240g Custom Rock Wall Reef

[Cutterx23]

Here's my custom rock wall reef build, still in progress but really just a bit of laziness away from being filled with water. (Literally just need to mix 200g lol)... But here's my build as I went (posts are basically all in the past tense, all this has already happened, just taken from my local forum. So if it reads weird, that's why).




Finally got this beast inside and on the stand. Now to finish cleaning and then build the rock wall.

Rock wall framing

Added a couple more over hangs, probably going to add a couple pillars in the middle of the tank to add more depth.

Now to add the rocks and start foaming.

 

[Cutterx23]

Foam wall framing with rocks now attached. 3 pieces. Next foaming and sand coat.

Panel 1: 1 can of spray foam

2 cans of spray foam

Gonna need a few more cans than I thought.




12 pack of spray foam later

Rock wall done

 

[Cutterx23]

Filled in the seems for each piece, finished overflow box, added one rock pillar, would've been two but I broke the rod (rocks a little too heavy I think). Now to add a couple baffles to the sump, buy the rest of the black sand I need and then I'll be filling it, hopefully, will be water filled in a week or two.

Ready for water

 

[bigpaul]

Looks pretty cool but how will the foam hold up against all of the elements in the tank?

 

[tytyty562]

Niceeeee

 

[Cutterx23]

Like will it break down? I don't believe so, atleast not anytime soon. It is pond foam, meant for fish tanks and ponds, I've had one running on the frag tank that will be tied into this tank for over a year and never had any sort of problems with it. Biggest problem is just making sure it's secured down well so that once water is in it won't float away. I love the foam because it makes all those dumb little frag plugs so much easier to place and hide. Just push it in anywhere you want it.

 

[BeanMachine]

This really is outstanding! Love it.

 

[Cutterx23]

You guys are getting me motivated to start the fill lol

Thanks for the nice words

 

[Fly5150]

I'm jealous of the black sand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cutterx23]

Ya I love the black sand, makes things pop so brightly. I've got black sand in my frag tank as well and it only has z's and p's in it so I'm excited to see what some other larger stuff looks like with the black contrast, especially sps.

 

[BeanMachine]

You guys are getting me motivated to start the fill lol

Thanks for the nice words

What are you waiting for!

 

[Emac909]

Have u done a water test yet? I had a foam wall in my last tank and it kept a lot of rock to keep it not from floating or even breaking the egg crate trying to float. From your pics it doesn't seen to look like u use enough rock. Also snail, sea urchins, and crabs will eat and pick apart the foam.

 

[Cutterx23]

I use copious amounts of glue on the back and bottom that way I don't have to use a bunch of rocks to weigh it down and end up blacking part of the wall. I also had the advantage with this one, over my other tank that had one that was rimless, I used more foam once it was in place to seal it in and not allow any float space upwards. You can actually see it in some of the last pics. The stuff is naturally very sticky itself so I covered a piece of pvc in it and used the foam to "glue" it in place as a bit of an experiment to see if it would stay with just the foam as glue (but this would have to be done previous to any water being in the tank).



You know just sitting here watching Ice Age could very easily be mixing water, not sure what my problem is? lol

 

[Cutterx23]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

 

[Cutterx23]

Uh oh look who's wet!!!! But seriously, love the wave function on the RW powerheads. Just 2 RW-15's in there and I get that much wave action. Should be finished filling it by the end of the week, making water is slow.

http://vid586.photobucket.com/album...B-E74B-4B66-9B99-8488DB5D07FC_zps5uxpmurf.mp4