Reef Scaping Advice Needed
 

Well I am tired of having a mountain of rock thats kinda tippy in some areas. I want to have my rock stacked up higher with more caves and passage ways for my fish.

I have heard of people using 1/2" pcv pipe and masonary bits to drill the rock and stack it but I was wondering how far you drill into the rock? Do you use glues? If so is there something better than that putty epoxy?

Also any tips or tricks would be awsome aswell as pictures :biggrin:

zip ties buddy and acrylic rod with epoxy is better than pvc plus half inch is large holes to be drilling unless the rock is huge:)

Wayne

Go to sabic polymere shapes and buy a piece of 3/8 acrylic rod and use that. I drilled with a masonry 3/8 bit i got from canadian tire for like 5 bucks. Use discretion on how far to drill. Once your happy use kz speed glue to hold it together.

What Wes said...be prepared to spend a whole dang day doing it too. Ugh..

And while your at it, invite a friend over to "give you a hand for a second" then it only takes half the time.

I didnt know you were related to my brother :lol:

Yes but don't add your sand half way through doing it cause it makes it hard to see the tank.

Hey, lets try to keep this thread on track.
make one little mistake, and you never live it down

PVC and zip ties is what I used. I like the way it turned out.

http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/DSCF5368.jpg
http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/DSCF5370.jpg
http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/a...DSCF5448-1.jpg

I did my aquascape using zip ties and epoxy and shortly after i gave my buddy a hand with his and we used epoxy alone and it turned out awesome (wouldn't bother with zip ties myself next time). I had to do a little drilling for my zip ties and that was time consuming. If you do drill you'd be smart to use a good hammer drill with a proper masonry bit to speed the process.

I think the shape / size / texture of rock will have a lot to do with what method u use to put it together. For eg my buddy and i used reef-saver rock from bulk reef supply which lent itself really well to the epoxy as it is very porous and gives the epoxy lots to grip on to (doesn't adhere like glue, mechanical bond only). But if your rocks are relatively smooth and round then yeah, your probably best off to do a lot of drilling using the epoxy as a supplement.

Lastly, good job on saying NO to the poor old pile of rocks aquascape! Post some pics of your scape when ur done!

Don't forget to consider your coral when laying out the rocks. Sometimes radical aquascaping with large overhangs doesn't lend too well for coral placement. I've done the zip tie thing and have since gone back to focusing on lots of caves for the fish and a sturdy structure. Most importantly I chose peaks, valleys, and shelves to accommodate my coral selection. On a FOWLR I would do the funky rock work in a heartbeat.

Maybe Brett could whip up some tshirts with something to that effect :razz:

That is awesome !


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=54.395062,-116.808380

That is crazy I can't believe that its holding up :)

Thanks for all the advice I think I will be tackling this project next weekend :wink: It really takes all day?

Anyone ever build small under rock tunnels with pcv? I know Denny did for his eel but I am not sure if I have to use ABS or PCV. I would prefer ABS if I could get away with it...

That is one of my big issues right now is coral placement. I want to build a lot more ledges and increase my sand bed. I am also having some problems with my Tomini tang picking on my Lawnmower Blenny so I wanted to try and change up the territory's (gotta try something).

i did indeed i had underground tunnels all throughout my liverock for my eel infact you couldnt see any of it just the opening where he would wait for food.....not sure if i would do it again for a predator as im sure it wasnt very clean inside and drilling holes in it wont do you anygood when its completely burried in sand n o flow gets in there but my eel loved it and most people whoi came to see my tank didnt know it was there or that i even had an eel lol :) i did use abs but i wouldnt again i remember seeing somewhere that it has chemicals to keep it from rotting or corroding under ground not sure if its true but makes sense so id say pvc is a better choice just to be safe:)

Yeah I was thinking 3" with a few "T's". Do you think it might get nasty in there?

haha guaranteed it will buddy lol but if you can get flow to happen in there or some holes exposed it wouldnt be as bad i guess you could always blast the tunnels daily with a baster as well:) with my eel it was bad cause he takes his food back to his lair and destroys it so messy indeed but it would be better in your case than mine:)

Good job Jimbo! Nice looking ledge.

ABS is fine. That's what the black bulkheads are made with.

Yep. At least 4 hours I would bet, and it's 4 hours of patience testing. It has got to be one of the worst parts of reefkeeping imo. I spent 6 hours drilling and gluing acrylic rods in my rocks until I gave up and used zip ties instead.

Ya, I would make sure you could get a siphon hose in it. If you do a good job making holes and tunnels in your rock I don't see the point in making PVC tunnels.

LOL I was looking forward to it :lol:

That might change afterwards though :mrgreen:

I used the acrylic rod, zip ties and putty to make arches for my peninsula. I agree, you need to consider coral placement. However, if the rock looks interesting without corals, it will be fantastic with corals.

I found searching for the right rock shapes the most important part. I like valleys/trenches to give depth. Personally, I like the empty spaces on the sand to accentuate the rock formation.

http://www.mattdean.com/build/tvsidejuly2011.jpg

http://www.mattdean.com/build/mysidejuly2011.jpg

Oooo I like that arch, I am looking to do something similar. Gorgeous tank :)

:biggrin: Thanks! I'm very happy with it.