Rock Foam

[Etta Lesniak]

SoI want to make my own basking rock platform with a cave that sits beneath it for hiding. In this I want to have areas the are recessed or cut out that I may play live plants in. I found the basic concept of what Id like to do, I am just unsure on the overall safety if I was to submerge it under water.

The above is an excellent guide for making a platform similar to what Id like - Like I said though, even with drying/curing and allowing everything to become hard, would it be ok to submerge the majority of something like that? Ive heard finding a clay shop and a kiln would work best but Im new at making my own stuff for turtle tanks, and Id like to eventually make my own tank and interior setup.

Check out these instructions too. Lots of salt water aquarium keepers use cement and expanding foam to create their aquascapes too. Just be careful not to build anything that your turtle might get stuck in when he grows bigger.

I found a lot of threads on reefcentral about people doing some amazing things with egg crate plastic, live rock, expanding foam, epoxy and sand. They sculpt almost anything out if it and it hides all the filter overflows. I wondered about the safety of all those things but the foam and epoxy are either resin or polyurethane base and according to several sources, once cured they are reef safe and I assume safe for turtles too. Of course fish don' usually consume their decorations.

The egg crates and poly-plastics I can remember being reef safe because of something I read awhile back about the fabrication of MASSIVE false-reefs off the coast of Florida. I dont know why I never remembered that. Thanks. Im going to add that to my list of sources for my up and coming. I drew a design of it last night but forgot to save and now CS3 is being buggy on me.

Your idea for pockets for plants is exactly what I want to do. I wanted to build a ramp/cave structure large enough so that it will be baskable as well. I wanted cuts at the mouth of the cave and at the base of the ramp for plants as well as this hide-away with a bubble curtain. I wanted to provide an area under water where they may hide by being covered by the plants and another area partially hidden by bubbles. I started hunting for hard foam today at work but we dont have any so I will have to search other places when I get a day off next week.

Something else often found growing on boulders right beside mosses is rockfoam lichen (Stereocaulon saxatile.) Mosses soak up moisture like a sponge when it rains and then release it slowly and lichens often take advantage of this. The best time to search for both lichens and mosses is after a rain because both are at their best when wet.

Haircap moss (Polytrichum commune) gets its name from the hairy covering (calyptra) on its spore capsules (sporophytes). It is a very common moss that grows in dense colonies of 2-4 inches tall, often mounded in the center. The sheaths on its leaves can be golden yellow and shiny and give this moss another common name of goldilocks. I see it almost everywhere I go.

The reason I wanted to show this moss is because of the immature spore capsules (sporophytes). When young the sporophyte is completely surrounded by a tough protective covering called the calyptra. The calyptra is what gives the spore capsules in the above photo their whitish color. As the sporophytes grow their skin-like calyptras will be shed, revealing their reddish brown color. So, if you find a moss with white spore capsules you know that you are actually seeing its immature capsules.

Mosses often change color when it gets colder and this delicate fern moss surprised me with what I thought was its bright orange color. My color finding software told me it was just my color blindness again, because it is really lime green. It is a very bright lime green though, and was shining like a beacon.

A witches broom on a plant is a deformation which forms a very dense, compacted cluster of branches. The witches broom in the photo was high up on a white pine (Pinus strobus) and was absolutely covered with lichens of many kinds.

Imagine driving your car with the windows down, the cool breeze hitting your face, an ice-cold Big Gulp by your side, and Salt-N-Pepa's "Whatta Man" playing on the stereo. That's the feeling you get when you combine out-of-this-world memory foam with an ocean-blue cooling gel pad.

Anyone know what's up with these? A couple of people in my crew said they saw a bunch of "fake rocks" around CCK a couple weeks ago. I thought they were screwing around with some sort of inside joke but, low and behold, we found a couple "fake rocks" on the top of high e about a week ago. I haven't been able to find any info/reports about them after doing some googling. Didn't know what to do with them or what they might be for so I just left them where I found them.

