I absolutely suck at aquascaping

[Ryancw]

Originally Posted by LifeIsGreat

Looks great, nice and open. Imagine water flow, crabs and fish bumping them, corals growing and shifting their center of gravity, the tank shaking when people walk by... The question of having the rocks easily removable or very stable is really a personal preference. Personally I lean toward stability, so I glue or cement my rocks. Others do the opposite.

drill holes and ty wrap once they are inside the tank. Or i've heard of drilling and installing acrylic rods. Me personally, i like to cement as much as possible. in your case i would cement two structures together and then try and make a sturdy resting point between the two and if you are still worried, drill for a single tie wrap you can install once inside. Easily cut-able down the road if you can remember where you tied it


remember when you set the rocks inside the tank, Rocks first, then sand. that will be the main reason your rockwork shifts if it ever does.

[cvrle1]

Originally Posted by Ryancw

drill holes and ty wrap once they are inside the tank. Or i've heard of drilling and installing acrylic rods. Me personally, i like to cement as much as possible. in your case i would cement two structures together and then try and make a sturdy resting point between the two and if you are still worried, drill for a single tie wrap you can install once inside. Easily cut-able down the road if you can remember where you tied it


remember when you set the rocks inside the tank, Rocks first, then sand. that will be the main reason your rockwork shifts if it ever does.

i do have fiberglass rods ready to go, so i will drill and use those for sure with some rocks. Others i will super glue and cement together. Bigger issue is that between some of these, there are like 2-3 small points where rocks touch, so nowhere enough room to drill a rod and place, unless I want rod to be visible. Was thinking about zip ties, but heard the will fail and snap over time, especially with salt water. Will play around with it more and see if I can build up few of these to have more contact. Then I can cement them in place.

Thanks

[adam84]

I like to drill the rock and support it with acrylic rod, this makes it super strong. Then I use reef safe epoxy between the rocks to prevent them from pulling apart, you can even push small pieces of rubble rock into the epoxy to help hide it when you are done, after a couple months you won't even see the seam

[WarDog]

What brand is reef safe epoxy?

[adam84]

Just the plain old two part sticks from any lfs instant ocean or the fluval one

[WarDog]

Oh... that old stuff. I thought you meant real epoxy lol.

[cvrle1]

Originally Posted by adam84

Just the plain old two part sticks from any lfs instant ocean or the fluval one

Instead of those two, you can use JB water weld or Loctite epoxy. It is same stuff but cheaper than ones made for "aquarium"

[reefwithareefer]

I found that if you glue too big of a structure together, it may cause issues if you need to get livestock out etc by HAVING to remove the rock.

This is why my preference is to epoxy , but also pin pieces together so it can be dismantled easier if needed.