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

Making some nice progress Mudbeaver.

 

Thanks, I got a phone call telling me that its being sent monday arriving wednesday between 3pm and 7pm in the mean time i've started my sculptures and making videos about it. I have to edit the videos before showing, but here are some of the first pics of the work in progress.



German ceramic panels for my backwall, they'll be foamed to prevent water & detritus trapping behind them, and serve as grazing ground for my fish



Making a foundation root system for my Tonga branch so they stay rightside up like a tree, this will be covered by 2" sand.




Diamond coated drill bit



This is a diamond coated Hole saw for a 1" pvc tubing for heavier rocks



Those drill bits make a 3/4" holes for those 3/4" nylon rods for smaller rocks



I rather use a saw than cutters for my pvc its more precise and easyer for me.



They say its the best putty on the market, i'll find out...



Very useful to cut off excess foam from rock and sculptures



Put that on your foam and then your sand to make it look good and natural, buy the longer curing by the way i bought the 5 min one by mistake



Pond foam is the only one good for UV and its black, its made for ponds and fish and amphibians



My primer and PVC cement



I use the egg crates to make more resistance with the sand and create more stability with the sculptures, it will also be under the sand.The two pvc rods are where the tonga branches will be braced with Zip Ties and cemented with Marco's mortar. Foam will also be used to hide the ties and hiden with sand. In the end the branch will look as if they were coming out of the sand and standing on their own, while having an artificial "root" system.



This is a stand for the second sculpture. This one will be 1" on top of the sand, so 2" of the feet will be under the sand the remaining inch will permit waterflow underneath and allow better circulation and less detritus gathering. Also a cave will be form as some coral will be put near the legs who will be foamed and sand as well to camouflage them better.



This first rock will serve as a platform for all the other rocks to follow it to form an elaborate sculpture going outward. Therefore the bigger rocks will be near the center and the smaller will go on the outerrim.



Plenty of those are needed for any project

 

Making progress! I really like the rock wall.

 

Yes me too but its usually a very expensive piece of jewlery at $ 17 sometimes $ 19 / Lb , i needed 197Lb for my tanks , thats about $ 3500 for those walls. I was lucky enough to get all that for $ 666.70 otherwise no way in hell i'd get that. Its special ceramic material that don't leach any chemicals in the water and its cooked in an oven. Its 33% porous so its excellent for bacteria growth. So instead of having all the rocks on my sand i put it on the backwall that we don't use anyway and leave my sand free of much rock, but just a few well chosen sculptures. I've been thinking and planing this tank for a while. I've just made one mistake really, but nothing is perfect in life lol.

 

I am so interested in seeing your tanks! I can certainly tell you have been planning this out for some time. It's almost tank time, woo hoo!

 

Yes it actually one of the most productive time for me and the most expressive time where its not the fish, the machinery but me who's on display and that will be for everyone to see when they look at the tank. People seem to forget that. They build their tank but the one element that completely is them is the rock work and they don't take any time to think about it or very little time and then 8 months later want to rescape, something that should of been done prior to put water in it. Too impatient .... I'm impatient to get my tank but after that its the process of sculpting. Its easyer to sculpt when you have your tank, because you can relate better with the look and the overall feeling of scale. I'm starting without the tank because i know i wont be finished and i can fix it before i put it in. still, i'm doing it with tape on the floor and only a general idea of the look it will have specially in the corners.

 

On with the show

Ok so i've started my videos on how i do my sculptures, i still have to edit them before uploading them, so in the mean time here's some of the pictures i took of the buildup of the Marco's rock sculpture with PVC and Nylon rods.



This my drill with a 7/16 diamond coated bit; worth every penny less than 10 second to go through that rock.





I use a saw for the nylons because the cutters squeezed the nylons and the nuts i used are harder to fit in after so the saw leave the shape of the nylon intack.



I use a wooden board in a tub with water; i place my rock on the board, and the water cools my bit and also prevent pieces of rock from flying into my eyes and also splashing mud all over the place. When you reach the board, 10 sec later you feel it right away.



I've align the holes and put the rods and cut them almost flush. I left just enough to twist those two nuts in place. This is all done prior to put the ciment mortar and to make sure your structure looks good . After all this is your only personal touch in the whole system all the rest is bought or will be done by the corals. And you'll be looking at it for a very long time. So you might as well take the time to view and review your designs all day or for a few days because this baby will be there for years to come, and playing with it when you have critters and fish in there isn't doing any good to the stress level of your inhabitants.














The Bat cave!!




With nylons and mortar its nice to be able to extend plates and edges, i'm however careful not to take too much room to overshadow the sandbed too much, i do it within reason and the structure will be at its lowest point 1" above the sand to give it waterfow clearance.





The cave








The central piece will be the highest so it can carry the stalactite in the end.





Without the mortar the rock look unstable and are only holding in place because of the nylon; in the end the nylon will be cut to fit under the rock being the ceiling of the cave and the top rock with a nut. At each step mortar will be added and i'll wait that each level is dry and stable to make sure the rocks don't wable under the stress.





Other kinds of rocks gives you options for other things. it didn't work in this case but i still have a 75 Gallon fuge to do. So always have more to have options to work with.

 

Nicely documented Mudbeaver. One of the more interesting builds.

 

Thanks much appreciated. Now if i can get those videos finished, i'm not really good in front of a cam lol, but hey can't be good at everything lol.;D

 

very thorough documentation of your process. I hope you're planning on doing the videos in English