Aquascaping Question

[paintballer768]

My tank has been up and running for about 6 months now very comfortably. I have a frag zoanthid and mushroom frags that were added a good 3 months ago, and I recently decided (with metal halides on the way) that my current aquascape was definitely NOT able to support a medium sized acropora colony.

So having about 25 lbs in a 24 gallon tank already, I was curious about something. I have a fan-ish looking piece, and I wanted to make a shelf out of it for an acropora colony on it, with my tubastrea under it for shade. Now for the questions....

Is 50-60 lbs of LR in a 24 gallon tank too much? I will be curing before adding them so no worries about that.
And what good products have you all used to bond rocks to support overhangs, caves, etc... AND be used underwater. (Purpose for this is because some of the frags have settled in, and I dont want to keep em topside for too long, or stress em out very much.

And finally, who has ordered from Marco Rocks before? How was it?

Thanks!! RC seems like the best reef site so far.

 

[bertoni]

[welcome]

That sounds like too much live rock to me. I'd probably go with more like 24-36 pounds, but it's an esthetic issue.

There are the aquarium epoxy products, basically two-layer cylindrical blobs that are kneaded to merged the layers and start setting the cement. The same product is sold at many hardware stores. It doesn't stick well to live rock, but it does allow you to build supports.

I have heard good reviews about Marco Rocks, but I haven't bought anything from them, personally.

 

[macronut]

In the 2008 annual Marine Fish and Reef (usa) magazine there is an interesting article on "live framing". It is an article on how to stack and use live rock with pvc framing and epoxy. It's worth picking up and reading. The article is written by Gregory R. Skyes. Good diagrams and pics.

 

[macronut]

I purchased my copy at PetsMart when buying cat food.

 

[paintballer768]

Okay Ill try to get a hold of that magazine. What I might do is take the rock I want to hang, and epoxy a pvc pipe to the bottom of it. The extend the pvc end into the rock mound for added support, and hopefully that will hold it. Anyone else ordered from Marco Rocks? I would like to get a positive review or something from them before I do.

 

[r2odie]

Check out this thread, this guy has done some awesome stuff with marco rock
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1269006&perpage=25&pagenumber=1