Our 375 Gallon project

[gone feral]

RedEyeReef
it's Handi-Foam, from Drs. Foster and Smith. I got some too, great stuff. Just make sure whatever you put it on is CLEAN or it won't stick and wants to float.
I agree with sidewinder770, one gets about 1sqft of coverage on a flat surface depending on the shape. If you had a uniform sqft, i reckon it would be 3-4" deep after it set.

[sidewinder770]

tang_man_montreal- The smell wasn't too bad out of the box- once I started scrubbing all the goo off it started to smell but not real bad. Once it went in the tank it didn't smell at all.

JustOneMoreTank- Yes, it was from OceanPro. Some pretty nice rock and for the most part Ocean Pro was good to deal with. Do you want more pics of the rock or of the tank? I suppose I could just post more of each huh

RedEyeReef- gone feral is correct it's 'handi foam' black pond foam. There are several people that carry it online- wasn't able to find any local people who do but the cheapest I found was custom aquatic- they actually gave me a deal of about $7 a can shipped since I purchased a case of it. It's kind of a pain to work with and you have a limited time to "shape" it but I like the end result- just keep in mind that it does expand so you don't need a lot in one spot. Here is a picture of it-


gone feral- Got any pics of your foam? I'm interested to see what other people got it to look like in the end. Once you get use to it you can make some pretty cool shapes, caves and shelves.

Jimsmowen- Not sure what you're getting at? This has been "underway" since February. It's been a long process and a lot of work getting it to this point - I never thought it would take quite this long but at least we have a functional system now.

The clear slime seems to be going away now and the water is looking a little better. Suprisingly, with 200 lbs of rock added in the last 2 weeks, the ammonia never got above .75 so that's good. Still have a lot more "tinkering" , adjusting and installing to do but everything should be done by the time the cycle ends. I'll try and post some more pics when I get some.

[sidewinder770]

I did take a picture the morning after I hooked up the skimmer. this is the waste container after it's first 8 hours of running-

[gone feral]

sidewinder770
Sorry but I don't have the foam actually in the tank yet - it's still under contruction so to speak. I bought a case and had to try one can of it to see how the stuff behaves and just how much one can is. I'll get back with photos asap but it will be a couple months just because I travel so much for work.
I am really impressed with your foam work - covering the PVC structure and the sort of overhang up top. Nice. I hope mine turns out that well.
I have a box of the small Hirocks pieces to plant in the foam as it sets to try to improve the illusion. I'm sure it will look a little alien until the colors even out but that'll be the case no matter what I think.

[Corsec]

First, Great looking project! Thank you so much for sharing with us!

I have a question about using the foam, which looks great BTW. Do you think there will be a problem with grazing fish tearing chunks out of it? I have never used the foam, but would be very interested in using it on a 150 i am putting together right now. I was just thinking about tangs and the like and how they rip things off and wondering what would happen with the foam. Any experiences to share or thoughts?

Thanks!

[TheCoralReef731]

The foam should be very strong, because I have some (different brand though) and it dries rock hard.

Scott- have you had any problems with the foam floating? Any picture with the whole tank filled with water yet?

[Jimsmowen]

Oh sorry I didnt mean to sound rude hehe.

Was just curious, I stopped reading here ages ago and just came back to it and I can remember following your thread untill it stopped.

When are you gonna start stocking it?

[reefjockey]

cant wait to see it packed with livestock...great tank! one of my dream tanks.

[TheCoralReef731]

Are you good at working with acrylics. It looks like you have an acrylic table for your skimmer and waste container.

[mikeo1210]

Scott- would like to hear more about the skimmer. Is the hammerhead also your return pump and if so how much flow did you dedicate to the skimmer and how much is returning? You had something like a 30 or 40 ft. run IIRC.

[sidewinder770]

gone feral- Putting rocks in the foam while it cures is a great idea. We did that on the 50g we have. It's been up and running for almost 2 years now and the 'built in" rocks look great. Be sure to post when you get done and have some pics.

Corsec- Haven't noticed any problems with fish tearing chuncks out of the foam or anything. We haven't noticed any fish 'grazing' on the foam so I don't think it will be a problem.

TheCoralReef731- I'll be sure to post some pics of the whole tank once I can get a good shot without all the cloudy water. The foam sticks really well to both the pvc structures and the back so I haven't had any problems with floating.


