Reef Central Online Community

Home Forum Here you can view your subscribed threads, work with private messages and edit your profile and preferences View New Posts View Today's Posts

Find other members Frequently Asked Questions Search Reefkeeping ...an online magazine for marine aquarists Support our sponsors and mention Reef Central

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community Archives > General Interest Forums > Do It Yourself
FAQ Calendar Today's Posts Search

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #76  
Old 10/14/2004, 06:37 AM
sunny03 sunny03 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 143
Quote:
Originally posted by rufio173
sunny,

I think that you have used a great idea. I really like the use of the eggcrate to make a doubly secure. I was wondering. Did you use sections of eggcrate, so the whole thing isn't just one amazingly heavy backdrop?

Peace,
John H.

you are wrong john

i did use the whole pcs of eggcrate 4*2
  #77  
Old 10/14/2004, 09:34 AM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Wow Sunny03,

How heavy was the whole backdrop?

Peace,
John H.
  #78  
Old 10/14/2004, 09:50 AM
sunny03 sunny03 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 143
11kg

but remember the form float so overall the background float on water
  #79  
Old 10/14/2004, 02:11 PM
speckled trout speckled trout is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: South Texas Gulf Coast
Posts: 589
Just use regular krylon spray paint. I use it on coral skeletons for a fish only tank. So far they've been in there for 2 years.

I used to paint stuff for cichlid tanks all the time. I did it for at least 20 years and no problem.
  #80  
Old 10/14/2004, 03:59 PM
DRZL DRZL is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Hillside, NJ
Posts: 49
I did the foam backdrop myself and i put crushed aragonite for an extra kick along with pieces of Liverock and cool Conch shells I had.....I reccomend it it looks very pimpy...i will post pics when i figure out how to do it with RC...speckled trout I want to do the spray paint but I am a scared little ninny...how can paint be ok in a hard saltwater system??

with that being said is it just a waste to paint on top of the aragonite if it does seal? I will lose the buffer ability of the arag right?

I love DIY
__________________
Take your Umbrellas out, I'm about to brainstorm
  #81  
Old 10/14/2004, 04:00 PM
DRZL DRZL is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Hillside, NJ
Posts: 49
ooh oohh...one more thing wont those damn crabs just pick open the paint chips? sorta like bad kids!!!
__________________
Take your Umbrellas out, I'm about to brainstorm
  #82  
Old 10/14/2004, 04:49 PM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
A lot of people have used fusion paint with great success. Just make sure you do a good wash of the aragonite or rock so that you can get a decent bond. I think the most important thing is that you let everything dry off and make sure everything is clean before you paint and then make sure you give a good long period to let it all dry before you expose to the saltwater (like 7 days).

I'll be setting up a tank for my girlfriend and I may try the approach stated by sunny 03, but I might just use the foam and some live rock pieces and actually try the fake deco rock paint and cover it with a clear acrylic paint to protect it better.

Peace,
John H.

Peace,
John H.
  #83  
Old 10/15/2004, 09:07 AM
sunny03 sunny03 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 143
today just make another background to cover the over flow

here how it looks is it better den the first one ??




this is the side view


and this is how u hide the form using coral chips and dead coral that i collected from beach


that all folk
  #84  
Old 10/15/2004, 09:19 AM
speckled trout speckled trout is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: South Texas Gulf Coast
Posts: 589
I didn't say anything about painting the real rock, but you could. I was trying to suggest that you could paint the foam to help it look more natural than just the plain foam. Hopefully, though, it won't take too long for it to get some coralling algae.

By the way, it won't hurt any of your saltwater fish. My father is a marine biologist and some of their tanks have had it for more than ten years. My own saltwater tanks have had it in them for 2 years and contain tangs, angels, blennies, gobies, clowns, wrasses, firefish, and a sargent major.

Have fun and good luck
  #85  
Old 10/15/2004, 09:30 AM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Hey speckled trout,

I mentioned cleaning the rocks because I embedded them in the foam and so would have to spray paint the whole thing if I wanted to do that.

Peace,
John H.
  #86  
Old 10/15/2004, 10:20 AM
DRZL DRZL is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Hillside, NJ
Posts: 49
Speckled trout,
Can't say no too that..lol...i see its tried and true thanks for sharing that, by the way how long would you recommend the cure time to be?

Rufio,
does the krylon fusion spray paint im assuming, come in a purple color?

this for the people who have arag, dead coral skeletons, and sand on the foam:

Does anyone think it is actually better to leave it unpainted as spraying the rocks sort of seals the rock off and thus giving the microfauna a harder time to turning the backdrop into a Live foam of sorts. Yet, at the same time i have ambiguous feeling due to the fact many threads on this and other boards question its (foam) UV toleration thus painting it becomes a good idea once again. A real dilemna huh?...lol can i have the best of both worlds, just tell me I can.

Andres
__________________
Take your Umbrellas out, I'm about to brainstorm
  #87  
Old 10/15/2004, 11:00 AM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
hey drzl,

They do have a purple color. There are a ton of them so you shouldn't be lacking if you want to express your artistic side.

All I've got to say is: Do it... Do it!!!

Sunny03, Very nice. I really like using the larger pieces of rock, but I don't like using the eggcrate so much because I feel that detritus might settle in each one of those litte holes. I'm already finding a little detritis settling in some of the craggier parts of the foam... just like real rock. Hehe.

Peace,
John H.
  #88  
Old 10/15/2004, 11:16 AM
sunny03 sunny03 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 143
now my problem is that will there be any dead spot on around the egg crate ??

btw i am using tunze 6060 for a 4*2*2 tank is it enough ?? to cover the dead spot around teh eggcate.

or i have add a few maxjet around the backdrop ??
  #89  
Old 10/15/2004, 11:35 AM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Well Sunny,

That is a good question... are you using 1 or 2 or the Tunze 6060? I know that they are rated at 1800 gph. I have a friend that uses 1 6100 on his tank and even then, he still gets some deadspots in the tank. He eventually got a Seio 820 to provide some counter flow as well to remove deadspots.

