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  #101  
Old 10/11/2007, 09:19 PM
randallcentral randallcentral is offline
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I just finished a background of GS and corkbark and yea Im gonna get some frogs soon, after I get all the stuff setup.. I had a pair of frogs a few years ago.. they got eaten by ants! preety messed up I know.. but It happens.. Frogs are way cool and the tanks are as well... oh yea im on www.dendroboard.com too. If you are interested in frogs.. Start with dendroboard .. just like reefcentral.

Last edited by randallcentral; 10/11/2007 at 09:32 PM.
  #102  
Old 10/11/2007, 09:20 PM
randallcentral randallcentral is offline
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.
  #103  
Old 10/12/2007, 02:05 AM
Tiggsy Tiggsy is offline
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Those frog homes are cool!

Decent backgrounds/aquascaping is so overlooked in this hobby. Sure there are some good ones but most people still just chuck the rock in with no thought and then spend all day worrying about whether their SPS is looking good when the rock work looks like a builders yard!

The reprile folk and the planted tank folk have far better ideas for aquascaping than we do........well, they did until this thread showed up
  #104  
Old 10/12/2007, 03:14 AM
randallcentral randallcentral is offline
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when I saw his pillars I thought of this tank.
  #105  
Old 10/12/2007, 09:24 AM
hoyta hoyta is offline
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lol- dendroboard vet here-
This seems to be more complicated than the gs/coco backgrounds.
Another method we used is the flevapol method, which is a concrete binder mixed with water and coco fiber(sand in this case) to make the background. Its 4 parts solid mixture to one part binder. The only binder recommended is the Ace concrete brand and the Quickrete brand. It takes awhile to dry, almost 3 days... fans speed it up. The plus to this method is that it is ALOT less time consumiing, and less messy. Oh yeah, and cheaper
This would eliminate the use of epoxy. The only problem I see is possible PH raises until it cures, but until then...
Just some thoughts
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  #106  
Old 10/12/2007, 12:08 PM
randallcentral randallcentral is offline
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I wish there were marine poison dart frogs
  #107  
Old 10/17/2007, 01:47 AM
Daemonfly Daemonfly is offline
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I was planning a DIY 12" acrylic cube nano reef and was thinking of doing a partial GS background. Came here to see what people were using as a binder on top of the GS and found this thread. Perfect.
  #108  
Old 10/28/2007, 06:41 PM
rcmike rcmike is offline
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I just tried this and made a small formation for a 30 gal. that will house some seahorses I am getting. I will post pictures as soon as the tank clears from the sand storm. It was really not too hard and I was able to put to use some of the dead coral skeletons I had left over from a tank crash.
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  #109  
Old 10/28/2007, 06:46 PM
IPT IPT is offline
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Anyone know if this would work to seal the foam and allow me to coat it with sand/gravel?

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...081&lpage=none

(or any other products at HD or Lowes?)
  #110  
Old 10/30/2007, 08:01 PM
elvn elvn is offline
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I'm interested in this type of project. It looks awesome.

If possible can the original poster please post a reply with the exact names of the supplies he used? The foam and the 'runs like paint' epoxy especially.

I'd also like to know about the curing statements as pertains to the cycle (of bacteria growth, die-off and the the whole balance leveling off). If you don't cycle the stink out of existing live rock because its 'clean' like base rock, you will still get a cycle. I mean even the fluff foam filters in a powerhead filter cylinder or the material on a bio wheel in a filter will have a bacteria cycle if left in long enough, as well as other stuff we've all heard of like bio-balls, etc. The foam itself has nooks and crannies and especially the dry (base) rock in a lot of the structure will have a bacteria cycle.
  #111  
Old 10/30/2007, 08:46 PM
h20cooled h20cooled is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by IPT
Anyone know if this would work to seal the foam and allow me to coat it with sand/gravel?

