Finally finished my stalactite, looks really cool.

basile · Nov 26, 2013

It made of an eggcrate core, with rubble rocks tied with zip ties, around the eggcrate, foamed between the rocks tied to a nylon rod , sanded with epoxy resin and sand and voila.

I have no word to describe how cool ...just check it out

Lulu was guarding it ....

basile · Nov 26, 2013

Its better to have a thick resin because the sand stick to it much better so a 5min one works best, so don't mess around get going with it.

While i did the foam i sprinkled some crush coral on it , but be carefull on the edges otherwise it'll fall over,that technique is better just on the top of the stalactite .

After the sanding even on top of the crush coral

Always start at the end

My first one same process

I can't wait for the fish to swim around that and the gorgonians and the likes.

:dance:

tangboy · Nov 26, 2013

Pretty cool looking, looks like you put a lot of work into that!

basile · Nov 26, 2013

tangboy said:
Pretty cool looking, looks like you put a lot of work into that!

Yes but its was fun to do really. It my second stalactite i made actually. The first was in a 65G a few years back but that tank exploded lol, due to falty stand.

cdness · Nov 27, 2013

How heavy is it? Any chance it could fall and bust through the bottom of the tank?

I like the look and the construction, however I am also a bit worried about the structural integrity. I may be missing something here so if it is solid as a rock (no pun intended) then it was a well executed plan.

basile · Nov 27, 2013

cdness said:
How heavy is it? Any chance it could fall and bust through the bottom of the tank?

I like the look and the construction, however I am also a bit worried about the structural integrity. I may be missing something here so if it is solid as a rock (no pun intended) then it was a well executed plan.

Well consider this in any 150 Gallon tank your roughly suppose to put 1.5 time the water volume og your tank so about 225 lb of rock in that tank. Plus your sand. Now my tank is rimless starfire which make its at 3/4 inch glass a 350lb empty tank a very heavy tank indeed. the bottom glass is 15milimeters thick. Now the trick when doing this kind of structure is spreading the load as much as possible. In the next picture you'll see that the the whole load which is about 65lb is focused on 4 precise points, the legs. If left like this , it could put stress on the bottom. But bare in mind that under the tank, their's a piece of 1/2" unpainted resined plywood that the manifacturer has glued to the bottom of the tank. That plywood has been treated with special resisns to resis salts and humidity and must not be painted it must breathe, manifacturer's invoice recommendation to keep the plywood hole. So the the bottom is secured.

Now the feet are resting on two sheets of plexiglass to spread the weight , and defuse the focal point of the load around a greater area. As for the stalactite itself. The foam is very boyant, so as soon as it its the water it'll have a tendency to float even with the rocks stuck to it . I know i had the problem with my first one it didn't want to stay in the water the dam thing was floating on its side, lol. I had to make a special brace. This time i knew exactly how to make it sefl hanging without artificial means and part of the rockwork. This time its screwed to the over hanging flat rock , the whole design was for that very purpose.

trickedout900 · Nov 29, 2013

I love it! Great job. I have something similar planned for my 220. Thanks for sharing.

trido · Nov 29, 2013

Crazy fun aquascaping. I did something vaguely similar on a 65 and never regretted it. Keep the pics coming.

mike007 · Nov 29, 2013

That is really cool keep us posted.

TarHeelReefer22 · Nov 29, 2013

Awesome have you added water yet?

larangcon · Nov 29, 2013

Visually stunning, you're very creative

basile · Nov 29, 2013

trido said:
Crazy fun aquascaping. I did something vaguely similar on a 65 and never regretted it. Keep the pics coming.

mike007 said:
That is really cool keep us posted.

larangcon said:
Visually stunning, you're very creative

Thanks guys , i may start a thread on my build up, i've done one somewhere else but i may copy it here so you get the details, the videos on how i made the sculptures are there too. A bit busy now the sump is arriving next week and i have to finish the plumbing and the guys are comming to install my heat exchanger for the fish room too so if i want to have this tank wet next weekend i have to buzz lol TTYL. cheers.

inurocker · Nov 29, 2013

Nice. Want to see it wet.

TarHeelReefer22 · Nov 29, 2013

inurocker said:
Nice. Want to see it wet.

++1

joekool · Dec 2, 2013

looks cool. like to see it wet too. did you buy the rocks flat cut or did you do it yourself. I really like the wall too did you make that as well and if so some photos would be cool on how to make it.

basile · Dec 2, 2013

Answering all your questions here

I know some of you lots of questions juging by the numbers of PM i got so go to my builg up thread on this site and you'll get all your answers thanks for your interest guys. If you have questions that are not answered in the thread of course i'll answer them , but most of the ones you've askes so far are in there, or comming , enjoy the videos.:bigsmile:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...vity-my-150g-starfire-reef-tank-build-up.html