

[AquaticEngineer]

How? - In your hair? - :headwally:

The tank I was doing at the time was an acrylic tank that I was applying the foam directly to. It was a 60"x20"x36" tank so I had to lay it on its back and crawl inside of it to do most of the foam work.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Got most of the foam work done on the tank thats going inside the house. Its a 1" thick acrylic tank about 30 gallons, with a coast to coast overflow. It will have a closed loop going to a chiller and a mini fridge auto feeder I built. It's to house all my coldwater pipefish that would otherwise become anemone food in my other tanks, and seagrass that requires much more light than the NPS stuff likes.

I cant decide if I want to use the dark gray epoxy paint to highlight the rock like I've done on my other foam work or just leave it like this.

Best part about all the rock being on the two sides is that I have a place to adhere bivalves without having any rock in the sand to take away from the seagrass bed

 

[CyclistMT]

Looks great AquaticE!

 

[Bugcrusher]

I used Touch'n'Foam outdoor stuff, black in color, covered wioth rock salt and beach gravel mix. After curing I painted surfaces with silicon cement and coverd with more gravel for this result.

Left some uncovered to see how it behaves when tank is up and running. Still a work in progress.

 

[devicore16]

Hey Aquatic E, can you elaborate on how you added those real-looking details on your foam??? how did you do it?!

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Hey Aquatic E, can you elaborate on how you added those real-looking details on your foam??? how did you do it?!

I get 50lb bags of food grade rock salt and use it liberally on all my foam work. I completely cover every thing with at least 2" of rock salt and I pack it down in areas I want compressed and let it expand in areas I want larger. Once it stops expanding I use a dedicated "rock salt only" shop vac to get out the majority of the salt so I can re use it. Then I use a stiff plastic bristle brush to get the rest off as well as knock off any small loose pieces of foam. Then water will dissolve what ever salt is left, and what your left with is what you see

 

[antbreon]

this worked out so well my gf wanted one for her fresh water tank...it came out well as well ...

i have 1 more to make ..she has me setting up a 65 ..so she can have fish..this one is going to be a combo foam wall and shadow box...

 

[daveydoodle]

I have a question hopefully this thread can answer. I built (what I think is) a great foam / rock back wall for a 75 gallon with built in overflow. I followed the typical steps, however fitting the background in, I had to make some cuts in the foam which left the inside (porous portion) of the cured or hardened foam exposed. I used a 2 part Marine epoxy to seal every exposed area I could observe as well as hardening the outside. My question is if I did not fully cover in epoxy the porous inner portions of the cured wall, will this degrade in the SW tank, or is it okay? When the UPond Foam (which I used) hardens it makes a 'shell' if you will which seems water resistant, I just wondered if the inside porous portion is not designed to be exposed to water.
A poor example of what I'm wondering is like an orange - a hard defensive shell or outside, and once you cut through that the inside is soft and easily damaged, etc. Is the Pond foam like that?

 

[antbreon]

as everything i understand is the black foam is fine even if it isnt covered in epoxie..i have 2 so far..

 

[CyclistMT]

daveyd, I agree with you. Once the outer skin of the foam is broken, it opens up the cell structure to the water which it soaks up. But I can't answer the question of whether or not this is going to be a problem.

I used Touch n Foam for my rock wall and I did a lot of shaping with a dremel to blend it with the actual rock. I did epoxy the exposed foam as best I could but I definitely missed some areas. The foam has soaked up the water where it is exposed as it is soft and yields when I touch it in those areas but it doesn't seem to be flaking off or anything. Of course salt water will be a whole different animal but I won't know the impacts of that for a while. I'm hoping that coraline alage will cover the exposed areas before it becomes a problem.

Sorry I don't have a good answer for you but thought it might help to share my experience so far.






Current music selection: Disturbed- Crucified

 

[daveydoodle]

CyclistMT,

I'm just glad you knew exactly what I was talking about. I thought I sounded crazy trying to explain that and coudn't think of a good comparison other than the orange analogy. I think I covered everything, but will soon find out for sure.