Trying a Diy rock project...eventually

[paulamrein]

I am in the planning stage of a rock wall project for a tank I might be getting. It's a 110g. my thoughts are to build a rock wall using egg crate, live rock and than foam the spaces. To have a pillar in the middle and a very thin wall in the corners and have it come over the top and around the braces. to make it look like a cave effect with the top for the most part open. I have a diagram, but don't know how to load it. It's a lot easier to explain if you saw the diagram. I will try to load the image as soon as I figure it out. Be back soon.

 

[paulamrein]

Let me know if that doesn't work.

 

[levon15]

First thought is that will make a shadow across the middle of your tank.

Second thought is if it falls your leaking a ton of water.

Third thought is why the corner pillars? Scraping corraline in those areas will become troublesome.

I love unique rock work so post some pics when you do it. Could be thenext best thing?

Why a cave look? What kind of inhabitants are you looking at getting? Look at some pics on the net. Making realistic pillars seems to be a task. I have seen very few rockscapes that look natural. In my opinion the less rock you have the more natural it looks (until is so covered with coral you cannot even see the rock)

 

[paulamrein]

Well, it's a thought I was exploring. The shadows are some of the more appealing parts to it. We are running a fowlr so we don't need the extreme light. It give a cave look only on the outside. My wife and I were looking at some magazines. We found this one pic from the ocean where there was pillars and caves with light shinning through, it was really cool. As far as inhabitants, it will be the traditional type fish. I am not looking to get any cave fish or anything. There will be the almost the same amount of light that is in the tank now. I went to a performing arts college, and I know how to make realistic looking rocks from some of the sets I have built. The challenge will be to make it using SW friendly materials, I am researching that now. There is a guy on the DIY forum I found while researching my idea. it's "my diy rock" posted by reefrubble. It is similar to the design I'll be using.

 

[paulamrein]

sorry, it's actually called foam and rock combo by tiggsy.

 

[Reeferhead]

Here's the thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1188352

I love his idea and have also considered doing it. However, he doesn't use standard eggcrate. He uses a really durable and flexible type that is common in the UK. I wouldn't want to use the standard type (styrene) that we buy at Home Depot and such for this type of project, its too brittle and can't handle as much weight on its own.

 

[paulamrein]

That's the one, thanks for the link. I have quite a bit of time before I actually get it to that point, like I said it was all in the planning state. We will see how it turns out. It will either never happen, or look stupid or it may look pretty neat. I'm shooting for the latter, but expecting either A. or B.

 

[ncox38]

Its worth a shot. There was a guy on here that made his own rock that people said looked really good. I think his name was ebe. Good luck.

 

[Im Lon 2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11142709#post11142709 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ncox38
Its worth a shot. There was a guy on here that made his own rock that people said looked really good. I think his name was ebe. Good luck.

You are correct.. his stuff turns out really nice.