Stacking Live Rock

[Ben in San Diego]

Hi all:

I have no experience with live rock and am setting up a large tank (150g) when i look at pictures of tanks i see these high structures with caves etc. and want to duplicate that in my own tank.

Do I need to just stack the rock? or do I need to "glue" it together, or do I need to build some type of pvc gridwork to lean the rock up against?

thanks for your replys.

Ben.

 

[abstract]

don't own a saltwater tank of my own but from what i've read..

you want to use eggcrate underneath (used in suspended ceilings for light fixtures) to help distribute the weight evenly across the footprint of the tank...

and to hold liverock together in general there are special marine epoxy type things - and i think most of them can be applied underwater...although i could be completely wrong so wait for the experts or look up the epoxies

 

[steelhealr]

Hi..I'm not sure that eggcrate is the best idea. I think it creates dead spots in the substrate. The LR shouldn't shift or tumble. You can use silicone glue or epoxy putty. Another popular method is to use PVC tubing glued in box shapes to act as a scaffold. Get Paletta's book on setting up a marine tank...he has good pictures on how to do that. SH

 

[boom-sage]

id go wwith the marine epoxy from kent marine. kent is a trustworthy company.

 

[Kaston]

Do you need to glue them if s I did Not in 55g tank but the live rock is only two layers thick

 

[ess17]

I only have a 29 GAL with 25 LBS of Live Rock, but I personally don't feel you need to glue the rock as long as it is reasonable stable. You don't want snails to be able to tumble your creation, but other than that, I feel that glue would restrict changing the rock later. I change mine a bit every time I put coral in. I wouldn't want the restriction that glue creates. Just my thoughts though...

 

[BooRadley]

I have about 60 LBS of rock in a 55 US Gal tank, and haven't had problems with it not beign clued. If I wanted to get something like a sea urchin that prys it's way in the rocks, then I would have to.

My best luck came from just shifting it around, looking at it, shifting it some more, testing the stability, thinking about it, moveing it, etc, until I had a cool structure that was pretty stable.

http/booradley.homeip.net/tfr/fish/images/DSC_1720b.jpg

That's mine.