Two new 100 G starfire glassand tank and one 80G tank incomming

To Corrailine you can insert my video anytime you want that be great thank.

Doing some videos today too.

 

Photos shoot

Using nylon rods to secure the next level of rocks, mortar will be put in between; do not over screw the nut, you'll squeeze out the mortar, allow a few milimeters of the stuff for better bonding. In addition this mortar is hydrofuge it can be used underwater so it better to wet your rocks( if your doing this dry) to help the mortar to bond better with both rocks.




To repair a rock like this Tonga Branch rock soak the branch 30 min in water the apply the mortar . If its a prefect fit tilt it or twist it to make a gap so the mortar can have room and a chance to bond between the two pieces.







Wrapping it gives it time to really bond better by controlling the humidity, drying to quickly is not good. the next day unwrap it and let dry naturally.





Only mix what you need this stuff bond fast; they say 15 to 20 min but in less than 5 i couldn't pull my nylon rod , it had already bond and i had to leav it like that. So progress one rock at a time.



Dont scrape ciment its looks bad and sloppy, instead sprinkle it with crushed coral it looks much more natural and blends in very easy.



Sometimes contrast can be an eye soar or a point of discussion in any case, it'll start a conversation; and thats the point, you don't want people to indifferent to your creation do you....lol. Notice the crush coral , now what could that mean...




Starting this sculpture i realised that the weight was going to be superior to what i was expecting in my original plans. So to accomodate that and disperse this weight i've extended the feet into an elaborated tubing structure to diffuse that weight in a larger area of the tank, otherwise the whole weight of the sculpture would of been focused on those four small point and potentially ruptured the tank floor. So be aware of that if you make a support for a solid rock structure.






Changing one rock to a different , darker rock, both for mechanical and esthetic reason brought me to a change of direction in the design, so completing your sculpture too quickly is not always a good thing.



The second sculpture is about an often misused rock; the Tonga branch rock.
Here i'm doing a artificial root system with pvc, egg crates, wrapping the branches with Zip ties and foaming the feet. The structure will of course be under the sand you'll only see the branch as a tree as it should be.



Remember the mended branch? The reason for this sculpture is that it will be covered with Green star polyp, which with a wavebox movement will be awsome to watch. When ever you make a sculpture ; Have a purpose for it, nothing worse than a useless piece that takes space in your tank for no particular reason.



Each foot of each branch goes through the egg crates , for two reasons. Stability of the branches, and so i can apply a first layer of foam and make a sort of perimeter where the cement will be poured in .







Using foam to glue my branches on to the pvc is easyer than cement in this particular instance, but the feet will get cement to lock them together.After the foam has harden the zip ties will be cut and the foam will receive a coat of resin and sand to better hide and blend it in.





The sand will cover all the egg crate and cement only the the branches will be visible

 

Thanks for doing this! I'm learning a lot I love the rock work.

 

very impressive! I am really enjoying the progress!

 

Thanks i'm having fun doing it even if being in front of a camera is not my forte. I'm very uncomfortable in front of a camera, i told my friends i speak slowly as if i'm missing a chromozome lol. ;D But i think its good to visit your fear sometimes, lol. Thanks for your encouragements. In any case lots to come this week the tanks are arriving you think i'm not going to let this go with out a shot lol.

 

Photos shoot

A bit of directional phots shoot to see where this is going with a bit of intrusion from the directors....














Director # 1 taking a leasurely approach to the job and in charge of plumbing







Director # 2 opening every boxes, opening everything in sight to make sure it ok on set

 

More videos

Tonga branches are a real problem for most people. No one seem to know what to do with them.So on this video i'm giving you a way to make a great sculpture that's not really hard to do cost very little and look amazing, well i think it does. The difficulty with the tonga branches is that they have no way to support themselves, so i give them an artificial root system with pvc and egg crates, coupled with zip ties for temporary holding and foam for support, its quickly becomes a self standing sculpture that can be part of your aquascape, for a few buck.


Part 6; The Tonga sculpture aquascape - YouTube

To use mortar you have to be quick and know where your going or mistake can happen i found that out last night. They say you have 15-20 minutes to of work with the cement but sometimes the material bond much more quickly so be aware of that. So have a plan and a back up plan. you'll see what i mean.




Part 7; Using mortar cement for your aquascape - YouTube

 

Photos shoot

So my sculpture is finished, just have to rebuild the support with 1" pvc which i got as you can see i just need elbows ,lol. Then just got to hide those nuts and put it in the tank with a plexi glass in the bottom. The sculpture is 36" longX20"wideX 20" hight. My tank is 21" hight, but the structure was suppose to be built with 1/2" pvc now its with 1" so my last rock will be floating, i'll put a mini palm tree and a lodge for the snails.













At the end of the ramp a stalactite will come down.

 

Its Christmass time!!

Its Christmass time!



You like my Tunze family?

The mud is only used for medicinal purposes, i still do my weekly water changes. The bacterial count of the mud and its composition is the only thing that interest me for my refugium; i do my own miracles, lol.



I have 2 Razors at 16K 27" and 2 at 10K one 27" and 20" for the refugium



The octopus is rated for a 300 g tank i have a 150+75+65=265 total.




Its christmass time the tanks are arriving tomorrow and i'm ready for them; The whole thing cost.....$ 450 + 0

 

Great stuff Mud. Very informative.

All videos added and I will show you how to do it. It's really easy.

How old are the cats, they look a lot like mine, not physically but temperament wise, although there is no way I would be able to do the task you're doing while they were in the same room.