nemo lover
Member
I was browsing the web toady, and stubbled across this old article NOTES FROM THE TRENCHES with ERIC MEIER:
Using insulation foam as a method to aquascape a tank was an idea that had been stirring in my head for some months now. Ever since I saw this thread from Reef Central on Tanu's tank, I just couldn't help but delve into this subject further, as I was planning to set up a small seven gallon DIY nano tank and wanted to incorporate this idea into it's design.
Now, with a fair amount of research under my belt, I decided to try my hand at this stuff. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this idea, the basic premise is to spray/apply insulation foam to the back and/or sides of the tank, and then push pieces of live rock, crushed coral, or whatever would look interesting and natural as a backdrop, into the drying foam. The foam dries, and hardens somewhat, and creates a "living" backdrop. Additionally, it allows the un-natural looking plumbing, overflows, etc., to be hidden.
I decided to foam the back, and one side of the cube. Also, I embedded a return pipe in the foam to hide its ugly appearance. First, the foam I used was a rigid polyurethane foam. This stuff can be found at Home Depot, but I bought mine at Menard's for a little over $3 a can. The exact foam I used is called "Great Stuff" made by DOW. The type was just the regular, low expansion, rigid type. There are other types for windows, etc. that expand more, but this is not what I wanted.
Next, I decided to test this stuff out on a sample piece of acrylic to practice and to just get a feel for working with it. Right away, I noticed a few things about this material:
This stuff is very sticky; about the consistency of a roasted marshmallow. If you have ever felt that gooey stuff on your fingers, you know what I'm talking about.
The foam will not adhere to a vertical wall, so you have to lay the tank/surface flat and work on applying the foam to one side at a time. Be sure to allow maybe an inch or a half-inch for some expansion of the foam.
This is a one-shot deal. Once you start using it, you have to finish within a few hours, as it seals itself shut. (I, of course, read this AFTER I had casually begun my work on the test piece, and then ran frantically to get everything ready for the real thing!)
I sprayed the foam, let it sit for about five minutes so that it started to expand a little, then added some small pieces of live rock. Then, I sprinkled some crushed coral on top of that, followed by some Southdown sand to give the surface of the foam some more texture.
Next, I began work on the actual tank. I followed the same procedure as mentioned above, only I used more rock and crushed coral. In hindsight, I would not have used the sand at all, or not as much; most of it didn't really stick to the foam once it had dried.
I masked off the overflow notches in the back of my tank so that I would still have a working overflow when I was done. I don't think it was all that critical though, as the foam is still somewhat workable once completely hardened. You can quite easily cut it with a knife. Here (right) is a picture of the return pipe enclosed in foam/rock:
Once the back was sufficiently hardened, which took about an hour, I turned the tank on its side and repeated the procedure. Once everything was all hardened and dry, I rinsed it out in the sink, and it was a finished product. (I am planning to do one more rinse tomorrow to wash out any residue that might have been left by the foam).
Using insulation foam as a method to aquascape a tank was an idea that had been stirring in my head for some months now. Ever since I saw this thread from Reef Central on Tanu's tank, I just couldn't help but delve into this subject further, as I was planning to set up a small seven gallon DIY nano tank and wanted to incorporate this idea into it's design.
Now, with a fair amount of research under my belt, I decided to try my hand at this stuff. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this idea, the basic premise is to spray/apply insulation foam to the back and/or sides of the tank, and then push pieces of live rock, crushed coral, or whatever would look interesting and natural as a backdrop, into the drying foam. The foam dries, and hardens somewhat, and creates a "living" backdrop. Additionally, it allows the un-natural looking plumbing, overflows, etc., to be hidden.
I decided to foam the back, and one side of the cube. Also, I embedded a return pipe in the foam to hide its ugly appearance. First, the foam I used was a rigid polyurethane foam. This stuff can be found at Home Depot, but I bought mine at Menard's for a little over $3 a can. The exact foam I used is called "Great Stuff" made by DOW. The type was just the regular, low expansion, rigid type. There are other types for windows, etc. that expand more, but this is not what I wanted.
Next, I decided to test this stuff out on a sample piece of acrylic to practice and to just get a feel for working with it. Right away, I noticed a few things about this material:
This stuff is very sticky; about the consistency of a roasted marshmallow. If you have ever felt that gooey stuff on your fingers, you know what I'm talking about.
The foam will not adhere to a vertical wall, so you have to lay the tank/surface flat and work on applying the foam to one side at a time. Be sure to allow maybe an inch or a half-inch for some expansion of the foam.
This is a one-shot deal. Once you start using it, you have to finish within a few hours, as it seals itself shut. (I, of course, read this AFTER I had casually begun my work on the test piece, and then ran frantically to get everything ready for the real thing!)
I sprayed the foam, let it sit for about five minutes so that it started to expand a little, then added some small pieces of live rock. Then, I sprinkled some crushed coral on top of that, followed by some Southdown sand to give the surface of the foam some more texture.
Next, I began work on the actual tank. I followed the same procedure as mentioned above, only I used more rock and crushed coral. In hindsight, I would not have used the sand at all, or not as much; most of it didn't really stick to the foam once it had dried.
I masked off the overflow notches in the back of my tank so that I would still have a working overflow when I was done. I don't think it was all that critical though, as the foam is still somewhat workable once completely hardened. You can quite easily cut it with a knife. Here (right) is a picture of the return pipe enclosed in foam/rock:
Once the back was sufficiently hardened, which took about an hour, I turned the tank on its side and repeated the procedure. Once everything was all hardened and dry, I rinsed it out in the sink, and it was a finished product. (I am planning to do one more rinse tomorrow to wash out any residue that might have been left by the foam).
