# Pros and Cons of Rock Wall in Aquarium



## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

One thing I have considered doing in my next aquarium is having an in-tank rock wall for a background. 

I was going to use the oyster shell/cement on egg crate and mount it on the back using silicone. It will be made in 3-5 sections and pieced together, reach from the bottom all the way to the top and right across. Allowances will be made for overflow boxes etc. Each piece would be siliconed all the way around to prevent crud/ditrius from getting trapped behind the wall. It would be then cured in the tank for several months.

Looking for pros and cons of this please and thanks.

Pros:

great surface area for bacteria
looks nice
less rock needed in display

Cons:

heavy
crud could get trapped behind it
removing it in the future
a pain to cure it in the tank


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Con, you'll never be abe to clean the glass that is near the rock wall.
Con, It'll be really heavy in a large tank so you would have to make it in a few different pieces. 

Pro, it'll look cool
Pro, cheap!


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## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

I was in big als and they were selling an 18" long piece of fake background made of some type of resin for $25.00. I can do 6' for less lol. So ya cheap.
I was going to try and keep the weight to a minimum so not build it out too far past the egg crate. 

Never seeing the back glass, and not being able to clean the back glass... I see as a pro not a con 

Or were you meaning the side glass close to the rock background?


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*backing*

hey there i have one of those backings in my tank its the premoulded ones they sell at big als . i know u are talking about making your own .but with mine i have no issues i think it takes about about an inch it stays pretty clean the plecos love it 
the only con part is it is glued in there and i am not sure it will come out with out breaking something .
also if u have a drilled tank i can see an issue but if u are starting from scratch it should all be good 
good luck .


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

Tim said:


> Never seeing the back glass, and not being able to clean the back glass... I see as a pro not a con


It could be nice assuming you will have enough light for the back wall in case you will attach corals to this wall.
Otherwise you just reduce space from 18" deep to ?

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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Greg points out a good con to it, you'll be missing about 2" or so of space by putting it in.

And yeah I meant side walls. There's no possible way of getting in there and you'll produce dead spots between the walls and glass


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## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

sig said:


> It could be nice assuming you will have enough light for the back wall in case you will attach corals to this wall.
> Otherwise you just reduce space from 18" deep to ?


I was intending keep the wall about 1" deep so I would be down to 17". I was also intending on adding small rock shelves on it for the corals to sit on. There is a good chance I will be going LED so there should be plenty of light. I am following the people at reef central who are working on their LED layouts.



altcharacter said:


> And yeah I meant side walls. There's no possible way of getting in there and you'll produce dead spots between the walls and glass


I was thinking of having an overflow in each corner so hopefully this wouldn't be an issue? I would just have to put something on the overflows to work with the rock wall. like some type of resin or glue and some small rubble and sand. Other ideas welcome.


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

I have had custom made rock walls in both of my reef tanks; my old 35G had a single slab; my new (okay, it's 9 months old!) 90G has a 3-piece back wall. I love them and would definitely be putting one in any future tank I might get.

-It gives me no problems with dead spots; yes I assume the back between the glass and the wall is dead, but never have I had any reason to believe it was causing a problem.
-I have lots of space to put corals
-I can lean my LR up against it in smaller pieces, but the rock wall makes the LR area seem larger and in so doing actually can gain forward depth because I don't have to have such a wide pile of rock
-Yeah, I can't clean the glass right up to the edge of the rock, but it doesn't matter, you really don't notice it so much. I just use a scraper every once in a while.

Tim, you are more than welcome to come visit my tank some time if you want to see it for yourself. You'll just have to wait until I get back in the beginning of October.

This is one of my favourite tanks with back walls:

Reef Central: Tiggsy's 180G UK reef


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

yeah Kev, that rockwork looks unreal in that post. Whoever did that is a truely patient person.


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## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

Here is one of my favourite tanks for rockwork:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1300282

220 gallon tank though. Much deeper than the 125 I am considering so you can do more stuff.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Love this idea Tim, thanks for the link dude!


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## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

I have more somewhere in this computer. I will post links as I find them.

With these builds they are using spray foam and resins. While I see a place for the spray foam, people always seem to run into problems lije it floating, being affected by the lights etc. I think the oyster shell/concrete is a better way. Also they use lots of Marco rock in their buiolds. I see it as a bit of a waste since 1/2 the rock is usually buried under the foam. Wouldn't oystercrete make more sense?


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I've seen Jeff's build first hand and I must admit it's very awesome. He used the same technique with the foam and sand and In my opinion it made the rock look more natural.

Just an opinion though.


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

The method I used was I bought a bunch of macro rock rubble, zip tied it to egg crate and PVC, I then used black UV resistant pond foam to fill in the cracks. I then covered the foam ports with epoxy resign and sprinkled it with argonite. The ratio to foam/rock makes all the difference in those builds... the good looking ones only use the foam to fill gaps and use the macro for the structure. I found working with cement too hard and messy to do exactly what I wanted to do.

If you want the BEST back wall my advice is to go to Advanced Reef Aquatics and check out their pre-built ceramic rock walls. CHEAP and awesome, that's what I ended up using on my back wall.


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## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

how big were the pieces and how much were they?


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Can't remember how much exactly. Call and ask. They have different sizes and they charge by the pound. Do a google search for "Reef Ceramics" see how much it normally costs and then be blown away by the price at Advanced Reef Aquatics. They bought a couple TONS of it. No cure time, loads of great shelves and flat on the back... Totally worth just getting IMO.


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