saltwater viv construction log
- Thread starter ohbly
- Start date
thats really impressive and detailed. I BS'd mine. just a plexi glass ramp with pebbles glued on to hold back water. what you got is just wow
well back to it..
heres some foam after the 1st coat of sand and dirt at a ratio of about 8-2
it came out to black and sandpapery so on the second coat I used a ratio of about 2-8 sand-powdered clay
(pic was taken before I washed off the excess dirt)
heres all the foam after the second coat
close up
now I read on the web that you should do up to 6 coats! but whoever said that probably didnt riddle their fake rocks with tunnels which are bloody hard to epoxy the inside of.. so I think I will stick to two coats + a touch up.
I painted the tanks back and below the groundline on one side and arranged the foam heres how it looks now
tomorrow morning I'll glue in the main foam and plumb it up, and glue in the driftwood for the background.
Btw be sure to come back to see the background, I will be using techniques and materials that I havent seen anywhere else on the web!!
heres some foam after the 1st coat of sand and dirt at a ratio of about 8-2
it came out to black and sandpapery so on the second coat I used a ratio of about 2-8 sand-powdered clay
(pic was taken before I washed off the excess dirt)
heres all the foam after the second coat
close up
now I read on the web that you should do up to 6 coats! but whoever said that probably didnt riddle their fake rocks with tunnels which are bloody hard to epoxy the inside of.. so I think I will stick to two coats + a touch up.
I painted the tanks back and below the groundline on one side and arranged the foam heres how it looks now
tomorrow morning I'll glue in the main foam and plumb it up, and glue in the driftwood for the background.
Btw be sure to come back to see the background, I will be using techniques and materials that I havent seen anywhere else on the web!!
I aplaude your agresive marine scape very cool idea, looks like it will be one of a kind for sure. obveously alot of effort and care are going into it. I am a builder and i belive i know what foam your refering to we have used it in aplications were the buildings are prone to flooding on very high tides to keep water from getting to the studs and rotting out everying or preventing mold my question is is the foam non toxic?
Im not 100% sure that it is non toxic when its cured, but I do know that it tends to deteriorate if its exposed for to long so I painted it and then coated it in epoxy.
I havent done much with the viv this week..
I had some issues with water wicking up the surface of the foam rocks. This wouldnt be an issue with fresh water but it would cause big problems with salt water.
I painted a strip of epoxy arould the waterline to prevent the capillary action-
it looks abit funny when its dry, but it should just look wet when its holding water
The land area is going to have a false bottom to save weight (Im trying to make the viv as light as possible so I can move it around without having to break it down)
this pic shows the pipe from the front pool to the side pool.
I cut up some pvc pipe I found laying around and glued them to the bottom.
I cut up the bottom of an old seed tray and glued it to the pipes.
lastly I glued on the bottom of a cave-to-be(on the left), and glued on some weedmat to stop any crap from falling through.
Tomorrow I make the background and all the major work will be over :headshake2:
A big reason for making this thing was the fun of making it..
I had some issues with water wicking up the surface of the foam rocks. This wouldnt be an issue with fresh water but it would cause big problems with salt water.
I painted a strip of epoxy arould the waterline to prevent the capillary action-
it looks abit funny when its dry, but it should just look wet when its holding water
The land area is going to have a false bottom to save weight (Im trying to make the viv as light as possible so I can move it around without having to break it down)
this pic shows the pipe from the front pool to the side pool.
I cut up some pvc pipe I found laying around and glued them to the bottom.
I cut up the bottom of an old seed tray and glued it to the pipes.
lastly I glued on the bottom of a cave-to-be(on the left), and glued on some weedmat to stop any crap from falling through.
Tomorrow I make the background and all the major work will be over :headshake2:
A big reason for making this thing was the fun of making it..
