Aquascaping tips anyone?

[Pinchy]

I have in the past observed a few threads on here about aquascaping and I was hoping to get another going.

I have a150gal mixed reef tank with about 300 to 350 lbs of Fiji Live rock.. My tank has been up and running without any problems for over a year.

Perhaps its just my never ending obsession to do something different but I want to change my aquascaping. Currently I just have my rock stacked from end to end and that much rock fills up my tank. I would like to just build it up on the back of the tank like a rock wall but do not know how to do so without it falling or being unstable. I have heard of drilling and using PVC, or acrylic rods to hold it all together but the pieces I would like to keep are quite big and I honestly do not think I can drill them very easily.

Any sugestions, pics, or examples would be great!

Below is a pic of my tank currently, taken with my iphone so it is what it is.. sorry..

Thanks

<a href="http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i36/sene8541/?action=view&current=photo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i36/sene8541/photo.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Pinchy]

.... Ummmm Pleeeeeze?

 

[Giannis86]

Remember that LR is quite porous and you should be able to drill it quite easily. Personally i use a metal bit and it drills through the rock like a knife through butter

as about scaping ideas, take a look at my threads..i had some interesting layouts which should look better on larger tanks

 

[Pinchy]

Thanks, I just looked at them. I appreciate your input. I am not worried about being able to physically drill them I actually have everything I need to do so, but I am sort of worried about breaking the large pieces.. I would need top drill through 10-12 inches on some pieces. I guess water, control, and light pressure should do the trick...

Thanks again

 

[tc2008]

That alligator head has got to go...

 

[iamwhatiam52]

1. Too much rock.
2. Lose the gator.

 

[eyebedam]

I have to disagree. The way you have the Gator looks awesome.

 

[Pinchy]

Lol, as much as I like hearing your personal preference about the gator head, it really adds absolutely nothing constructive to my post.. my question is on how to build a rock wall, drilling and stabilizing it, or other ideas! thanks

 

[Still Wet]

you dont have to drill through just drill top and bottom about 3 in is usually ok put in your rods and glue them in place

 

[Still Wet]

only way other than that is to glue the rock right to the wall but that takes an empty tank

 

[tektite]

For me, I did a mix of ways.

The bottom half of my arch is drilled and rodded together, the top is zip tied and epoxied together, and the walls around the overflows are epoxied together. The rock walls are nearly vertical, I just used lots of epoxy and they don't budge at all.

 

[jennmac415]

I am by no means an expert, but when I aquascape a new tank.. I like to think of the tank in terms of front to back and THEN left to right...in other words I do NOT just make an "non-dimensional" rock wall...I place my bottom rocks first going front to back...in and out... moving from left to right... and THEN I go back with the top layer... making caves , overhangs ..ins and outs...so far all of the tanks I have scaped have gotten lots of compliments and for the most part I have been very happy with...let me know if you have any questions..I know my description leaves alot to be desired...

 

[Giannis86]

It depends on what type of wall/structure you want to create.
If its just a vertical one you can get away with careful positioning of the rock, use of zip ties and/or epoxy.

More challenging shapes such as overhangs etc will require the use of something like pvc to hold the structure. Here are some tips:
Use of acrylic rod:
1. Shape it as you want
2. Take a large sheet of acrylic and glue it on the rod. This should hold the thing in place if its something insane. Alternatively a large rock as a base can be used eliminating the need for an acrylic sheet.
3. Drill the rocks and slide them through the rod

PVC.
1. Create a rectangular pvc frame to be placed under the sand. This will distribute the load of the LR, letting you make some nice scapes.
2. Connect pvc on the base frame and bend as required (if you cant bend it, use 45, 90 bends)
3. Either drill or put LR on top of the pvc frame. If you place it carefully it should be very hard to see.
If you go the PVC way make sure you seal the whole assembly 100% to avoid the buildup of worms

 

[Pinchy]

TEKTITE, thanks that is exactly what I was looking for the idea about only drilling a few inches and gluing in the rods between the pieces.. Thank you

Jennmac415, Thank you also, that is how I did it originally and I do like it but I am wanting to change it up a but I have a ton of rock in this tank and I am sort of looking to downsize it and get a little bit more dimension with less rock.

thank you!

 

[Pinchy]

I just tried to edit my last post but it didn't seem to work.. Thank you all very much for the information it is very helpful. I think I am going to use the larger pieces on the base and utilize the method Still Wet suggested of drilling a few inches and securing with rods between them.

Can anybody advise on what sort of epoxy to use? Is any acceptable or does it have to be specific sort like the putty kind usually used for securing frags?

 

[slief]

I have a 480G tank. At one point I had it pretty well stacked with several hundred pounds of live rock. I had all the rock elevated off the bottom on an egg crate structure that I put together. I also have PVC pipes that come out of my overflow box and pump water out under my rock scape via one of my recirc pumps.

Here is a couple pictures of that setup going together.

A crappy shot of the finished tank

A few years back I decided to do a complete system tear down and overhaul. The decision was made to eliminate much of the live rock and try something different. I eliminated the egg crate from the tank though I did maintain the PVC plumbing that circled my overflow providing flow under the rock. I used much less rock but glued the rocks together using pond foam. The end result was a rock structure that was seemless and looks completely natural.

Here are some pics of the rocks going together. I cut the excess foam away once it dried.

This fomation consists of several pieces of rock glued together. You would never know by looking at it that its comprised of several rocks. Coraline and other growth covers the foam but even without the growth on the foam, the colors were close enough and the pieces were selected to blend together creating a seemless structure.

The back wall of the tank was a fun one. My tank is 4x8x2 and the back wall is 4'
x2'. I had some black acrylic panels made for the back wall. I did them in 2 pieces. They are "L" shaped so they have a means of standing up and providing a base to the rock formation. My idea was that the opening on the top of tank are 24" wide and I wanted to be able to build the back rock structure outside of the tank and have it removable. The 2 20" wide acrylic panels were laid down side by side. I then proceeded to build the rocks from the bottom up on these panels. I made it so the rocks were setup to fit togther on the panels but the panels could be installed seperately. This worked out great and provided a great 40" wide by 22" tall formation on the back wall that also gave me structure for a large rock bridge that over 3' long. I dont have any pictures of the back wall structure going togther but here are some pics of the finished product.\

back wall is the left side and bridge which connects the back wall to the structure around the overflow..

Some pics of the finished system aquascape.

 

[slief]

A couple more pics.

IMG]http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo347/shleif/Tanks/DSC00321.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Pinchy]

Slief, WOW let me start by saying that you tank is increadable! Seriously nice man! And you have a GREAT idea with the pond foam! I really like it, now for my stupid question, can I buy pond foam at Home Depot, Lowes or do I need to order it?

Thanks again for your reply it is awesome, great pics too!

 

[jerrym21]

Slief.
That is some beautiful work!!! I love to see photos of tanks such as yours where alot of time is spent on artistic aquascaping. Well done!!!

 

[clownfreak]

you can get pond foam at Home Depot or Lowes, Menards most major hardware stores (at least in my area) or many fish stores have them.

I have to agree that tank is amazing!