Aquascaping Live Rock

[blakesreefbruz]

Hi guys,

I want to create a couple of pillars for my four foot tank. I think i'm going to do something similar to the october tank of the month.

But im wondering, should i use base rock or live rock to create pillars (by placing a thin pvc pipe through them.

Would a normal drill be able to go through both base and live rock easily?

Should i use some type of adhesive as well as threading the rocks on top of each other? Is their a safe type of aquarium adhesive that would be good for this?

Thanks

 

[bethnjeremy]

you can buy some aquarium safe epoxy

 

[Blown 346]

Base rock and Live rock are the exact same thing but one has bacteria living in and on it. A normal drill will do the trick.

As far as using epoxy, once you do this it is basically for good. Plus if you ever want to change the look of the tank you cant since the rock is epoxied there.

 

[Dino]

A normal drill will work fine, I did the PVC trick just a few weeks ago with some base rock. Just make sure to go slow because if you have very light and porous rock it has a habit of just breaking in half if you put too much pressure on the bit. Using some type of epoxy is a little bit of a personal decision IMO, if you don't ever plan on totally reaquascaping your tank and it makes you feel safer by all means go ahead! I also think sometimes with the right rock using epoxy can make for some more interesting shapes than just threading it on a piece of PVC but I've seen killer pillars with both methods .

 

[dendro982]

Not much help, but I tried to break off a big boulder of Reef Bones - used chisels, hammers, drill - they are almost unworkable. Reef Rock (Caribsea too) is much better. I still don't know, how to drill the hole through all the rock depth - for PVC piping, keeping all together.

Fiji LR is very easily breakable, work without pressure.