Foam Aquascaping?

[Black Phantom]

The floating thing is a good comment. Never thought about that.
I figure I'll silicone it to the back wall after everything is done. then after a day or two I can add the water.

[Cap'n]

Silicon is the way to go. You could even go so far as to build a frame (back, bottom, sides) out of pexi and do all your foamwork within. That way you can be sure of the dimensions, makes an easy job of glueing and you can competely seal off the foam from the water. Maybe even toss a couple rocks at the bottom of the foam stack before sculpting to give the silicon a hand.

I still think getting rid of all the foam after coating is the best solution but extruded foam is definitely an improvement over the expanding.

[Sushiman]

I used an eggcrate scaffold for the foam to adhere to instead of the glass itself. I placed a horizontal cross-piece along the bottom of this framing & attached via zip ties. This acts as an anchoring system for the aquascape as it is buried totally within the sandbed. Instead of the industrial foam, I used a black aquatic pond foam from a local nursery & I have to say I'm pleased thusfar. There's a pic of it in my gallery after it was initailly completed. I have coraline growing nicely & I've begun mounting encrusting frags. Nice bonus is easy mounting of powerheads. My MJ's & Seio's are happily wedged at any angle. Next step is redoing my LR display on a new PVC scaffold. I cant stand the "rock pile" look & it allows you to do more with less. The black foam fills gaps in this style as well so no ugle pvc is left exposed.

[jgoldsney]

I have done the back of my tank with the 'Great Stuff' expanding foam. What I did was make a base out of egg crate with some egg crate shelves zip tied to it to make ledges. I then sprayed the structure with foam. To get ridd of the "turd" look I dropped handfulls of sand and coral chunks on it while it was still wet. once it dried I sprayed it with multiple coats of Krylon Fusion black paint. It is now quite covered by coraline and you can hardly tell that it is not rock.

[Black Phantom]

Well it looks like I might not do this after all. Scavenger who posted here and built a foam wall seems to be losing his fish for some unknown reason.
I HATE LOSING FISH.
So I think I'll just build a nice back wall out of live rock. At least we all know that it works
Thanks everyone for your input.

[Black Phantom]

Sorry, it wasn't Scavenger it was JGoldsney

Anyway, thanks all

[Midknight]

Yes but he is 1 out of how many have done this in the past?
I think there might be something else or working with that to create a fish death zone.