sknoch78 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I am in the proccess of filling up my 240 with ro/di water as we speak. What an agonizing proccess. I am using two 100gpd units and I am only half full after starting last night. Anyway that is not what this is about. I intend to start my aquascaping next weekend and I am looking for some advice. I have aprox. 200 lbs. of rock going in, my goal is to create a stable structure that will not collapse. In my 100 fowlr everytime I bumped something I would have to rebuild, what a nightmare and it had no coral. My 30g was the same except worse because everytime the structure would shift, I would try to adjust it them it would collapse and unintentional fragging would happen. Of course this would always happen right before I would have to leave. So my goal is to not have this problem in the new tank. What I am thinking, is that I am going to use acrylic rod and 5 minute epoxy. I will drill the rock, fill the hole with epoxy and insert the rod. In theory this sounds like a good idea to me. What I am looking for is what others are doing to prevent the rocks from sliding/shifting. Thanks in advance, Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefboy Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 one of the first things u need a good base so i always use egg crate under the sand ware rock will be i use pvc pipe under the egg crate to bring level just under the sand so u dont see it this holds rock sturdy and fish cant dig it out so it falls but if your filling tank already its to late to do this so i would by some four or five inch pvc cut to just under level of sand and use as support's for the rock the rock will be sturdy this way also now beings your filling tank its going to be a tad harder would of be much easier empty ,your idea using the rods is a good one you can also use zip ty's to secure rock to each other just drill holes and ty together u can also use pvc to make overhangs and zip ty rock to it hope this helps but your in for a chor with water in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spayne Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 When we added more rock to the 240 we actually set some of the pieces up outside of the tank to "test drive" the stability as well as appearance. It actually helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I used PVC to help support my rocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sknoch78 Posted August 1, 2006 Author Share Posted August 1, 2006 Currently the tank only has water in it. I do not intend to add sand until after the rock has been in for a few weeks. I will be supporting the rock with pvc, even though I only intend to have a shallow sand bed. The plan is to cover the floor in front of the tank with visqueen and do the initial assembly outside of the tank. We will see how this goes. For me, this is the worst part of the hobby, I hate aquascaping, it drives me notes as it never looks the way I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly guy Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 ive been playing with a few different ways to lift the rock a bit without having to look at pvc......heres my latest.......super strong and super easy to do....all you need is a bunch of 3/4" acrylic rods cut to whatever length you want, a 3/4" drill bit, table saw(or any saw...table saw is safer : )) and a grinder..... this is actually a dsb lps predator tank...im doing another bb tank shortly and will take a lot more time on the acrylic supports as they will actually be visible...... i use 1/2" acrylic rods for rock to rock when necessary and a masonry bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Looks interesting. So is the rock going to sit on a piece of acrylic or just the rods? And welcome to the site!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 (welcome) That is a very cool idea. If I ever re-aquascape I'll do something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly guy Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Thanks for the welcome everybody....the rock sits on top of the acrylic rods.....thats why i make the teeth in top fo the rods....they stick like glue.........it allows for complete flow underneath and is nearly invisible unlike pvc on both counts. Here is the original tank i tried the concept on..........and the latest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVES Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Shawn I had great luck on my home tank by drilling holes in the rocks and inserting PVC with a PVC Z at the bottom to support the verticle pipe that the rock is slid down. Recently, both my show tanks I simply arranged them in a dry tank. Then put in sand and filled with saltwater. I found that if they are stable while the tank is dry, once the water is put in and the sand around the bottom they become super stable. since they are lighter underwater it makes the rocks very stable. My front show tank with the big cave doesnt have a stich of glue holding any of the rock. the cave is actually 3 rocks stacked, its solid too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sknoch78 Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 First round Okay, so I spent the day doing my first round aquascasping. I am looking for opinions. I am fairly satisfied with it. It is currnetly lit with two Phoenix 14k bulbs. The tank dims are 72x30x26. New pics below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sknoch78 Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 Thanks! How do you do that? Every time I try to upload photos I am either told the file is to big, or the picture is really small. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 use the link right below the one you used in photobucket. You basically add the HTML tags Its pretty easy but lots of people dont know what it is or how to use it. Just paste the link with the IMG tag and it shows up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sknoch78 Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 Here are some clearer photos. Thanks drock59 for the tip on photo posting. I plan on adding sand after I make sure the rock is done shedding. I ended up drilling and using zip ties on everything. I need to trim a few pieces still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Looks Great Shawn!! BTW How is that PM skimmer working out? Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sknoch78 Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 The skimmer is pulling out some real nasty stuff. It seems to work well although it is a pain to adjust and if you turn it off, it seems to take a couple of days to stop passing bubbles through the outlet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Did you download the instructions off PM's site? They talk about some fine tuning stuff. Give them a call even. Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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