Taking on the Foam Rock Background --- Need Some Help

wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
So I've decided to take on the foam rock background, but with my own twist. I see that most who choose to do the project often use big pieces of live rock on the wall. Rather than doing that, I am going to use very small pieces of rock , something like if you were to put a hammer to a piece of live rock. I researched and found one other guy who did this, except he used something call Supra Bio Media, which is a filter media for koi ponds that already comes mashed up. The only problem is that it runs $5lb (1lb. per bag). I figure for my 65 gallon, I'll probably need about 10 bags if not more.
Does anybody have any ideas on what would be cheaper? Would I just be as well off buying some live rock and mashing it up? Any ideas would be helpful.
Here's a link to the stuff I'm talking about. http://www.gardenponds.com/product868.html
 
bs21

bs21

Member
i remember reading a thread on another board about a guy that used the expandanble foam but then would put rock salt over it as it expanded to pit it and give it a more natural look. after foam cured he would remove the rock salt then run fresh water through the tank for a couple days to remove any left over salt. also twoard the bottom of the tank he placed some small pieces of base rock to make a better transition from the wall to the LR he used in the tank. I will try to find the thread and send you a PM.
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
See King Neptune's elaborate foam-back thread:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/349033/neptunes-125-reef-diary
 
wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
Originally Posted by bs21
http:///forum/post/3001352
i remember reading a thread on another board about a guy that used the expandanble foam but then would put rock salt over it as it expanded to pit it and give it a more natural look. after foam cured he would remove the rock salt then run fresh water through the tank for a couple days to remove any left over salt. also twoard the bottom of the tank he placed some small pieces of base rock to make a better transition from the wall to the LR he used in the tank. I will try to find the thread and send you a PM.
Awesome man, I appreciate that.
PBNJ - Thanks for the thread. I actually read through that last night and got some good info off of it. What I'm doing is different from anything I've seen on here. I am going to silicone small pieces of rock to the eggcrate so that there is literally no space on it. I'll also create some bulges and whatnot for coral ledges - most of the ones I've seen on here are using like half foam, half rock - I want to go ALL rock
 
wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/3001497
Now you're talkin'...
This is gonna be cool.

Thanks man. My fear is that its gonna be way expensive though. Any thoughts on if I should just bust up some live rock or go with that other stuff?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Wahoowa
http:///forum/post/3001429
Awesome man, I appreciate that.
PBNJ - Thanks for the thread. I actually read through that last night and got some good info off of it. What I'm doing is different from anything I've seen on here. I am going to silicone small pieces of rock to the eggcrate so that there is literally no space on it. I'll also create some bulges and whatnot for coral ledges - most of the ones I've seen on here are using like half foam, half rock - I want to go ALL rock
Silicone won't stick to plastic for long, the slightest bump and it releases.
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Just a forewarning,I have around 50 lbs. of rock in mine and it still floats.So make sue you have a base attached to your wall so it can be weighted down.
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/post/3001585
Silicone won't stick to plastic for long, the slightest bump and it releases.
Use epoxy to secure the eggcrate to the glass and even rock to the eggcrate.
I would use rubble from base rock, or build your own using aragonite and concrete.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/344290/1st-batch-of-homemade-lr
 
bs21

bs21

Member
hey Pm'd you a link....not the one i was talkin about but tank is still in it. check it out tere are some awsome looking foam walls there.
 
pezenfuego

pezenfuego

Active Member
Make sure you post a lot of pictures here.
To be honest some turn out great (like Neptunes) and others look like crap.
So good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine
 
wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
Looks like I'll be doing attempting the wall this weekend! I'm probably just going to start a new thread, so keep your eyes peeled.
 
wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
yeah man I appreciate it. I'm drawing ideas from all kinds of places, but that def. had some great ideas and insight.
 
bs21

bs21

Member
are you going to be attaching rocks to the eggcrate or using the eggcrate as a place for the foam to bind to. If just ziptying LR like some examples i have seen its no problem because of there is stillwater exchange through the LR ( just lik there is water flow through a sand substrate etc...called advection?) The foam though should fill in most of the empty spaces and i don't think it would be a big deal if anything it will be a place of low oxygen that certain bacteria use to turn nitate to nitrogen gas. Similar to the lower layers in a DSB or underneath plenum.
 
wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
I'm going to do a combination. I have a bunch of "live" lace rock that I'm buying from a guy Saturday. I'll probably use some bigger pieces and ziptie those to the eggcrate. I'll then foam some smaller pieces to make it look more filled and then foam any leftover space. I'm also going to implement some PVC pipe to make a sort of bridge structure. If everything works out ok, this thing is going to look SICK.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
I love these kind of builds. Tagging along. Please if you start a new thread, post a link to it in this thread so we can all follow you.
 
wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
Will do. I'm going to do an overall reef/rock wall thread and it will start this weekend. I'll probably get to the main part of the rock wall after my big paper on Tuesday, and the whole thing will need to be complete by April 19.
 
wahoowa

wahoowa

Member
Hey guys, I'm completing a big part of my build tomorrow. I have the skeleton cut out and will be ziptieing/foaming the rock to it tomorrow. I'll probably epoxy some sand on it Thursday so it should be done by Friday. Here is a new link that I started. I"ll have tank and stand pics on Monday.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/355417/wahoowas-56-reef-and-foam-rock-background-build
 
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