180G Tank Build with Rock/Foam Wall

[dipan]

This is looking awesome ... I'm hoping to do something similar, but without the foam and with aragocrete ...

[sharkboy]

very nice INDEED!!!

[phippsj]

OK, I got the sand added and the cycling is coming along well. Looks like amonia peeked at 2 ppm and is on the way down... additionally the live rock I seeded with is sprouting a bunch of zoas, although they are all either colorless or brown right now.

Here are some pictures as well as a video clip which should try to show the depth that the pictures are not getting.

Now... on to the canopy and the lighting! Right now I have 3 MH sitting up there (two 15000K and one 20000K with some compact FLs). I am building LED bar for the center, two VHOs w/acnitcs for front and back. I will probably do a separate build thread for the LED bar because that will likely have a different group that is interested in that. So, this should be the last of this thread in regards to this tank build.

Thanks again to everyone's encouraging words!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkxvkUu_wuk

Oh yeah, I also did some copper leafing on the bottom outside part of the tank to cover the plastic trim. There will actually be some more wood covering the top part of the copper trim, but I was pleasently surprised with the look.

[aggman]

wow great job phipps that tank is killer.

very natural can't wait to see it all filled up. hopefully by then we have the totm or totq project back up and you will definitely be a contender.

now go get some fish...lol

~alex

[Viet-Tin]

I just finished doing my rock wall and had a question. Did your epoxy resin soften after soaking in saltwater? After putting mine in and filling it up the smell of the resin came back and feels like silicon now.

[phippsj]

I just finished doing my rock wall and had a question. Did your epoxy resin soften after soaking in saltwater? After putting mine in and filling it up the smell of the resin came back and feels like silicon now.

Wow... sorry I missed this question when you asked back then! I tested this first and found that when I did not cure the epoxy that it would soften to the texture you are describing. I read online that some folks cured theirs under a halide... I did mine in the sun (in part because I wanted more of a green tinge to the foam). Once it is cured it remains very hard and sturdy. So far no issues whatsoever.