rock wall, glue it or egg crate?

[Fishward]

I built a wall out of eggcrate and cement. Worked out great. You need architectural cement, you can see the results inmy photo gallery
def suggest going with the eggcrate however you choose to fixthe rock to it.

[nanmer]

Did you have to cure the cement? does the cement effect the ph?

[Fishward]

Originally Posted by nanmer

Did you have to cure the cement? does the cement effect the ph?

Yes, you have to cure the cement under water for about 2 months, but you can't match the look with zip ties or glue. Does not impact my ph at all. If you want more details onhow I built it whip me a pm.

[Marlin65]

I siliconed my rock to the back wall cut them flat on a tile saw and let them dry. So far it has just been fine.

[i have crabs]

no regrets, i love the wall actually, pictures dont really do it justice though, im actually doing the same thing in my 300g very soon, i have everything i just need to get started, one tip is to get dry rock first, i used live rock and the smell was terrible and cutting it was fairly gross too,

[nanmer]

Fishward and BMW, how long was the curing time and how often did you change the water? I am looking at a piece approx 48" long and approx. 3ish ft. tall. I can do it in sections but that is still a lot of space needed to cure. I really like the natural look this creates. I guess a bath tub in the basement may be needed.

Marlin, how long has your rocks been siliconed to the back of your tank?

Thanks, this is giving me so many options!

[Fishward]

Originally Posted by nanmer

Fishward and BMW, how long was the curing time and how often did you change the water? I am looking at a piece approx 48" long and approx. 3ish ft. tall. I can do it in sections but that is still a lot of space needed to cure. I really like the natural look this creates. I guess a bath tub in the basement may be needed.

Marlin, how long has your rocks been siliconed to the back of your tank?

Thanks, this is giving me so many options!

I built my wall in the summer, so i had the tank sitting out on the covered porch and had the wall sitting in there. initial cure i did flat in my tub for a day so it had the strength to sit on an angle in the tank.

3 ft tall!!? thats an enormous tank. i believe mine is 24" tall 17" wide, and that section is just manageable. using cement gets heavy fast, so make sure you size your pieces correctly so you can lift them and secure them in the tank.

with regards to changing water, i bought some litmus paper and switched the water whenever it got over 10 early on. after a few days/ weeks, when it only ever got to 9, i dosed with white vinegar to bring it down and reduce the number of changes i was doing. You know you're done curing once you can leave it in the water for 4-7 days without significant pH changes. once i got there, i switched to salt water and monitored that for pH for 3 days, no changes, and then i added some LR to begin the seeding process. if you can, leave a Powerhead in the tank during the whole process.

[nanmer]

It is a big tank, 180g tall. I can actually sit in it, if it were not for the bracing. I was scuba diving in Cuba and saw an amazing wall of coral. I would love to recreate something like this. When I saw this tall tank for sale (used for an amazing price) I grabbed it right away. Then I shall get out my mask and have a flashback LOL. Later I will drink rum and tell tall tales ... dare to dream!

[BMW Rider]

Originally Posted by Fishward

I built a wall out of eggcrate and cement. Worked out great. You need architectural cement, you can see the results inmy photo gallery
def suggest going with the eggcrate however you choose to fixthe rock to it.

I did the same for my tank. I just used regualr cement and mixed up a batch of aragacrete (cement, aragonite sand, crushed coral). After a good long cure, it went in the tank and was soon covered with growth making it look totally natural.