How secure do you WANT your rockwork?

[Sk8r]

My answer is 'not secure'. I balance, prop, lay it a bit like decorative brickwork, but what the ancients called 'drystane' or dry-stone, despite it being underwater. This means I rely on natural balance, I make my arches out of post-and-lintel and rely on gravity, and I do everything I can that way.

Why? Why not make it one rigid form that nothing can ever shake?

Because I have had to go in and do a fish-extraction that is much easier with loose rockwork. I know my rocks, honestly. I know their balance and what can go where: they have characters, if not names, and that boils down to---I can rebuild it pretty fast.

I do glue or putty my corals. I have just occasionally, on one build or another, 'cheated' by putting a ball of putty between two uncooperative rocks that I would like to use---it's temporary. It breaks easily. I can deal with that.

The occasion of the great ghost eel extraction was when I became very glad I'd proceeded that way. Honestly, I can bucket my corals quite comfortably, bucket my live rock, and net any fish I want, and have the whole 100 gallon tank put back together in perhaps not totally the same configuration, but one I've tinkered with and am pretty pleased with. The fish go wokka for a bit, but they cope with the changes, and it all sorts out. Meanwhile I've not accidentally fragged a coral or hung a net on an lps head while chasing some ingrate fish...I have eggcrate under the whole she-bang to prevent rockslides and 'point load' on the glass, and above that, my scattered pieces of basement rock, which is neck-deep in sand: those won't move. But above that, it's all up for easy takedown and easy reassembly, and there are times I've been very glad of that.

[daveM100]

I balance my rock also. I've had to go in a few times for fish etc, moving individual rocks into a bucket is easy, makes re-scaping a breeze also. Moving one 200 lbs structure glued together would be impossible lol.

[homer1475]

Most of mine are puttied in place, but that 2 part putty breaks apart easily enough, and its not like the putty actually glues them together.

[gone fishin]

Most of mine are stacked and fitted. I have a few spots up high I used some epoxy putty for peace of mind.

[tennesseebob]

Mine are drilled, pegged, silicone do, and putied....but I wanted a column style not a wall, and my tank is 30" deep so I didn't know how else to do it lol.

[Sk8r]

Lol, Tennessee, just never get a ghost eel!

[tennesseebob]

Lol, I doubt I will, my only pieces that are fastened are my 2 tall pieces, but the taller one isn't east to maneuver. I got it into the tank by bundling it in an old bedsheets and lowering it in from the floor above, it was about 80lb dry...don't wanna think about water weight in it lol.

[Sk8r]

THat---is scary. I have this 'piano movers' kind of mental image involving a crane and a 3rd floor balcony...

Seriously, water likely helps spread out the weight stress on the glass, the way the rock you knew was nicely balanced turns tippy and weird once the water goes in.

[johnike]

I am from the school of stacking and balancing as well.
I'm actually redoing mine next week, as the 240 has been turned into a FOWLR tank recently.

[Coralreefer1]

I don't glue my rock since I am always having to retrieve corals that have been knocked over by crabs, snails, fish etc. like a puzzle, you just try to interlock your rock to remain stable. I don't have any problems with this scenario.

[Duke4life]

With the animals I have/want plus my 4 legged kiddos, I wanted my rocks to be more secure. Thought about adding putty but decided not to in case I need to remove or redo at some point.

Seen a lot of threads on here that responses mentioned disturbing the sand bed as a possible issue. But if you have to move/remove your rocks for whatever reason or trying to catch a fish, wouldn't you be doing this very same thing? I've got half the amount of sand I should have because I'm a bit paranoid now having much deeper, almost stayed BB.

What do you do if you disturb the sand bed?

[RussIV]

half inch drill, 1/2 inch diameter acrylic rods, and a heat gun.

allows for removable arches

[pisanoal]

I definitely prefer secure structures. That being said,i have a 40 breeder with two main structures and a small minor one with a few loose to is on the sand. I used to stack, but I had to hear my structures apart a few times and could not get them back together as well. I moved my tank last week to a different spot in the house and it was so easy to move 2 structures rather then a bunch of loose rock with coral on it. Like I said though, it's a smaller tank. I can definitely understand not wanting to this with large structures.

[Sk8r]

I also use 3-4" of sand, and a sand-based 20 g fuge in the 30 gallon sump. Never have a problem, because if I should have to pull a rock and disturb the bed, I have all that *undisturbed* rest of the sandbeds to solve the problem and help the tank out. A small kickup is not much of a problem in a system. Where people get in big trouble is when somebody who's never cleaned a pretty deep bed reads some post saying they're a problem and decides to clean his whole sandbed at once---disaster. If you have to move one big rock and disturb sand, not much problem: bed gets locally kicked up, but the rest of the sandbed handles it. Move them all at once? That could be a problem. [Having the sandbed in the fuge means my DT has that to rely on if there some problem.]

[billdogg]

Although I really liked the look and dimensions of my 60g cube (I had it for 22 years before upgrading to a 120), it was IMPOSSIBLE to catch a fish without completely draining the tank, so any fish, once put in, was there until it died.

The reason for this was because the rockwork was the ultimate in solid reefbuilding. It was one solid piece of pumice that I carved into a piece of the reef complete with tunnels and swim throughs.