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...081&lpage=none

(or any other products at HD or Lowes?)
It should be fine, I used the same stuff to make a faux sand bed in my old tank, just mixed it with sand...
  #112  
Old 10/31/2007, 09:43 AM
Catharsis70 Catharsis70 is offline
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Do you epoxy only the front (exposed) parts or the whole piece?
  #113  
Old 10/31/2007, 11:03 AM
Tiggsy Tiggsy is offline
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I only epoxy the visable parts - partly as the job of the epoxy is to allow the gravel to stick and i only need this where you can see it - also the epoxy keeps the UK off the foam, so where no light gets to the foam (back and underneath) i didnt bother epoxying it.
  #114  
Old 10/31/2007, 11:27 AM
hoyta hoyta is offline
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What kind of epoxy is best for this?
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  #115  
Old 10/31/2007, 11:30 AM
Tiggsy Tiggsy is offline
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i use "finishing resin" which is (i think) what they use to paint over fibre glass. It goes on like piant (very runny) and sets rock hard.....best place to get it in small amounts is modle shops (its used by people that build toy boats and planes)
  #116  
Old 10/31/2007, 11:34 AM
hoyta hoyta is offline
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Crap, I work at a boat building factory- Would boat resin with a little bit of catalyst work?
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  #117  
Old 10/31/2007, 11:35 AM
Tiggsy Tiggsy is offline
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lol - no idea! I assume resin is resin and what they use on toy boats is the same as big ones!....but i'm no expert.
  #118  
Old 10/31/2007, 02:24 PM
IPT IPT is offline
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Do they sell any resins at HD or lowes that would work? All you'd need is the Resin (or Epoxy paint, or the stuff above), add catalyst, paint it on, and then pour some sand on?
  #119  
Old 10/31/2007, 02:25 PM
IPT IPT is offline
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Hey Tiggsy, any new shots of your tank? Coraline growing yet> I'll bet the fish are loving the arragement!
  #120  
Old 10/31/2007, 03:05 PM
Tiggsy Tiggsy is offline
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No water in it yet! Will be filling in the next week (work allowing) and adding the stock as soon as i'm happy with the water.

IPT - i'm in the UK so not sure what stores in the US would sell what you need. Over here i found i could only get the resin from model shops or online....but i never looked too hard elsewhere.

as an aside - my daughter is just setting up a nano and is doing the exact same to hire the weir she has made......works even better on tiny tanks as you can get some nice backgrounds that most nanos fail to achive because they are suck with using 3 small rocks and its full! She has cover the weir in foam and impregnated it with live rock rubble...looks superb!
  #121  
Old 11/06/2007, 05:27 PM
rogergolf66 rogergolf66 is offline
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Well I read the entire thread but I must have missed it. How did you get the foam to look the same color as the rock.

by the way GREAT job!!!!

My next build will be done like that.

Roger
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  #122  
Old 11/06/2007, 05:29 PM
djmx2002 djmx2002 is offline
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Hey Tiggsy just tagging along, that's a great idea, i am moving in 3 weeks, and i ordered a new 150 gallon tank, 24X48x30 and i was trying to figure out what do with with all the space i got there and you just gave me the perfect solution

Great Job!!!
  #123  
Old 11/06/2007, 05:30 PM
dismalorb dismalorb is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by rogergolf66
Well I read the entire thread but I must have missed it. How did you get the foam to look the same color as the rock.

Roger
Heh. Look at the VERY first post in this thread, and you'll get your answer.
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  #124  
Old 11/06/2007, 05:34 PM
rogergolf66 rogergolf66 is offline
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I think I get it now. I guess my question should have been how did you get the sand and shell to stick to it. Because if you trim the foam then it must have been dry.

Well I don't know but I guess the epoxy reson is a glue?



Great idea!!!
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Click on the little red house to see my setup

Don't keep track of how much money you spend on your system. You will enjoy it much more that way :-)
  #125  
Old 11/06/2007, 05:39 PM
dismalorb dismalorb is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by rogergolf66
I think I get it now. I guess my question should have been how did you get the sand and shell to stick to it. Because if you trim the foam then it must have been dry.

Well I don't know but I guess the epoxy reson is a glue?



Great idea!!!
It looks like he applied the epoxy resin and sprinkled the sand over it while it was still wet.
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