And this is what I was able to come up with after 5 or 6 hours of work and a dozen or so sticks of AquaMend from the local hardware store.
I think I did an OK job capturing the look of the Reef Ceramic’s product. Especially since it appears to be about 1/3 the cost. Additionally, being able to control the shapes I can not only sculpt some really interesting structures, but control how dense I make them as well. Specifically, the caves in the front on the large reef section run thru the center and out the rear allowing the current to pass right on thru. Basically, the whole bottom half of the structure is one giant cave.
This standalone section is a combination of a piece I picked out of the local LFS’ live rock bin, (soaked in a bleach solution for 2 weeks) and the base rock pieces. The upper portion is the LFS piece and was basically epoxied in place and then reinforced with a little Portland cement.
Here is another standalone that I plan to have up near the overflow. I’ll probably seed it with some star polyps or something similar because I think it will look really sweet covered in a bunch of green polyps swaying back and forth in the current.
I definitely need to make more pieces, which means probably a good 15-20 more hours before I'm finished. Overall I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out and I think I'm well on my way to accomplishing the goal I had when I stated out.
Surprisingly, this is one of the easier projects I've undertaken. It's not only incredibly simple but relatively cost effective as well. The end result is definitely going to be worth the effort and it appears I will only be limited by my imagination.
Happy reefing
Brett