Spray Foam Caves?

[cichlidsguy]

Hi there!

I have a 55 gallon tank with 8 african cichlids(just recently got them)and i havent been able to set the tank to there proper environment...

I heard once from a guy that using pvc and some type of sprayfoam,can make rocky caves and homes for them.

My concern is....
1.Will this spray foam kill or hurt my cichlids
2.Will it change the water perameters
3.Will it cloud my water

Any advice is welcome
Thanks

 

[cvermeulen]

slightly more complicated than you're telling it, partly because spray foam is extremely buoyant, but from my experience the "great stuff" foam is fish safe. Even a small amount takes a lot of rocks to sink though.

 

[billm90]

I have made a great stuff foam background.

I cut a piece of thin plexi and sanded it with 80 grit paper. clean it real good and spray the foam on it.

I also sprinkled sand on my foam while it was wet. it was hard to get it to stay on the foam

when the foam has dried check and see if it is stuck really well to the plexi. if not peal it up and silicone it to the plexi.

I tore with my fingers several holes into mine to make caves, this is rough on the fingers. the constant pushing into your joints hurts.

I painted the great stuff black, brown, and almond to give it some depth. i dont remember the paint I used. I let it dry up a long time and washed it several times. now it just looks all black,

then I silicone glued the foam to the back of my tank. actually the plexi. the foam pulled up on me one time before. I can tell you if you make a large section of foam and it comes off the back, you will not be able to push it down.

once it was dried I filled the tank to check it. I filled and completely drained my tank 3 times letting it soak 24 hour between each time to hopefully remove any toxins. finally I filled it and it has been fine for a year.

pieces break off every here or there... (I did this over a piece of plastic to house the heater and 2 power heads, so there is a hollow void in it. I mainly did not want any equipment visible so it is in the background.

I will never do this again. I dont like how it looks a year later. and I will have to empty the tank to get it out and clean off the silicone glue from the back.

 

[AJordan]

There may be another option that would take some time to cure... I have heard it called hyper turfa before. basically its fairly light weight concrete. You mix portland cement with sand and peat to get a nice dark color. I've started toying around with it. So far my impression is that its pretty easy to work with.

Because there is cement in it, it will need to cure to leech out the nasty stuff that will screw with the water params. Here is a link to a thread on aquariacentral that used it.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136377&highlight=turfa&page=3

thats the third page, I forgot this guy used some foam for deco as well...

 

[tank125]

I need a recipe for that hypertufa.

 

[AJordan]

For my sample stuff I only had some quick crete so I sifted out the portland cement which also took out most of the finer aggregate (sand). I did one part cement and one part peat with enough water to get it muddy. Seems to have worked well so far although for a final recipe I plan on adding dark sand or some concrete dye.


In that thread I linked the guy listed his recipe on page 4 as "1 part portland cement, 1 part pumice'y sand and two parts peat."

googling for hyperturfa recipe also gives some neat ideas like adding vermiculite. I think I know what I'm doing this weekend... now to find an empty tank!