LIVE ROCK Background!

[saltysteven]

Id like to know if this idea will work and what are the negatives about it?
I want to get a plastic grill and put down black foam them stick dead live rock (small rubble) into the foam to make a live rock back ground. It would be shaped around my overflow so it would be free standing against the back glass. This would form a wall that would become a live rock background.

Is this possible and what do you think of this technique?

im concerned about the lack of water movement. it will be right up against the back wall but there still will be water in between. is this bad?

i want to make a frame, put down the foam and then lay the rock on top. this will make a live background

any thoughts? i just concerned about stuff growing or getting trapped between the wall and glass

[sunkool]

My back is a solid 2" thick diy rock. It is held in place with a few shots of spray foam to the back. I have never had a power head or anything spraying through it. It has been over 2 years now with no problems.

[reefrubble]

I like it because , you don't have to scrape the back of your tank . and you add live rock , without loosing so much space in the tank . I also like to attach frags to the back wall . Ted

[saltysteven]

wow! sunkool- taht looks really good! im glad to hear youve had success. so you put a couple of spots of the foam on to keep it attached- about how much space is in between? or is it right up against the back wall

[sunkool]

You have to se it in person to really appreciate it.
I just sprayed about 3 small spots and pushed the wall up to the glass. The hole wall is one section so I just did what I had to to hold it vertical. It won't move.
I'd say about flush to glass to 1/2 inch in some spots?
I might be setting up a 55g which I will do the same way and take step by step photos.

[saltysteven]

sunkool- nice so howd you make that background anyway? do you have pics of the process? and what did you think of how i want to make mine?

[FishPassion]

Hmmmmmmmmm love that idea for one of my tanks

[airinhere]

I made aragocrete rock walls for all three of my larger tanks.
Just take the empty tank, lean it onto its backside
and put some plastic sheeting down covering the back wall
and overlapping the side walls and the bottom a little bit.
Mix up some aragocrete using your favorite recipie
and take handfuls of it and start building up your rock wall.
I made mine 3-d by making branching pieces that run from top to bottom of the tank
with lots of space between them.
Then I poured solar salt to fill the open spaces between the aragocrete so everythig is level.
Repeat several times and you get an effect of a solid wall with lots of caves and tunnels running through it.
The way mine ended up,
I could stand each piece upright on its own
and they would fit snug against the back glass
and overflows of my tanks.
I did mine in several pieces that fit together very closely, but are not touching.
This way, I can get the dried pieces of aragocrete out of the tank so I could cure it in a seperate container of water.
I like how it came out and it leaves plenty of space for my fish to swim around in.
I am even curing out some pillars that will go in front of the existing rock walls
so I will have more surface area to mount corals onto.

Sorry about the bad picture quality. I need a better camera.
my 120 anemone tank
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my two 90 gal tanks
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[johnski]

nice work there, guys. Here also a thread by Tiggsy about his live rock, foam combo

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1188352

[chrisqueenz]

Nice work!

[saltysteven]

good stuff
johnski- thanx for the link thats exactly what i was talking about- i guess it all about how you set it up to get the most water flow not creating stagnant flow.

[rogergolf66]

very nice!!!