Am I just stupid?

[Lanee]

I am trying to aquascape my 35 gal aquarium. I have several small pieces of rock that I am trying to glue together and I bought Aquamend epoxy from Home Depot. I cannot get it to glue the pieces together. Am I missing something here? I have tried with the rock out of the water as well as in the water. Is there something else I can use without having to drill my rock and put bars through them? Please help.

 

[mission man]

The aquamend takes a bit of time to cure. Its not an instant bond. I have used it on rock before and it worked good.

 

[Shagsbeard]

If you drill a hole in each rock, and insert a piece of acrylic rod into the holes you drilled, you gain much stablity that glue can't promise.

 

[Sk8r]

If using glue underwater---put the glue on the part that's not submerged yet---blot it on a towel a couple of times---and put a glop on it. Then lower it underwater and hold it firmly in place, not even letting your hand wobble for at least 2 minutes---one/missisippi, etc.

The green-white putty is pretty good for rocks because you can ease a fat blob between two submerged rocks and trust it will set like mortar without your holding the rock. The more projections and bumps in that transaction, the better, because it will set around them and form sockets that will hold your rocks.b

 

[georgec]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8516938#post8516938 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shagsbeard
If you drill a hole in each rock, and insert a piece of acrylic rod into the holes you drilled, you gain much stablity that glue can't promise.

Where do you find acrylic rods? Do you have to go to a craft store like AC Moore or Michaels? I haven't been able to find them at my Loewes or Home Depot.

 

[N8ster]

You can also use those little plastic zip ties to hold the rocks together. That's what I am using.

 

[ddenham]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8519433#post8519433 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by georgec
Where do you find acrylic rods? Do you have to go to a craft store like AC Moore or Michaels? I haven't been able to find them at my Loewes or Home Depot.

I've heard of some people cutting apart plastic clothes hangers for that purpose

 

[pad]

Coat hangers will probalby work well once heated and bent.
my plastics shop has 4' pieces of different diameters for a few dollars.

The problem with drilling rocks are that they fall apart easily.