As mentioned, scenes were shot for the TV show New Amsterdam. It's a medical drama. The episode, (season 5, episode 11) entitled "Falling" airs on January 3rd. The reason for the foam rocks, in spite of the noted supply of rocks already in place, is that exposing actors to real rockfall is really inconsiderate.

Well it isn't as if the film crew barged in unannounced. The filming was with the Preserve's permission and the Preserve participated in closing a few locales and in managing logistics so that the filming could happen. This is the second time in recent memory that there has been commercial filming on Preserve land. I assume that the Preserve made money on the deal and that the income was a major consideration. I believe a few local climbing professionals got some work too.

With or without voids/gaps between the rock wool and foam, open cell foam and rock wool are both vapor permeable, and potentially risky to the roof deck if installed without an interior side class-II vapor retarder or "smart" vapor retarder. Installing 2x4s perpendicular to the rafters and installing the R15s between them would reduce thermal briding, and give something to hang gypsum board onto painted with vapor barrier latex (about 0.5 perms, a class-II vapor barrier)

Chad,

Your description of what is "over" and what is "under" is a little confusing. I'm going to assume that the open-cell spray foam is under the roof sheathing, and that you are planning to install mineral wool under the cured spray foam.

I agree with Dana Dorsett that this type of conditioned attic may have moisture problems. From a moisture perspective, drywall with taped seams and vapor-retarder paint would help. So would the installation in your attic of a supply register connected to a forced-air heating and cooling system. For more information, see "High Humidity in Unvented Conditioned Attics."

I should have added that I have attic room trusses. My concern is if I apply drywall with vapor barrier to the designed "room" I have essentially created 3 different rooms and only one will have a supply register. I assume since I have air circulation in the attic "room" its relatively safe. What is best practice in this situation? Also what happens in the spaces towards the eaves?

Hi Chad - I'm looking to do the exact same thing as you describe in your question. We are bringing the attic into the conditioned envelope of the building as my ducts and equipment are in the attic and no way to pull them out of there. Haven't done it yet but we are planning to have open cell foam sprayed between our 2x6 rafters. This will only get me to R20 so in addition to using mineral wool for a thermal barrier, I'm also looking to add some additional R-value to get my assembly up to R-33 whole wall (u-factor of 0.03).

Matthew

I put 2inchs of polyiso insulation on the roof deck, in North Carolina I could have got away with less but found used polyiso cheap on Craigslist. My only complaint is the spray foam or the iridescent coating is dusty. In the attic I'll wipe a surface clean and it dusty again in a week.

My preference is to put some insulation over the roof deck but the roof was replaced by the previous owners within the last 3 years so that's not going to happen for a while. I think I'll give the continuous layer of mineral wool boards (something like the Rockwool ComfortBoard product) a try.

When building waterfalls or rock walls in a pond, expanding foam is an extremely useful material to have around. Found in all our pond kits, this product comes with a straw applicator, which allows you to place foam in very precise spots. Once the foam shoots out of the can, it expands and slowly hardens, locking everything into place. When building a waterfall, after all the rocks are placed, the foam can be used to fill the small gaps and cracks between rocks to prevent water from falling in behind the rocks. As well, when building up the walls of a pond with rock, this expanding foam can be used to lock each rock in place as the wall is built. What results is a much more solid wall without having to resort to concrete mortar.

If you're building a rock wall larger than 2' however, you may still want to consider concrete mortar since it sets up harder than foam. However, for anything 2' or smaller, this foam is our goto solution.

The Rock Mat XL was designed to enhance our current Rock Mat by providing more space to move and train on. The larger mat can cover a greater surface area for those who have lined their home gyms, clinics, and offices with it.

The level of hardness depends on the individual. It is made with firm foam mounds to allow for pressure on the sole of the foot. If the mat is too firm at first, try putting a towel over the amounts to soften it or place the mat on top of a softer surface like carpet.

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