nor_cal_nano Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 By far one of the best rock walls I've ever seen. You did an absolutely, FANTASTIC job. I love the barnacles. Can't wait to see how this one progresses. Subscribed. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 By far one of the best rock walls I've ever seen. You did an absolutely, FANTASTIC job. I love the barnacles. Can't wait to see how this one progresses. Subscribed. Thanks Its been a lot of fun thus far, with the exception of flipping that tank around by myself There will be live barnacles added to the wall once there is water in it, those two clusters are just to hide the returns for the closed loop that come through the rock wall Link to comment
alaskan84 Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Thanks Its been a lot of fun thus far, with the exception of flipping that tank around by myself There will be live barnacles added to the wall once there is water in it, those two clusters are just to hide the returns for the closed loop that come through the rock wall just awesome aquatic! Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 I understand how the salt works, how else do you texture it, or sculpt it? Once I get the salt over top of the foam its not as sticky, then as it starts to expand I will press it back down or dump even more rock salt on top of it. That stops the expanding and gives it more of the jagged look in spots. Do you use any tools? Latex Gloves Old clothes The only real tools I used was a shop vac to remove the rock salt and a long fondu fork that I bent the points on to make 2 pronged hook. I used that to remove foam in areas to make deeper crevices. Is there any internal frame or weight inside the tall stand-alone piece? The large piece that is pictured last has an internal frame made of eggcrate and zip ties in the shape of a T. I wanted to have a ledge that gives a large shadow below it and also provides an area for me to spotlight my Anthopleura anemones that like a little light. What kind of paint are you using? It's a one part epoxy paint used for sealing concrete garage floors I found at home depot. It comes in white, and a really dark gray color and only in 1 gallon buckets. I bought a gallon of the white and had 4 seperate containers and had them mix me up 4 shades of lighter gray to play with. Are you going to paint the whole surface of the foam, or just a few spots? Multiple colors? I'm only going to highlight the areas that protrude away from the rock surface, and leave the crevices and valleys the black foam color. That way it makes the higher areas seem to pop out more, and the darker areas seem much deeper than they are. Shadowing and spotlighting is going to help this even more I'm planning on using the black foam as it is, and then the 4 colors of gray, and maybe a little white. I toyed with the idea of getting some purple and green made up, but decided against it. It takes forever for plants or animals to encrust rocks in a cold tank, so the "rocks" themselves will be a big part of the display, and need to look very good. Real rocks aren't a uniform color, so how do you paint yours to look real? Thanks. Thats the great part about this foam, is that it sets fairly hard, but not hard enough that you cant push things into it very easily. I'll probably use small plastic rods pushed into the foam to hang clusters if tube worms, or live barnacles or what not, that and super glue gel to attach pieces of sponge. I also have lots of really nice rock from the break down of Steve Weast's tank, so I can be picky with most of that and only put in what I want. As for painting them, I have just been using a sponge brush and hitting the protruding areas. In the end the wall will eventually turn into a home for all the cornyactis and other anemones. There will be a lot of open space in the tank. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 Pics after doing more paint last night. Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 A little art work i see. Link to comment
awpong Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Holy crap your tank is amazing. I can't wait to see it with livestock! Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 I cant decide if I want to leave the the left side completely open or not. I am thinking of adding a rock overhang to hide the overflow at that end since I went through the trouble of hiding all the patches and closed loop on the other end. It would start really small at the bottom to give me the same sized sandbed, but extend out towards the top with a couple rock ledges for my aggregating anemones to take over and then a large overhang with the overflow inside of it. I'm still going to have an area on the back of the tank that is clear acrylic that I'm going to make a faded dark background that sits at an angle a few inches behind the tank to give the illusion of infinte depth. Also working on an idea to make the ripple effect of light from the surface show up on the background of the tank. What do you guys think? Link to comment
Jamie Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I think I'm struggling to visualize it, but I fully support your decision! I've been driving all day, so maybe ill try reading that again when I'm not completely exhausted and give you better feedback. Link to comment
yoshii Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Those are the most realistic foam rocks I've seen. +1 That is the best foam rock wall I've ever seen in my life, just amazing!! Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted August 6, 2011 Author Share Posted August 6, 2011 I think I'm struggling to visualize it, but I fully support your decision! I've been driving all day, so maybe ill try reading that again when I'm not completely exhausted and give you better feedback. LOL, thanks I'll try and make something on paint or google sketch to better illustrate what I'm thinking. Or better yet, I'll just do it and show you when you come over one of these days +1That is the best foam rock wall I've ever seen in my life, just amazing!! Thanks, this was my trial and error tank. I'll be making a couple for inside the house that will have a lot more thought put into them. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 Been poking around online looking for inspiration for the lighting, background, rockscaping etc. for the this tank and found some neat photos of what I want to accomplish. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Honestly, I joke around with you about the Damascus Oregon Aquarium, but with this build, man, I'd pay admission to see this! This is going to be amazing. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 Doesn't look like I'll have any problems with adhesion of the spray foam. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Found this picture of an exihibit at the Long Beach Aquarium. This is a lot like what I want my tank to look like. Link to comment
Hero Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 That is a nice display. It really brings to light the fact that temperate tanks aren't all grey and lifeless. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Looks like an awesome build, can't wait to see more! Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Yay for labor day I managed to get everything done but the paint on the rock work. The tank is sitting in the front of the garage sun drying so I can start painting later tonight when it cools off. There's three bulk head returns for the closed loop in the above picture Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Damn this is going to be an awesome setup. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Updated Pics with the foam rock work painted and blended. Link to comment
jgpico Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Wow that looks awesome! Definitely one of if not the best looking foam rock wall tanks i have seen yet. What are your stocking plans? sorry if I missed it at the beginning of the thread i just went straight to the sweet pics lol edit: I looked at the stocking plans and this tank is going to be amazing! Link to comment
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