Aquascaping and drilling rock

[sra_chipmunk]

I seel allot of people drill their rock and put acrylic/plastic pins or dowls in them with putty to form and shape their own creation. I didnt know about it when I bought all my rock and installed it in the tank. I basiacally have a pile of rocks in my tank that I can move and change as I please but its a pain in the butt.

My question's:

-Where can you get the acrylic pins or dowls?

-Do you need special bits to drill the rock?

-Can I drill the rock thats in my tank now even though I have some life of them?

 

[matthewscars]

I dont know about where to get it, try HD.

but LR is not dense at all. Any normal bit will work. Has for me anyway.

As far as the drilling of the Cured LR in your tank, im about to do they same thing. im going to take them out of the water just long enough to drill them then put them back in the tank. then in the tank just put them on the rods. Im going to use the smalled PVC i can find though. easier to work with

 

[Skeptic_07]

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/category.php?bid=14&

 

[sra_chipmunk]

So I checked out the site that Skeptic_07 listed above and found these.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=147&

What size is idel to mate the rock work together? I thought 3/8 inch by 6 foot acrylic rod for 2.65 would do the trick.

 

[Skeptic_07]

i have no clue but this thread is related to what you're doing

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1456149

I dunno if you're planning on doing it like that or not but its food for thought and an awesome tank anyways so its worth a look

 

[admann]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13247596#post13247596 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sra_chipmunk
So I checked out the site that Skeptic_07 listed above and found these.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=147&

What size is idel to mate the rock work together? I thought 3/8 inch by 6 foot acrylic rod for 2.65 would do the trick.

taggin along

 

[admann]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13247596#post13247596 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sra_chipmunk
So I checked out the site that Skeptic_07 listed above and found these.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=147&

What size is idel to mate the rock work together? I thought 3/8 inch by 6 foot acrylic rod for 2.65 would do the trick.

taggin along

 

[J.russell]

Im using 1/2" on my pillars but Im making them about 26-28" tall also.

 

[sra_chipmunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13248151#post13248151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by J.russell
Im using 1/2" on my pillars but Im making them about 26-28" tall also.

So do you suggest that I use a thicker pins?

 

[J.russell]

Are you just trying to steady a rock pile or are you going to make taller pillars?

The taller you make it the stronger you will want the rod.

 

[sra_chipmunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13248374#post13248374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by J.russell
Are you just trying to steady a rock pile or are you going to make taller pillars?

The taller you make it the stronger you will want the rod.

I have the idea of using a big rock in the middle for a base, and then branch 2 pillars off of that. I think 1/2 to 3/4 inch will be needed for that.

 

[J.russell]

Yea Im just going straight up so the rock will support its self for the most part but if you are branching out like a tree branch or somthing I would go with atleast 1/2".

I would also try to support the branches by having them brach twards the bottom of the tank too.

Does that make sense? It sounds better in my head that typed out...lol.

 

[sra_chipmunk]

This is a rough idea of what I was thinking of.

 

[FishNFun]

Just make sure that you don't get a spike in your parameters because of some die off from having the rock out too long (like if you have sponges on the rock for example). You might want to drill some of the rock then wait a day or so and then do some more just to be safe. In any case, I'd test more frequently just so you're in the know on what's going on in your tank. Good luck!

 

[sra_chipmunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13248842#post13248842 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FishNFun
Just make sure that you don't get a spike in your parameters because of some die off from having the rock out too long (like if you have sponges on the rock for example). You might want to drill some of the rock then wait a day or so and then do some more just to be safe. In any case, I'd test more frequently just so you're in the know on what's going on in your tank. Good luck!

Thanks for the tip. I overlooked that one.

Perhaps I can drain some of the tank water into a container and trill the rock while its in the water. That will also help keep the bit cool.

 

[J.russell]

Looks like its gonna be pretty cool

I took some rock out of my old tank and killed everything on it and let it all dry out. I drilled a few of the rocks already and had no problems. LR actually isnt very hard to drill through.