The Foam/rock Projects Here Thread
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Da Maui life
New member
The laminating resin for bonding fiberglass cloth you find in most big box stores are polyester resin and not epoxy. I'm not sure what the chemical make-up or classification of pond foam is, most spray foams have chemicals, such as polyurethane or other isocyanates. I do know fiberglass resin will melt polystyrene.
I use a 4:1 multi epoxy resin for a lot of surfboard repair and can be used on most surfaces including wood, fiberglass, polystyrene, polyurethane, and PVC cost about 30 bucks a quart
neptunestender
New member
Jsg107, any polyester resin is bad in our tanks. You need epoxy resin! Brands that have been used by others in this thread: Bob Smith Industries ( I tried this and did not like it, it stayed tacky much longer tuan other brands I used.) Zap (worked well but a bit pricey) Great Planes (least expensive on ebay, and preforms like Zap) others also use West Systems (good for big projects and everyone that has used it loves it from what I read.
I am sure there are others but these have been used and I would stick to what we know works.
HTH,
Ed
I am sure there are others but these have been used and I would stick to what we know works.
HTH,
Ed
Da Maui life
New member
+1
Really cheap stuff
Polyester resin is the cheapest resin available in the marine industry and offers the poorest adhesion, has the highest water absorption, highest shrinkage, and high VOC's. Polyester resin is only compatible with fiberglass fibers. It is also not tough and fractures easily. Polyesters tend to end up with micro-cracks and are tough to re-bond and suffer from osmotic blistering when untreated by an epoxy resin barrier to water. vinylester is better then poly but use epoxy.
Da Maui life
New member
Cost analysis worksheet:headwallblue:
neptunestender
New member
I bought the great planes stuff on ebay for around $13 shipped zap at the hobby shop was $17. Use the 30 minute stuff to give yourself time to coat with epoxy, mix in small batches I used paper dixie cups and acid brushes (available at lowes in the plumbing section by the pipe dope).
Yes it get pricey, but mine turned out nice and I am sure youll like yours. Also a cleaned out vacume with a clean bag so you can reuse the sand helps.
Buying the stuff on ebay will prob save money and most likely time cause sourcing the right stuff localy proved hard, at least for me.
Ed
Yes it get pricey, but mine turned out nice and I am sure youll like yours. Also a cleaned out vacume with a clean bag so you can reuse the sand helps.
Buying the stuff on ebay will prob save money and most likely time cause sourcing the right stuff localy proved hard, at least for me.
Ed
neptunestender
New member
P.S. Make sure you get the 9oz bottle. I GOT JIPPED on one I found for $10,it turned out to be the 4.5oz. You live you learn. Lol
Ed
Ed
fessoclown
Dis-Membered
My Kaiju ribcage
My Kaiju ribcage
This is cut and pasted from my build thread on my local forum.
PVC + Macro Rocks + zip ties
After a frustrating afternoon with the hydrolic cement I switched plans and used black UV resistant pond foam to hold it all together. (that and about 150 zip-ties)
I coated the foam in epoxy resign and stuck argonite to it. The consensous on RC is the the black pond foam doesn't need to be epoxied but I am going to do it anyway to be safe and make it sticky to be able to completely hide the foam with aragonite.
I finished the monster:
I decided that I probably don't have enough rock in there, the structure is made up of almost 25 pounds of macro rock rubble. I decided on 2 strips of rock wall to add a nice 3D effect to the "ribcage" and I want to keep as much of the sand bed as clear as possible. I scored some great Reef ceramic wall from a LFS. The walls add another 20 pounds and I will be adding a couple of large macro rocks (about 5-10 pounds each) from my current tank and a few smaller cool pieces into the display fuge for a total of 60ish in the tank and sump.
I bought a piece of ceramic wall and cut it in half (easy with a hand saw) and siliconed the halves to the back of the tank. MUCH better looking than what I could have done DIY with the pond foam/macro rock/egg crate/epoxy formula. The pieces weren't quite tall enough so I did make 2 small DIY rock wall spacers at the bottom part, also helped to hold the ceramics up. Once coraline takes over hopefully it will look more seamless...
I rinsed the sand before putting it in but still got a bit cloudy... it's already clearing up, I stuffed the skimmer chamber with filter floss to catch all the sediment floating about...
I rested a DIY led strip on the top for a picture, that super bright spot won't be soooo bright once the lights are a suitable distance from the rim.... I plan to run a curtain across the middle of the sump to hide the equipment and make the front mangrove/macro display "POP".
What'cha think?
My Kaiju ribcage
This is cut and pasted from my build thread on my local forum.
PVC + Macro Rocks + zip ties
After a frustrating afternoon with the hydrolic cement I switched plans and used black UV resistant pond foam to hold it all together. (that and about 150 zip-ties)
I coated the foam in epoxy resign and stuck argonite to it. The consensous on RC is the the black pond foam doesn't need to be epoxied but I am going to do it anyway to be safe and make it sticky to be able to completely hide the foam with aragonite.
I finished the monster:
I decided that I probably don't have enough rock in there, the structure is made up of almost 25 pounds of macro rock rubble. I decided on 2 strips of rock wall to add a nice 3D effect to the "ribcage" and I want to keep as much of the sand bed as clear as possible. I scored some great Reef ceramic wall from a LFS. The walls add another 20 pounds and I will be adding a couple of large macro rocks (about 5-10 pounds each) from my current tank and a few smaller cool pieces into the display fuge for a total of 60ish in the tank and sump.
I bought a piece of ceramic wall and cut it in half (easy with a hand saw) and siliconed the halves to the back of the tank. MUCH better looking than what I could have done DIY with the pond foam/macro rock/egg crate/epoxy formula. The pieces weren't quite tall enough so I did make 2 small DIY rock wall spacers at the bottom part, also helped to hold the ceramics up. Once coraline takes over hopefully it will look more seamless...
I rinsed the sand before putting it in but still got a bit cloudy... it's already clearing up, I stuffed the skimmer chamber with filter floss to catch all the sediment floating about...
I rested a DIY led strip on the top for a picture, that super bright spot won't be soooo bright once the lights are a suitable distance from the rim.... I plan to run a curtain across the middle of the sump to hide the equipment and make the front mangrove/macro display "POP".
What'cha think?
neptunestender
New member
Sick, love it. Now you need lots of blood red coral growing all over it.
Thanks for sharing,
Ed
Thanks for sharing,
Ed
luvzz2play
New member
yes, thanks for sharing. i like seeing other people's rock ideas. it sure has given me ideas for mine as well. I'm hoping to work on mine this week. just waiting to see if i can get a 125 and sell my 75 or if i'm keeping my 75. i should know within 2 days. can't wait to start.
jigsaw1982
New member
Honestly....I think it looks like a backbone and some ribs....lol
jigsaw1982
New member
Thanks to this thread I was able to put together my own rock wall
Just finished it yesterday
Nice job
neptunestender
New member
Lookin good bluefry!
luvzz2play
New member
without reading this whole post.... where can i find the foam to use? lowes? menards? walmart? ace?
customcolor
New member
Your best bet is home depot... make it quick it is a seasonal item for pond foam
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
But I found one at Home depot.luvzz2play
New member
lowe's is out and their cans were about $13 each... i don't have a home depot near here but will try menards and walmart since i need a rubber mat anyway
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