The best for my 65 G reef

[Basile]

Got a new camera

Trying my new cam

 

[Basile]

Bad rocks

Some of the rocks where substandards; Marc's Rock is not always even.i have no regrets but be advise...Had a lot of waste after drilling lots of dirt, its suppose to be mined , but.

 

[Basile]

Using silicone and foam

Part of the structure i'll be using silicone , specially at the tips of the branches where zip ties would be too bulky and foam will also play its part in holding rocks as well as hidding the zip ties and the pvc.

This is the left branch of the second structure, heavy sucker too.

I drilled some holes undeneath for the return flow, the hole sculpture will be a vehicule for the return waterflow pretty cool hein.

 

[Basile]

Fit for a king

Well i'm celebrating its going well and i'm having my fave, Duck. Fit for a king.
And being a frenchman nothing would be complete without the wine.

 

[tike]

Excellant build thread! Man it looks like you'll have no more living space in a minute with all the tanks I see. Keep the pics a comin'!

 

[mercedes]

awesome shots! can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[Basile]

Some background

The background sort of speak

 

[Basile]

Foam it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOAM IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Basile]

CUT IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The POD's nest.

CUT IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[1fishkeeper]

Wow very nice I really like how this is turning out.

 

[JIvePhotography]

Can't wait to see it all in the tank and workin! Awesome build so far!!!

 

[cross]

nice, I'm curious to see how this turns out.

 

[Basile]

Resin treatment

Today i'll be applying this to the foam. The foam as to cure at least 24 hour.In my case i was busy with the other desing so its been 72 hours.

This epoxy can be a bit thick , so you can use some rubbing alcohol to dilute it.it has to be 99% alcohol, not the 70%; there's too much water in that one. Most drugstores cary it, some you have to ask for it , and they'll order it for you.I found this in a hobby shop; they use it on miniature planes styrofoam wings to render them impervious to water i think.

I'm doing my resin now. Yuk , thats sticky.... Normaly you just apply the resin, but upon this i add crush coral to make the foam more rock like. And guess what you get glued to it lol. Taking a break now. I can't explain how to work with resin and crush coral. You have to do it to see how it reacts. You have to mesure precisely equal parts of resin and hardener. If too much hardener you have a more rubber like texture, so they say on the box. I did my mesurement perfect. It dries in about 30 min so be fast!. Will update later with pics bye now.

 

[Basile]

That what i've done today. I first put the sculpture in a baque, to capture the crush coral i'm going to apply on the sticky resin. I got 30 minutes before it hardens.I sprinkle generously with a spoon onto the resin and
leave the surplus there until dry. Then i brushed it away clean to leave the piece inprinted with the coral to hide most of the foam.

All done , i'm letting them dry and tomorrow will set them up in the tank for a look over. And see if there's anything else to do to them , mistakes to correct or overlooks.There are some spots i haven put foam or hide the zip ties, because i plan on covering those specific spots with frags and maybe coral already on rocks to fill up.

 

[cross]

lookin good.

 

[Basile]

Well thats the finish product just before i put them in the tank for size.It fits don't worry , i've tried them before. But this is with the lighting from the diningroom. My halides are not installed yet; because , i still got to do the pluming and we have to move the tank a bit so can't line up the fixtures yet.But its the proper lighting from above i was interested in, similar anyway, and it gives this kind of look. I like it.

 

[Basile]

A secret project code name stalac;

May i present the stalactite, which will simulate a cavern environment.

 

[Basile]

This morning i was gona drill a few holes in my foam to have extra places to pegg. having my coffe in hand , and i don't know why this happened, i took a tooth pick , which i never uses, its for guest. And a was looking closer at the details of the foam covered by crush corals. I was asked i can't remember by whom to take a close up pics of the foam to see the details of the crush coral on it. Taking the tooth pick and starting to poke at it some of the crush material came off. Not from the foam itself but the surroundings. and it when on and more here and there, all kinds coming out of cracks, nooks and crannies. To reveal the rocks underneath, which i paid for. This took me an hour to clean up all the excess crush coral from the structure. It looks like special K all over the sculpture and what came out of that is impressive. I removed it for good reason. These little pockets of loose , cereal size coral, would of been the ideal trap for debris and what not. Plus it was hiding, lots of the nice rocks details and potential bacterial growth spots. So when.....i remember its Stircrazy who asked me that, thats all your fault!! LOL just kidding. Actually if i hadn't start that clean up i would of let all that material loose in the tank and a potential mess.So you can add 3 tooth picks to the expenses for this project. LOL Here are some pics of the before and after clean up.

This looks like the valley of the king, or the valley of the queen; for those who knows a bit of ancient Egypt lol


The primitive tools, just like ancient Egypt, you can see how much i used the first one, i feel like the crazy archaeologist on tv.Hey its morning not totally awake yet lol.And i'm digging for rocks on a 3 foot sculpture, I'm crazy, Stircrazy thats all your fault LOl

 

[Basile]

Ok now is time for making holes in the foam for plug placements

The stalactite has been properly peppered lol and holed.

 

[Basile]

All those holes must be coated with epoxy oh ya, nah i don't want to hear it!!!!if you don't want the foam to deteriorate.

You have to change swabs every time because of the debris you'll find in it

All over and over