Anyone used aragocrete for aquascaping long term?

[FishWife]

So, I was surfing the net for ideas on aquascaping as I'm turning over the options of going to a 36" deep tank and seeing what I might DO with that and came across two links, one of which I now can't find. The first was an old website (2002) of a guy who was building a 650 gallon angled acrylic tank in his basement (looked sweet!) and had come from the Berlin school so didn't want to put sand in his tank. He hit upon the idea of using garf's aragocrete (my second link, here: http://www.garf.org/class.html ) on the bottom of his tank instead of sand. (There are no updates since 2002, and now I can't even google the page I was looking at... go figure.)

 

THEN, I got to reading this thread on CoralForum.com: http://www.coralforum.com/forums/archive/i...hp/t-19990.html. They were questioning the content of cement mix, and the presence of aluminum.

 

BEFORE I read this thread, I was thinking of using the aragocrete for a background when I remount my big tank (no matter what the dimensions ). I was not entirely happy with the egg crate treatment on our 175, but neither do I like to see pipes. I know, drill. But, I don't quite know where or how to drill a closed loop and the background is still an issue without pipes, so let's stay on these questions:

 

1) Anyone used/made aragocrete?

2) Think I could make a background of it if it IS safe?

 

Inquiring minds want to know...

Edited December 3, 2008 by FishWife

[zygote2k]

Check with the owner of Centreville Aquarium in Centreville, Va. He has a 'crete structure of some sort in his display tank.

[FishWife]

Check with the owner of Centreville Aquarium in Centreville, Va. He has a 'crete structure of some sort in his display tank.

 

Thanks!

[L8 2 RISE]

Almon from the boards did an agrocrete demonstration at the last fragfest, ask him.

[FishWife]

Almon from the boards did an agrocrete demonstration at the last fragfest, ask him.

 

Ohhh! Really? Can't believe I missed it!!!