Jimsmowen- No worries, I wish it was done a few months ago . We have 2 fish now but probably won't transfer the old tank over till the cycle is done. Hopefully we will be able to add new fish by next month. We still have a few things to take care of before we get to that point as well- calcium reactor, phosban reactors, that kind of stuff.

reefjockey- ME EITHER !!! I can't wait to get some livestock in this thing- hopefully next month

TheCoralReef731- Are we good with acrylic? I don't know if I'd say good but we are able to make stuff. We made all the tanks in the sump room including the 130g sump. We did add the sheves for the skimmer and waste bucket as well as a probe holder for the ACIII probes. Basically everything acrylic (except the main display and skimmer) we made- even the calcium reactor.

mikeo1210- The hammerhead is supplying only the skimmer- we also have it supplying the CA reactor but that's only taking a minute trickle. It definately has enough flow! We have a second hammerhead for the sump return. All together we have 2 hammerheads and one dart in the sump room and 2 darts under the display tank on closed loops. I will be sure to post a full review on the skimmer as there are a few things I think people should know about- I'll get that done soon.

I'll try to post some more pics for everyone by the end of the weekend!

[sidewinder770]

oops- double post

[mikeo1210]

Originally posted by sidewinder770
I will be sure to post a full review on the skimmer as there are a few things I think people should know about- I'll get that done soon.

Looking forward. Thanks!

[OceanproAquatics]

Awesome looking System! Great work.

[TheCoralReef731]

What type of saw do you use to cut your acrylic? Do You use weld-on?

[sidewinder770]

mikeo1210- Sorry for the delay in getting a review posted- Just been busy and had a few things to work out first but I'll try to get one posted soon.

OceanproAquatics- Thanks- your rock makes it look even better- There is a lot of nice coloration and life.

TheCoralReef731- We use a table saw with an 80 tooth carbide blade- the blade itself is fairly pricey but you can probably find a suitable one for about $80 at Lowes or Home Depot. When using the table saw I had to build extra feed tables to make the cutting easier with the large pieces of acrylic- luckily I had just done some remodeling and had several interior doors lying around that I set-up as tables the same height as the table saw cutting surface. We use "plexiglass G" acrylic and weld-on #4.

I'm working on putting some pics up so hopefully those will be up soon.

Thanks again for all the compliments- it's just nice to have it all up and running!

[sidewinder770]

Finally!!!

Well we just hit the 10 month mark on this project and to say the least it was a busy weekend. We were able to get the 50g tank transferred over to the new tank and finished hanging the last 2 pendants. We worked on it most of the weekend and still have quite a bit of arranging to do with the some of the rock and corals but they all seem happy for now and will give them a little time before trying to arrange everything.

Here are a few updated pics although not very good- the water was still a little cloudy from transferrring some of the sand over and my camera is in desperate need of replacement.

The last picture is of the RBTA that is actually a clone of the RBTA that was in Reefmaidens old 240 tank a few years ago. And I would like to say thank you again Kirsten for keeping it for us- it was obviously well cared for. It's an awesome RBTA and it's huge- probablly at least 10" across and our clown fish loves it!

[bigben]

GORGEOUS!!

[Bax]

WOW!

Looks great!!!

[melev]

Congratulations!

[TheCoralReef731]

Wow, great pictures. Are those rocks really in one arch?

[cali_reef]

Awsome.....

How do you like your Barr skimmer so far?? Do you use ozone full time?

[hk]

Damn, that’s lookin’ good!

[Tballa]

This has to be one of the sweetest large tanks I've ever seen! Very natural looking! Keep pics updated!!!!!! What livestock do you have in there?

[sidewinder770]

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement. It has come a long way but there is still a long way to go before it's finished.

TheCoralReef731- No- the picture is kind of deceiving and doesn't do the tank justice at all. It really looks like one big arch in the picture but in reality it's only spanning about half the distance- it's just hard to make out the line as it's resting on the foam of the rock structure. It is an arch about 14"x14" but it looks alot bigger in that pic. The other thing it doesn't show is all the 'swim throughs' in the rock and foam- probably because the foam is on the back as well but there are a lot of caves and holes. I just need to get a better camera or a better photographer

cali_reef- So far the Barr skimmer is working great- and I don't have many complaints at all. I do run ozone but I wouldn't say full-time, it's controlled by the Aquacontroller. based on ORP.

Tballa- Not a lot of livestock yet- We plan on putting some more fish in this weekend and I'll post some more pics and a list of what livestock we do have. Obviously hard to tell by the fuzzy picstures but there are a lot of SPS frags and corals in there now as well.

I will try and get some better pics in the next few days and thanks again everyone for the compliments.