Making a backwall of rock

[CookieJar]

I'd like to do a backwall of rock and have seen some info on youtube & other sites about using black pondfoam, eggcrate, cables ties & 2 part epoxy from a hobby shop. I have a 10 lb. bucket of Emaco from Marco rocks but I don't think it'll go very for when used for a wall.
Has anyone tried a rockwall like this and if so what materials did you use and how did it work?

 

[gimmito]

Bill,

I was going to do one on the right side of my tank by drilling into a sheet of acrylic and pegging the rocks into it. I ultimately went with the atoll in the corner. I do have some acrylic if you want to try it.

 

[LeviT]

I've read that the black pond foam is way more expensive than regular foam and the regular foam works the same and is cheaper. Also, TAP sells the 2part epoxy in larger quantities if you go that route. I don't see why you couldn't use the stuff Jester uses with a wall? Just a thought and I think that's the way I would go.

 

[jestersix]

I've done a couple walls with Emaco and it works great. You don't need much, you will be surprised how far 10 pounds will go. PM if you have any questions...

 

[CookieJar]

i'll give the Emaco a go, maybe also try the foam and see if I have a preference. Jim- thanks for the offer but I'm good on acrylic & eggcrate.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I've done a wall on an overflow using Quikrete hydraulic cement, looked pretty awesome too... downside is that it eventually did fail, not under it's own weight but when I put pressure on a piece (trying to snap off a coral). My mistake is I gave it too much credit for how strong it would hold up against shearing forces, I drilled 1/4" holes in the overflow and figured that'd be good enough to hold it up... problem is those snapped off really easily with very little additional force. I did do a patchwork fix by stuffing reinforced fiberglass rods instead, the reality is at that point you don't need cement anyways, I took the whole thing down however since bubble algae was annoying the shit out of me.

 

[houser]

Perhaps Mike you're just too strong?

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well that's besides the point.

I was using my gentle pry

 

[Elite]

Check out this thread Bill... The rock wall is really nice.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1827226&page=8