diabeetus Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 well this is my first blog EVER! i hope to keep this updated as my tank progresses over the months. i love to see things change over time so im pretty excited about this whole thing. im using a 30 long for this which i bought from Tavio a while back. he had made it into an A-I-O already, which was what i really wanted because of my bad luck with sumps. but after reading and talking with JasonJones for a while, getting all these awesome ideas, i changed the way Tavio had it set up to look a little more like the way JasonJones had his set up. this way i could fit my skimmer back there and its also easier to do maintenance as well. here is the mess in my apt before this morning. note: this is an outdoor project for sure! (but it was raining for the past few days ) here is a little sample of one piece (out of 3) before finishing touches to make sure everything fit properly. (of course it didnt. the very left piece i had to pretty much cut in half because it was too big after adding all the rock) here they are after coating them with 2 part epoxy and sprinkling sand over the foam. still needs a little more touching up before its done. i added a few barnicles i found at the beach last year for fun and they look pretty awesome so i think i will keep them. this thing is really coming together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted November 6, 2010 Author Share Posted November 6, 2010 so i have now put the finishing touches to the 3 sections and they look awesome! way better than i expected them to come out. its hard to tell from the pictures how good it looks, but it does the only thing is... as the foam dried, it warped the egg crate outward ( away from the glass) so now i have at least one edge from each piece that is not touching the glass (the middle section is a false wall and is acrylic)!!! i cant think of a way to straightn it out since its now very rigid now that the foam has dried completely. it can still flex back to vertical alignment, but im afraid the pressure would be too much for a silicone to hold over time onto the glass. any suggestions? im pretty much walking in circles trying to figure out how to fix the problem here are some pics that might be of some assistance: here is one piece tha you can see from the side that is warped: and here is a FTS of what it might look like if i ever get it going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 Wow! That looks awesome! I like how you left a spot for the powerhead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted November 9, 2010 Author Share Posted November 9, 2010 well i fixed the warped pieces by just painting a thick coat of some acrylic glue and liquid epoxy and jammed some wooded dowels to hold it to the glass/ acrylic. it worked fairly well. it still is not perfect, but it looks sooooo good! filled in the cracks with more foam for a more seamless look. here are some pics of the tank now!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 Molly millers love those barnacle shells! Looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 That looks really nice. Once you get some seed rock in there and some coralline and other things start to make their homes on it you won't be able to tell at all that it's not a real rock face. Really it's difficult to tell now, but the life and little extra covering will make the illusion complete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJones Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 Looks great. I really like how it come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissT Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 awww.. reminds me of my experience with spray foam Looks pretty good... now you need fish and coral! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Vash Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 That looks great, man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted November 29, 2010 Author Share Posted November 29, 2010 thats actually where the return comes out. i wanted it mostly hidden so i covered it in sand and foam and now you can barely see it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted November 29, 2010 Author Share Posted November 29, 2010 thanks guys!! its really lookin good now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted November 29, 2010 Author Share Posted November 29, 2010 I have had it filled now for a couple weeks now. the water is clearing up nicely from some cloudiness i had so thats pretty exciting! a few other things: 1: i made a hanging kit for my light (out of pvc) because the legs it was on were too short and i had to take it off everytime i needed in the tank. 2: i installed my mp10 a while back and have been playing with the different modes. THIS THING IS AWESOME!! i love the wave action!! WAY WORTH IT! 3: finally adjusted the mp10 and put a rock in front of the return to deflect the flow away from the sand bed so it stopped pushing all the sand away making bald spots on the bottom glass. -i had a party over here earlier this week and the consensus of the party was that my tank was "official" which makes me feel pretty good about it more pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted November 29, 2010 Author Share Posted November 29, 2010 Looks great. I really like how it come out. i wish it came out half as nice as yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 looks great Cory! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted December 1, 2010 Author Share Posted December 1, 2010 thanks man!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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