DIY aquascape - connecting rock (pvc, acrylic, epoxy)
- Thread starter Logzor
- Start date
shelburn61
New member
That's what I used. They work great. PVC requires waaay to much drilling IMO
miwoodar
Likey the bikey
They are in Home Depot right next to the key cutting station. You can't miss them....4 feet long, traffic cone orange (i'm painting mine with fusion paint), with an 8" long reflective strip at the top. They also have yellow ones of the same size and white ones that are a little thinner.
Logzor
New member
Alright, so how rigid are these driveway markers. I have one serious rock I have to keep supported. Its almost 17 inches long if measured from the longest point, this will come out into the middle from the right side island, putting a nice shaded area in the middle of the tank with a huge higher light area in the upper middle of the tank.
I put tape down to represent the dimension of the tank and build both islands for my 90g aquascape. Amazingly the island with this piece coming out is actually able to support itself, through some miracle. Although I have Styrofoam all around it in case it starts to fall.
My plan is to secure the islands together in a way that keeps it so I can place the back together easily. The other trick is fitting them into a garbage can to cook them.
Is this the best idea, drill / silicone most of the aquascape together, then cook? It seems like it would be a huge pain to do this work with soaked rock.
Islands have arrived!
Right Island:
Do not even ask how that 17" shelf rock is support itself because I can not answer this question. The shelf has about 3 inches of clearance on both sides and is aimed right into the center of the tank, covering over the center area not taken up by the two islands.
Left Island:
The island took awhile to put together, the angle is a bit off so you cant see the little cave in the bottom very well. The flash dosent do the rock much justice, but I am pretty happy with these two islands so far. I have the rocks numbered so I have some aid when drilling/siliconing them together.
I put tape down to represent the dimension of the tank and build both islands for my 90g aquascape. Amazingly the island with this piece coming out is actually able to support itself, through some miracle. Although I have Styrofoam all around it in case it starts to fall.
My plan is to secure the islands together in a way that keeps it so I can place the back together easily. The other trick is fitting them into a garbage can to cook them.
Is this the best idea, drill / silicone most of the aquascape together, then cook? It seems like it would be a huge pain to do this work with soaked rock.
Islands have arrived!
Right Island:
Do not even ask how that 17" shelf rock is support itself because I can not answer this question. The shelf has about 3 inches of clearance on both sides and is aimed right into the center of the tank, covering over the center area not taken up by the two islands.
Left Island:
The island took awhile to put together, the angle is a bit off so you cant see the little cave in the bottom very well. The flash dosent do the rock much justice, but I am pretty happy with these two islands so far. I have the rocks numbered so I have some aid when drilling/siliconing them together.
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looks good. From my experience, make sure you have a good drill bit. When i did this i noticed that some of my rocks were much more difficult to drill than others. I think it had something to do with the mineral base of the rock. The rock that was dense and calcium based took much longer to drill and dulled out my bit much quicker than the more porous rocks i had from figi/tampa. Another option for your smaller rocks is to leave a bit of your acrylic rods exposed where needed and attach the smaller rocks via black zip ties (the plastic of the ties will be covered in coraline very quickly). Good luck and keep us updated!
Logzor
New member
DIY aquascape - how it turned out.
DIY aquascape - how it turned out.
Alrightly. Got all of the rock drilled and secured with the rods. Now we just need to add silicone for some extra stability, even though it does not really need it. We will also be adding rocks in various placed up front, where random bare rock is showing, to keep it natural looking. Luckily I have lots of extra rock to smash up and attach around the bases of these.
Sorry these are bit blurry:
topdownish:
This all went much more smoothly than I could have imagined. I am glad I used such a thin rod, it made it very easy to accomplish.
Update: just got it all done up with silicone and its curing.
DIY aquascape - how it turned out.
Alrightly. Got all of the rock drilled and secured with the rods. Now we just need to add silicone for some extra stability, even though it does not really need it. We will also be adding rocks in various placed up front, where random bare rock is showing, to keep it natural looking. Luckily I have lots of extra rock to smash up and attach around the bases of these.
Sorry these are bit blurry:
topdownish:
This all went much more smoothly than I could have imagined. I am glad I used such a thin rod, it made it very easy to accomplish.
Update: just got it all done up with silicone and its curing.
Aqua Keepers
New member
Those look awesome. That's the look I want in my 55g. I should be ordering from them in the next few weeks. Do you mind if I send them this pic to show them what I'm looking for? Just curious, how much did you order -vs- used/left over
superstein61
New member
Ditto. The driveway rods worked great for me - no issues, only need to drill a 3/8" hole, and very strong. When drilling, I occassionally poured some water into the hole I was drilling which seemed to help things along as well as flush out the hole
Aqua Keepers
New member
look at the 4th pic down
