I ended up getting fiberglass rods from Canadian Tire. There are pics in my Tank Journal thread if anyone is interested. They work great and are very easy to use!

I've heard of people using fiberglass arrow shafts. I think I'm going to give that a try and see how she goes.

Yeah that would be about the same thing as these. The ones I am using are 1/4" and are working great. Nice and easy to cut and hopefully easy to paint. All I did was drill about 1/3 of the way into the "base" rock, which is of course big and heavy and then right through the rest. I was worried at first about the base holding or the other rocks snaping the rods but theres no way. The fiberglass is very strong. I doubt I could break it by hand even.

That reminds me that I saw fibreglass rods at IPP last time I was there, and I was wondering how well they'd work. Cool, now I know. :) I didn't realize Canuck Tire sold them too, that's good to know. :)

Yeah CT does...they are the fiberglass parking rods. With the reflectors on the top. Someone had recommended them to me. I was worried about the yellow paint on them but I guess with the Krylon coating it, it should be fine. Plus the guy who recommended them to me has apparently been using them as is (yellow) for a few years with no issues.