Building custom Dry rock and Fiberglass insert

KYnewbee42103

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I have received questions regarding how I built my insert for my island overflow. So I thought I would just give yall the DIY version. Feel free to ask questions but the pics should kinda walk you through the steps I took. I hope it saves yall from some of the mistakes I made as there isnt anything online on how to do this till now....LOL



Step 1
once you have your overflow dimensions use a piece of cardboard to build a mold of your overflow I then wrapped mine with reflective silver bubble wrap and some thicker plastic on top of that adding a few layers will give your insert a little wiggle room by being a tad bigger than you need. A snug fit on glass is never a good thing.



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Step 2
Please wear the appropriate safety equipment because Fiberglass resin will kill brain cells faster than watching the Kardashians and it will definitely ruin your lungs too. Please wear a respirator mask and go outside or to a well ventilated workshop. Also make sure you dont smoke or have open flames! Ok now that ive scared you to death, lets start fiberglassing!!! I picked mine up at Home Depot it is Bondo Brand. I needed about 2 gallons as my insert is really tall like 4 feet tall. I also bought fiberglass mat and fabric to reinforce the mold. So get ready to add 4-5 layers and mix the fiberglass in plastic paint cups. DO NOT use a dixie cup or solo cup it will melt right though it as its a catalyst and will throw off heat. Only mix how much you can use in 10-15 mins small batches folks. I used a couple drops of hardener per ounce of resin(follow instructions on the label). Get a bunch of .89 disposable brushes cause once this stuff hardens that brush is toast.

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Step 3

After your satisfied that your finished mold will support rock and not warp or bend, then I cut mine in half thats your call depending on shape etc. I did this so if I move I can lift rock corals and all so it would fit in a trashcan full of water to transport. I also wanted to leave room for my Gyres to stick inside the overflow. I mean whats the use in having a tank with 360 degree viewing angle and then have powerhead wires on the outside no way. if yours is a corner or regular overflow that isnt 4' tall you can skip the cutting. I then sprayed it with KRYLON fusion Black which from reading forums in non toxic and doesnt flake or peal.

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Notice I left a flat skirt around the bottom so your foundation rock will have a base to start from. Since I cut mine in half and then in half again because of contributing factors like weight and tank design I then had to find a way to keep them from falling against the glass so I got some Titanium L brackets as they wont rust or contain any copper.

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Step 4

build a plywood form with a base to start the rock work or just lay yours down if its easier for ya. Do not rockscape inside your tank for obvious reasons.:rolleyes:
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step 5
LETS ROCK! well almost LOL so through trial and error I decided that superglue sucks and wont hold heavy rocks. So I bought some Reef Welder Epoxy beads from Aqua MAXX I swear to you this is the only way to go. it will hold them long enough to put them all together. The resin activates in Hot water, so I put a pan of water on the stove and just let in simmer, then I got a coffee mug and would just dip into the pot every time the water would get cold. Otherwise your gonna be going to the microwave and waiting 5 mins every time your ready to mix a new batch. Who wants to sit and hold rocks for 5 minutes till your hot water is ready? I basically would just get a kitchen spoon and put 2 scoops of beads into the coffee mug then used a chop stick to mix the beads around and pull them out they all stick together and to the chopstick no problem its gonna be hot so wait a few seconds before you kneed this stuff and mix it good then just stick onto the two points you want stuck together.
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Step 6

Now don't get upset, nothing will stick to a slick surface and especially epoxy as it cools. BTW it contracts a little so IT WILL NOT STICK to the fiberglass structure. But even if it did would you trust it enough to risk a rock falling against your acrylic or starfire glass? Here is the solution more FIBERGLASS YEY!!! I kept hearing the rocks popping away from my fiberglass mold and the foul language followed soon after. So after some head scratching and a beer PLURAL. I decided to go back and at certain key areas to take fiberglass matting and apply the resin to bond the rock to the molded form. it worked perfectly and now you never have to worry about them popping off . You dont have to do every rock just a few places were the rock should attach to the fiberglass mold. The rock to epoxy to rock wont budge.
PS in my case since it was two stories tall, I had to fiberglass some shelf rock to get them to sit on top of each other. So you probably wont have to do this.

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notice above how its pulled away from the surface as it hardened this is why you gotta fiberglass one more time.

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this is what I had to do, put a shelf rock at the top of the first level then one on the bottom of the 2nd story this gave it more firm foundation.

below are some more pics. Guys take your time, lay it out, and then go back and touch it up. You can add some barnacles or shells or whatever tickles your pickle. Just remember the only one you got please, is you! Its your tank and you have to stare at it, clean it and pay for it. I hit some of my re-fiberglassed areas with a little purple KYRLON fusion too just to make it aesthetically pleasing, just till the real coraline takes over the whole thing. BTW these TONGA branches come pre-sprayed and are made by Tropic Eden the place I got mine was Premium Aquatics they are great to deal with, hell they even found me certain types as I wanted to go smaller and lighter at the top.
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I hope this helps some of you that don't want to buy a cheap fake coral insert for 8k . I made mine for about
1800-2k with supplies rock and all. The cool part is it will become real live rock at some point. The tonga branch was the biggest cost as it was 1200 of the budget but the finished product looks awesome once I installed it. My tank is still in the construction progress, so its not completly finished yet. Stay tuned and Thanks for watching ..... :)
 
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NashobaTek

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This is a very cool idea. I might have to try something like this for the big tank.

Thank you for the read!
 

lapin

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Nice write up
 

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