Glue Dry Rock to Base

malx

malx

Active member
Hi, All.

I have this piece of Pukani that I want to use as one of the main pieces of rock in my tank. We designed this large overhang looking part that is glued together with Jurassic Gel from Bulk Reef Supply. The question is this..

The dowel I use to keep the glued rocks on the skinny bottom part had to go in at an angle. I need to now glue this rock down to an acrylic base but can't create a hole in it for the dowel. What kind of glue or paste would you use to glue this rock down to acrylic? Would the Jurassic gel work? Or would you silicone it directly to the tank?

Here's a pic of how I'd like the rock to sit in the tank. It must be extra sturdy because it's going to house a lot of corals.

24764b730f0d567c1dbd42f2b7327e2f.jpg



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Oh, and will any of this glue work while the rock is wet too? The rock is going to go in a trash bin for a cycle. Wondering if I should glue it, let it sit for 24 hours, then place it in?


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Can the base rock be drilled horizontal? If so, and it were me. I would add 1-2 horizontal dowels and anchor them in a concrete base which is poured around the base. The base would then be covered by your sandbed and you wouldn't see it. Or if you are going with bare bottom. Place rubble on the surface of the concrete before the concrete sets for a more natural look.

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Tom39 said:
Can the base rock be drilled horizontal? If so, and it were me. I would add 1-2 horizontal dowels and anchor them in a concrete base which is poured around the base. The base would then be covered by your sandbed and you wouldn't see it. Or if you are going with bare bottom. Place rubble on the surface of the concrete before the concrete sets for a more natural look.

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Click to expand...


Hrm, not sure I can picture what you're thinking. Maybe you can provide me a sketch? The rock is two pieces, one large piece and the tiny base. The tiny base glued on real tight i can pick the entire rock up by the smaller rock and shake it and nothing happens. No dowel is in it yet.
 
Not much of an artist but I thought a few pic might help with my explanation.

Drill your rock at the small bottom piece horizontally (all the way through). Insert a fiberglass dowel rod through the hole so that it protrudes out from both sides 1-3". (Fiberglass dowel rods can be found at most any hardware stores and are sold as driveway markers and can be cut with a hacksaw. Be mindful of the fiberglass splinters.)
Then make a mold in a shape that will have enough of a footprint to support your rock, fill the mold halfway with concrete, insert rock base into concrete and support the rock in the upright position. Fill the remaining space left in the mold with concrete. Let it set for 1 day and then remove mold. (if you put Crisco on the surface of the mold before you pour in the concrete the mold will come right off.) Wait an additional 1-2 days for the concrete to dry and then cure it in saltwater (there is a page about curing concrete for saltwater use in this forum).

The 2 pics show how rebar (in your case, a dowel) is buried in concrete to provide strength. The 2nd pic is an example of how something would protrude from the concrete, in this case it is your rock. Of course there would be a lot of rock above the concrete and only a small portion set in the concrete.

I hope this helps
 

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Last edited:
I'd get confirmation from others, but I don't think you want to use concrete in your tank. I know when you work with it doing construction stuff it's caustic on your hands...

If I had to make a guess I'd say it's going to leech out stuff into the water that you don't want there.

Not sure what a good solution would be (to replace the concrete) but... I don't think this would be a good idea.... just the material .. not the idea.

-Porkchop
 
Hey guys! I ended up having a custom base
Made and using Jurassic gel by paleo bond glued it all up! It came out great! Will cover the exposed tube with corral.


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are you going bare-bottom?
I usually install a widely space set of 'pillar' rocks, before the sand, then use those, buried up to half their height, as supports for the whole upper structure---once wet sand is in, nothing moves, even with the best efforts of my big domino damsel, who loves to excavate.
 
Sk8r said:
are you going bare-bottom?
I usually install a widely space set of 'pillar' rocks, before the sand, then use those, buried up to half their height, as supports for the whole upper structure---once wet sand is in, nothing moves, even with the best efforts of my big domino damsel, who loves to excavate.
Click to expand...



Using sand. Sounds like a funny damsel!


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McPuff said:
So is the clear rod going to stay there or was that to provide support while the glue was curing?
Click to expand...



It's going to stay. Don't want to run the risk of this falling over. I'll just cover it with corals :D


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I see... I wouldn't want it to fall either! Another option is to increase the base diameter on the main rock (i.e., left-most) by applying more epoxy... rather than just underneath it. As it will get covered with sand anyway, this should work out quite well. But the column will certainly be the most stable method and will look nice when covered with corals.
 
McPuff said:
I see... I wouldn't want it to fall either! Another option is to increase the base diameter on the main rock (i.e., left-most) by applying more epoxy... rather than just underneath it. As it will get covered with sand anyway, this should work out quite well. But the column will certainly be the most stable method and will look nice when covered with corals.
Click to expand...



Yeah I'm not too worried about it. I'm planning to have this tank years, not months, so I want to make sure that it's as stable as possible.


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bdunn12 said:
Wow, that's is a great way of doing it.
Click to expand...



Thanks. After all that I ended up not using it and using something simpler. That large rock was creating some flow patterns in the tank I didn't like.


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