What are y'all using for planted walls?

[gjcarew]

I've been using needlepoint mesh with either fishing line or some kind of netting, attached to the tank walls with suction cups. In the words of Mrs. Miller, goddamn it's f***ing tedious.

The process of securing the moss to the mesh sucks, and suction cups unfortunately stop sucking after a while. There has got to be a better way. Fish can get behind there, they tend to fall off during big water changes, and the panels are hard to move because they aren't rigid.

Is there some product I don't know about y'all are using? Someone with a 3D printer and a solution who wants my money?

 

[Koan]

I had the same question, went fishing in the archives across various fora and came across Tom's reply on using cork for this apparently attaching it with bulldog clips to the back wall.





Just had some of this arrive for a new tank that I'm putting into dark start in the next week or two. Sourced them from here, great price and overnight delivery, choice of thicknesses and sizes.

Or if using press board product squicks you out, I found a number of local and international Etsy sellers offering natural unadulterated cork in panel form as well.

 

[Koan]

Half inch is very easy to work with. Appears to be straight up pressed cork, no sign of adhesive or backing:

 

[gjcarew]

Alright, I'm intrigued. Don't know how it will work with a rimmed tank but I might get some and see what I can cook up

 

[gjcarew]

Have you flooded yet? I got some classic cork board (like you'd see on a wall) and it's super light colored. I'm doubting my choices here

 

[Koan]

Have you flooded yet?

I have not, everything in the fish room progresses sloooowly lol baby steps. Long weekend coming up! I'll post pics once I have that tank dark started.

The heavy chunky stuff I got at Zoro is super inexpensive, plus shipping is $5 and they ship same day Very easy experiment either way.

I found some cool plastic quilting clips I think will work for a low profile attachment to the back wall, they should be here tomorrow



and Walmart had some stainless pins to try using for plant attachment

 

[gjcarew]

Gary Lange visited Wim Heemskerk (Dutch guy) and in one of the photos you can clearly see the back wall is some kind of foam with plants pinned to it. I've seen this in Christel Kasselmann's tank as well, and when I asked her what it was she said it's the foam background you buy in aquarium stores. Well, we don't have that in our aquarium stores in the US and there is no evidence of it online, though I admit maybe I'm just no good at searching for Dutch/German aquarium products.

This is what I'm looking for.

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[SingAlongWithTsing]

Aquadecor and Universal rocks are the only 2 background companies I can think of.

Think Aquadecor might be the more flexable one.

As for mounting stuff to the wall, water proof / epoxied magnets.

seen a couple of reef keepers mention this site before: Aquarium Magnets | K&J Magnetics

frag racks are another option if you want to build canopies sticking out your walls.
I like these ones by Aquamaxx Magnetic Frag Rack (23 Holes)