Hi All,
I have gotten quite a few ideas from your forum, so I wanted to post here about a cool process that I am journaling about.
For about a year now I have been researching the ins and outs of how to create and mold colored foam. For the past few months I have been experimented with the process and now building a tank with two major changes in tank design.
Over the years I have seen great stuff become a common tool in tanks as well as using solid foam sheets / concrete / grout in building back walls, but both ways are a great deal of work and both methods have many problems. In my experimenting, with these products, (no I don't sell them) I have found that this method is so much easier to create beautiful, realistic rocks and walls than either one of the other methods presently being used.
This rock is 100 % created and colored with three colors of foam poured at one time. There is no Paint coloring the rock.
It is so much easier than cutting foam and covering it with a concrete / grout mixture / having to cure it etc. No more great stuff tan, and then having to coati it with black silicone, and then applying bark dust, just to get it to look natural. It foams up like great stuff, can be shaped, cut, etc. After colorizing, the color is permanent and it runs completely through the foam. The foam is waterproof and is completely inert after it sets. You can create any color you want. I’ve made Black, Dark Mud Brown, Tree brown, Multi-Color Granite Rock (Grey, Burgundy, Rose), Pink, Blue, Yellow. etc. Structures are easy to Add / Remove / or Modify: (Carves like Great Stuff)
It is easy to sterilize, It can be used to bond structures to glass, window screen plumbing pipes, etc. It is cheaper to install than: Silicone / Great Stuff / Styrofoam / Thinset / Grout / Concrete methods. It is also vastly faster to install than present systems we use in our tanks today. The foam expands in 2 – 4 minute time, in 12 –15 minutes you can pour another level onto top of the present level, It only takes 24 hour total cure time. Compare this to the time it takes to cut & shape Styrofoam, apply time for grout / concrete / thinset . Then 3 – 4 weeks of flush and cure time in order to lower pH.
I document how to easily modify a regular aquarium, to create a false backed tank with a rear access panel. This will enable you to remove an internal pump from the rear for easy maintenance. How I installed an Internal Tank Computer Fan / Hidden behind the false wall, accessible from rear, which Clears the front glass. How the rear access panel is magnetically attached to the tank.
I am journaling my experiences as I am building this tank. Want to take a look?
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/40473-detailed-journal-colored-foam-tank-rear-access-artificial-vines-stumps.html
Dave Calkins
I have gotten quite a few ideas from your forum, so I wanted to post here about a cool process that I am journaling about.
For about a year now I have been researching the ins and outs of how to create and mold colored foam. For the past few months I have been experimented with the process and now building a tank with two major changes in tank design.
- First innovation is creating and molding multicolored foam foam.
- The Second is innovation in modifying a regular aquarium so that it has a false back which is accessible from the rear of the tank.
Over the years I have seen great stuff become a common tool in tanks as well as using solid foam sheets / concrete / grout in building back walls, but both ways are a great deal of work and both methods have many problems. In my experimenting, with these products, (no I don't sell them) I have found that this method is so much easier to create beautiful, realistic rocks and walls than either one of the other methods presently being used.
This rock is 100 % created and colored with three colors of foam poured at one time. There is no Paint coloring the rock.
It is so much easier than cutting foam and covering it with a concrete / grout mixture / having to cure it etc. No more great stuff tan, and then having to coati it with black silicone, and then applying bark dust, just to get it to look natural. It foams up like great stuff, can be shaped, cut, etc. After colorizing, the color is permanent and it runs completely through the foam. The foam is waterproof and is completely inert after it sets. You can create any color you want. I’ve made Black, Dark Mud Brown, Tree brown, Multi-Color Granite Rock (Grey, Burgundy, Rose), Pink, Blue, Yellow. etc. Structures are easy to Add / Remove / or Modify: (Carves like Great Stuff)
It is easy to sterilize, It can be used to bond structures to glass, window screen plumbing pipes, etc. It is cheaper to install than: Silicone / Great Stuff / Styrofoam / Thinset / Grout / Concrete methods. It is also vastly faster to install than present systems we use in our tanks today. The foam expands in 2 – 4 minute time, in 12 –15 minutes you can pour another level onto top of the present level, It only takes 24 hour total cure time. Compare this to the time it takes to cut & shape Styrofoam, apply time for grout / concrete / thinset . Then 3 – 4 weeks of flush and cure time in order to lower pH.
I document how to easily modify a regular aquarium, to create a false backed tank with a rear access panel. This will enable you to remove an internal pump from the rear for easy maintenance. How I installed an Internal Tank Computer Fan / Hidden behind the false wall, accessible from rear, which Clears the front glass. How the rear access panel is magnetically attached to the tank.
I am journaling my experiences as I am building this tank. Want to take a look?
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/40473-detailed-journal-colored-foam-tank-rear-access-artificial-vines-stumps.html
Dave Calkins