I think with adequate surveillance you shouldn't run into any problems.

For anybody else trying this method, you could try and just fill up the small gaps with a little extra foam in back, basically just smoothing out the surface of the eggcrate by dropping a dollop of foam in each hole... sure it's a pain in the ***, but at least you won't have to worry about potential pooling of detritus.

Peace,
John H.
  #90  
Old 10/15/2004, 11:39 AM
sunny03 sunny03 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 143
i using *1 tunze as for the rating is 6000L per hr
  #91  
Old 10/15/2004, 11:50 AM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Hey Sunny03,

What are you keeping in this tank? If keeping SPS, I would setup another stream to counter the flow or use some device to increase flow in the tank.

Peace,
John H.
  #92  
Old 10/15/2004, 11:55 AM
sunny03 sunny03 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: singapore
Posts: 143
not to SPS so soon maybe it going to be a LPS with lot of zoos and mushroom
  #93  
Old 10/20/2004, 02:29 PM
comatose comatose is offline
GrimReaper
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Flyers, Eagles, Phillies country
Posts: 1,407
I think you guys are crazy using Great Stuff for your tanks, i've worked with this stuff for many years and see what happens to it over time, starts flaking and peeling off.
not to mention it is very porous and no way to clean it, it has to become a nitrate factory.
__________________
=========================================================
You can see some of my DIY stuff on my webpage,click on the little red house above.
=========================================================
  #94  
Old 10/20/2004, 03:09 PM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Quote:
Originally posted by comatose
I think you guys are crazy using Great Stuff for your tanks, i've worked with this stuff for many years and see what happens to it over time, starts flaking and peeling off.
not to mention it is very porous and no way to clean it, it has to become a nitrate factory.
And that's why the europeans continue to use it successfully.

I don't think it's a huge problem especially once you have it covered with the various things that tend to cover surfaces in a tank. I've already got some coralline specks appearing on the surface. Only a matter of time before I have a bad *** backdrop!

Peace,
John H.
  #95  
Old 10/20/2004, 03:10 PM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Also, take into account that it is not really porous because each of those little bubbles seals itself off from the rest of the bubbles, so you'll have to someone perforate all those little bubbles to reach the next one below. That's why it will continue floating unless you weight it down.

Peace,
John H.
  #96  
Old 10/21/2004, 10:49 AM
comatose comatose is offline
GrimReaper
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Flyers, Eagles, Phillies country
Posts: 1,407
i decide to write an email to Dow to get their advice on using Great stuff in aquariums. i figured i would get advice strait from the horses mouth. their email and answer is below.

==============================================
On October 20, 2004 at 4:36 PM, James wrote:

>The intended recipient of this message is: DowCig@dow.com
>Comments:
>
> Hi
>I notice some people are using great stuff in their salt water fish tanks.
>is this safe to use great stuff in this way?
>
>thanks Jim



James,
Water will break this product down over time, we do not recommend Great Stuff to be used in this application. Dow has not done any aquatic testing. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at 1-888-868-1183 opt. #1. Thank you

==============================================
__________________
=========================================================
You can see some of my DIY stuff on my webpage,click on the little red house above.
=========================================================
  #97  
Old 10/21/2004, 04:35 PM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Thanks comatose. We've all been warned. Hehe. I think most of us using this type of stuff went in well aware that DOW had not tested this stuff in a saltwater environment.

Trust me, I've mulled over this quite a bit and finding that many europeans have safely used this stuff for years (not only for freshwater, but also for saltwater), I decided to take the plunge and I'm carefully awaiting any deleterious effects, though I highly doubt it. Also, take into account that this stuff is inert and if it does break into small particles, should not harm anything in the tank. The great thing about this stuff is that if it ever does start causing problems, you can rip/peel the stuff right off.

Peace,
John H.
  #98  
Old 10/21/2004, 09:59 PM
Bayliner Bayliner is offline
A. newbee
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Southern Ontario
Posts: 827
South down sand also says on the bag not to use in aquariums, but lots of people including myself have success with it.

Personally I think that it is just Dow covering them selves so they can’t be responsible if someone’s tank crashes with their product in it.

Just a thought.. don't want to take this off topic and make it another SD post....

I am going to try this...

Cam
__________________
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Darn...that was fun!"
  #99  
Old 10/21/2004, 10:31 PM
Jpizzle Jpizzle is offline
Huey Freeman 4 President!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 1,197
well the southdown example isn't very good, they only say that because they want you to buy the more expensive stuff.

But in response to that letter, yea they are probably saying that so that they will not be liable in case someone's tank crashes...


but i still don't trust that stuff... maybe I'm just paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
__________________
my fish don't love me. they love my turkey baster.
  #100  
Old 10/22/2004, 12:39 AM
rufio173 rufio173 is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,688
Quote:
Originally posted by Jpizzle
well the southdown example isn't very good, they only say that because they want you to buy the more expensive stuff.

But in response to that letter, yea they are probably saying that so that they will not be liable in case someone's tank crashes...


but i still don't trust that stuff... maybe I'm just paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
well, there you go... you have people on both sides. If you don't wanna do it, then don't. It's as simple as that. No one is going around claiming anything other than that it makes a cool backdrop and is probably safe for the reef environment.

Most who have tried it, end up pretty happy with the setup. Nothing like seeing hermit crabs scale the wall and your little clown goby resting among the nooks and crannies of the foam/rock wall.

Peace,
John H.
 


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:47 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef Central™ Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2009