Floating reef aquascape

[Eddie K]

Hi. Im sharing my new build. Its a red sea nano and I went with a floating reef setup. Im really happy with it.

 

[Ef4life]

Very cool, this will be a fun to watch grow out over time

 

[Isopod80]

Nice. I'll have to follow this. Good luck with it.

 

[Eddie K]

5 days out. Water clearing. Starting to smell like the rocks are curing. I added bacteria starter. Cycling with treated tap water + salt mix 1.025 (tropic marine). This aquarium does not have a refugium so I added some Caulerpa.

 

[Gtinnel]

That looks really neat, but doesn't it greatly limit the hiding spots for fish?

 

[Eddie K]

That looks really neat, but doesn't it greatly limit the hiding spots for fish?

Good thought. I built the structure with hiding spots in the center. Here is shot from the top and a shot from the side.

 

[PokeFish]

Amazing build I will be following also we have the same shelves

 

[afrokobe]

did you bond the shelf to the glass using silicon?

 

[Eddie K]

did you bond the shelf to the glass using silicon?

Yes. Black aquarium silicone. Seems to hold so far. Fingers crossed.

 

[G Santana]

Very cool idea and execution!!!

 

[c_healy]

I really like your idea. Looks really cool! Any plans for some non-photosynthetic corals under the floating structure?

 

[Jubei2006]

Looking great so far! Really hopeful that silicone holds when stuff starts growing in and putting more weight on that shelf! Keep us posted.

 

[UnderwaterGamer]

Looks great! did you make that acrylic piece or buy it?

 

[Eddie K]

Looks great! did you make that acrylic piece or buy it?

I bought a bigger piece and cut it myself and drilled the holes. The rocks are attached to the acrylic piece with silicone to compensate for the uneven surfaces. I even sanded the acrylic to help create a rougher surface for better bonding. Rocks on top of rocks are attached with some silicone, some glue. After things dried, I used E-marco-400 to make it look like one rock and hide the exposed acrylic. Oh, and the overhang in the front is an extra piece of acrylic I siliconed to the other one and glued rocks to it. Its like creating a rock sculpture.
Now just waiting for it to cycle. Feels like forever.
this was my inspiration so Im not claiming originality

 

[Ro Bow]

Looks great!!! A small lion would look great in that tank just saying...

 

[Eddie K]

I really like your idea. Looks really cool! Any plans for some non-photosynthetic corals under the floating structure?

That would be cool.

 

[Eddie K]

well, why not add some scolys! Ha! This will help me get through the looming ugly phase. Using tropic marine salt with treated tap water! Lets see what happens. Ive been testing parameters and so far these are the results:
1.025
Ammonia 0 (salifert)
Nitrate 25 (salifert)
Alk 11
Mg 1380
No need to dose anything yet
of note, evaporation is 500 ml per day.
I usually run my alk at 8-9 but this is what this salt mix gave me.
I need to calibrate my pH meter. It read 7.2 at noon time. ‍ Maybe Ill open a window or something.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Very cool! What’s the thickness of the acrylic?

 

[flagg37]

You’ve got a fair amount of surface area that you were able to silicone but since silicone doesn’t bond to acrylic I hope it doesn’t cause problems for you over time. In the future you might want to use something like e6000 adhesive.

Your rockwork looks amazing though.

Edit: I just saw the inspiration video and he referenced using silicone and it seems to have worked fine for him. Maybe you’ll be fine too.

 

[Eddie K]

You’ve got a fair amount of surface area that you were able to silicone but since silicone doesn’t bond to acrylic I hope it doesn’t cause problems for you over time. In the future you might want to use something like e6000 adhesive.

Your rockwork looks amazing though.

Edit: I just saw the inspiration video and he referenced using silicone and it seems to have worked fine for him. Maybe you’ll be fine too.

Yes, I agree. My understanding was that the silicone does not bind acrylic because the surface is so smooth so I used sandpaper to add texture and hopefully help it bond better. Fingers crossed. If it starts to detach from back wall, Ill just support it with a rock and learn from my mistakes. If I ever want to take it down off the back wall, I should be able to cut the silicone with a knife or razor pretty cleanly I imagine.