Diy Pvc Cave

[Crossfire]

Been planning a project that has finally gotten approval by the parental units, and its taken flight! For my Peacock Goby female and future male, I will be making a PVC pipe cave. It will be an L shaped pipe sort of like this. It will go in the corner of the tank under the amazon swords, as to be not in plain view. I also plan on covering the pipe with gravel via aquarium silicone. In end effect, it will look like this. Has anyone tried this method before? Any advice or tips before I begin? Thanks

 

[FishFanatic04]

I was planning the same kind of thing with pvc piping....I want to try to stick sand to it so it can be half buried with plants around. Will you let me know how yours works out if you do yours before me?

 

[micko]

Good topic.

Do you plan on keeping the gravel as substrate? I only ask as a lot of people change to play sand and you may wish to consider using sand for this project.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Crossfire]

Good topic.

Do you plan on keeping the gravel as substrate? I only ask as a lot of people change to play sand and you may wish to consider using sand for this project.

Let us know how you get on.

I actually have a sand substrate, with some different sized river gravel to achieve a a sort of riverbed appearance. I did consider putting sand on it, as well as gravel. Also was thinking about attaching my Java Fern to it. I'll be sure to make a journal once I start!

 

[OldMan47]

A number of people have built caves using PVC and covered them with sand/gravel. They seem to work out fine as long as the tubing used matches the size that they needed.

 

[KrazyKuhli]

I tried this idea on a coconut and it worked well...

Was easy to do

 

[Taminky]

I want to put my twopence worth in here.
If your going to use gravel to coat the pipe, make sure you use lots of silicone!
I recently did a project that involved sticking gravel to the outside and I didn't use a deep enough layer of silicone and half the gravel fell off and I had to start the whole thing over again
I bet the pipe looks real good when it's finished

 

[Essjay]

I had some peacock gobies a few years ago and they preferred to spawn in what I thought were ridiculously tiny spaces. I thoughtfully provided them with a few caves made of various things in various sizes and their cave of choice was a tiny terracotta plantpot about an inch across the wide end and so short the male's tail stuck out through the hole in the bottom.
So when you make your cave, I would choose the narrowest piece of pipe you can find. And make sure it sinks though if you coat it with gravel that should help keep it down.