Rock wall?

[drej424]

Hi, everyone,

I have 215 FOWLR that has a blue background. I bought it that way but I never really liked the blue. Unfortunately, there is not enough room behind the tank to scrape the blue off and paint it black. I've been thinking of doing a rock wall for the background. I was hoping I could get some input from other people about it before I try it. Thanks in advance!

Denise

 

[ducati335i]

Jb weld, attach to rock, smear on glass, rock, you ate going to need a lot of it.. and glue too

 

[MatthewScars]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/tank-threads/147116-matthewscars-120g-upgrade.html

Rock wall is a 5 hour project. I can give you advice on products to use if you are interested.

ducati - attach the rock to the glass? Your sentence structure, or lack there of, is hard to follow. What 'ate' i going to need a lot of?

 

[MikeC]

I have yet to see a rock wall that did not look like a detritus trap or look good for that matter.
IMOP Don't worry about the blue back ground distract them with your cool fish & coral

 

[reefsquared]

I've heard of some people putting an acrylic sheet on the back to cover up a bad background

 

[albano]

I recently upgraded my grandson's 90g black background tank to a 130g blue background tank... It looked so much better and brightened up the room so much, that I also changed my 450g DT from black to blue background.... I'm sorry that I didn't change it sooner!

 

[lnevo]

I had a blue aquarium background. It bubbled up during the winter when the heat came on.. I took it off and it looks great, now it's mostly purple coraline.

Check out aquamags I believe. Magnetic rock frag racks. They look awesome. I plan on getting a few down the road,

 

[troywalkerphoto]

Hey don't do it! It will end up as a dead space in your tank. The best thing to do is to do a water hold before you do your regular water change. Yes it sounds like a pain in the a** but you will be doing the same thing with the rock wall if you don't want to kill fish and foul your setup. You will still have to remove at least 50% of water, fish and down time the tank.
Dude, think of it like a major tune up. You will get to clean the tank, resolve any other issues you may have with plumbing, wiring, lighting, etc. Have any other upgrades in mind? make a day of it!
Scrapping the back and repainting will take an hour or 2 if you preplan and have all materials on hand. Rock wall 2-6 hours depending on the materials and the cure time of said materials and the dreaded peal back because you rushed the process with water in the tank.
Hell worse case scenario you find some stuff you were looking for behind the tank! I say paint it.

 

[troywalkerphoto]

By the way my background is sea foam blue and I find that the lighter backdrop pumps up the light in the tank. I don't need as much wattage to grow my coral bcuz the blue reflects most of the light back into the tank.

 

[reefer4eva]

Not sure of what route your going to take but if you decide on the rock wall,marco rocks.com sells potable bonding cement called e-marco 400..when it dries this stuff is stronger than the rocks your using..great stuff!!

 

[MatthewScars]

This is how you fix the detritus trap of a rock wall:

Leave the bottom half open egg crate and angle the wall slightly out so there is room behind for a maxi 400 or just the general flow of the tank.

END RESULT:

MikeC - what now, playa?

 

[raidernation]

if your not familiar with the maintenance dont do it (detrius, algea, pest) try GSP and xenia easy to maintain and give away

 

[MikeC]

Ummm? if you like it and it works long term for you then I would say your happy

 

[ducati335i]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/tank-threads/147116-matthewscars-120g-upgrade.html

Rock wall is a 5 hour project. I can give you advice on products to use if you are interested.

ducati - attach the rock to the glass? Your sentence structure, or lack there of, is hard to follow. What 'ate' i going to need a lot of?

Sorry too busy for you nerds... Haha Anyway.. yes, you can attach the rocks to the glass and you will need a lot of jb weld.. It works.. I've done it plenty of times
My center overflow has a rock wall in the front/back.

 

[ducati335i]

Just stack it with rock you can "get behind," to blow off crap if need be. leave open spacing throughout and think it through.. You don't have to cover the entire wall, just add some for 3d effect and add corals.. Good to go

 

[drej424]

Thanks so much for all your input! I think I'm going to try it. If I don't like it or mine doesn't come out good, then I'll paint it black.

Denise

 

[vio]

i working in one project like that right now, i already make on fake wall from crash coral + cement mold on egg crate (22"x 20") i intend to make it removable for easy maintenance, than flow some water around (front and back) than glue some Zooa's , monti etc.