I'll never do that again. Being able to take things is so very important sometimes.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll227/billdogg_photos/Aquarium%20Shots/_MG_3491.jpg (http://s289.photobucket.com/user/billdogg_photos/media/Aquarium%20Shots/_MG_3491.jpg.html)

[ChuckNasty]

+1 Sk8r, I simply balance my rocks in a way that seems to fit best and look appealing. Functionality over Aesthetics. It is simpler as you stated, when you need to find a fish that likes to hide; and also has given me a chance to know my rocks better as well.

Another point I'm not sure anyone has noted... With loose aquascape you are at liberty to change the 'scape if you find a more appealing design. You are not bound to a single terrain, case in point, if you decided to glue rocks together, and are now stuck. No pun intended.

I am still relatively new... So take my opinions with a grain of salt. :)

[rt67ghy]

I also stack and balance my rocks. I have egg crates on the bottom and 320 lbs of rock resting on them. I have one piece which weighs 50 lbs. Just putting this in or taking it out scares me so I can't imagine gluing all the pieces together and having one massive structure. I enjoy rearranging some of my rocks from time to time to accommodate my growing coral collection so my emphasis is on functionality. Besides I still add new rocks to my structure from time to time when I need to. I have never had an incident where a rock fell since they're very stable. We experienced an earthquake where 2 litres of water sloshed out of my tank (I didn't have eurobracing at the time) but my rocks didn't move.

[j.a.c.wester]

I made al my rock into 1 solid rock. I am scared as hell that mine will crack a window.

[tennesseebob]

My base rocks on the column are the largest rocks I could find, then sawed in half so they have a flat stable base, and when I drilled them it wasn't for pegs, but a single rod skewered through all the rocks. Before putting them in the tank I made sure they balanced well, I can tilt them about 20 degrees in any direction and they settle back to vertical. There isn't enough room in my tank for them to tilt far enough over to loose balance. Also they aren't resting on the glass, I lined the bottom of my tank with eggcrate to absorb and disperse the weight.

[Sk8r]

Case in point---I look into my tank today and see that the little cluster of halimeda that popped up (I can tolerate halimeda, a calcium-using algae that makes little blades, and doesn't spread much)---now has an inch-long piece of caulerpa racemosa in it.

So, sometime this next week, and before that wretched vegetable plague gets a chance to take over the tank, I am going to have to pull the canopy, get on a ladder, and pull out half the rockwork, piece at a time, to reach that one rock. I probably will take a hammer and chisel and remove that whole knob off the side of it, then reassemble the rockwork with this now-suspect rock somewhere much more convenient to remove.

All sorts of weird algae finds its way into tanks. [A real good idea to google the word caulerpa and look at the pix: never ever ever ever ever let any variety of this stuff get into sump or dt. I know they sell it as fuge algae. Go back, it's a trap....]

[CStrickland]

This is def true for most tanks, where you can get a nice wide base to balance a stable formation off of. My tank is a long skinny 55 so I went more minimalist and tall. Sticking the rocks together let me build something stable with a lot of hidey holes in it without leaning against the walls. I don't have any spots I can't reach if I'm feeling determined. I really wanted the structure to be over a foot tall and only 9" wide so the only way was to build a wall. I have a few clear inches on the front and back side to reach into the rock, and toward the base it spreads out a little and has more caves.
The obvi answer to my issue is don't get a 55, but I'm stubborn so cement was the next best thing :)

[Sk8r]

I use eggcrate on the bottom glass (and employ undersand critters like nassarius) to set the basement rock on before the sand goes in. That more than prevents point-load: it stabilizes the rock even if burrowing fish move the sand. I've broken down tanks using it and never found any accumulation of nastiness. The worms and critters seem to take care of it quite nicely.

[whosurcaddie]

This is my latest build. I did a barebottom with a 3Dbackground to make it look a little more natural. All of my rock is fitted together like puzzle pieces. I can push on them and they wont budge but I can pull them out if need be.

http://i.minus.com/jNVJFWYWYUuxo.jpg

[mmittlesteadt]

I prefer VERY secure. At least secure but deceptively easy to disassemble. I used hydraulic cement and fiberglass dowels to secure certain ledges and such. I also sawed the bottoms completely flat and they rest directly on the glass.

In the pic below you see what appears to be a solid piece of rockwork, but it is made up of five separate rock sections that were carefully constructed as to fit together like a puzzle. Each can stand on their own (directly on the glass) without support from another, but when fitted together cannot fall apart, topple or shift without my help.

The back wall is one solid piece of false rockwork, but it will never be moved and nothing can get behind it anyway. There are a few small rock pieces simply set in place, but they interlock with the pieces they are set on. Nothing will cause the rockwork to fall or even shift, yet it still can easily come apart if absolutely necessary without too much trouble.

http://2ndnaturecreations.com/reef/junetank.jpg

[taricha]

Thanks for this thread! Timing is perfect.
I had just gotten a shipment of dry rock to add to my rock work and was planning and plotting where exactly to glue it all down.

Now instead, I glued the rocks together to make large interesting pieces with desirable shapes, then placed the pieces where I wanted. Easily removable.
Thanks!

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/06/e7f11a82f90a879a8d3d8de417ac31fe.jpg
Took these pieces...

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/06/d26ac01a2aa7d55cbc512d2f408f5596.jpg
And made a couple of arches and a long curvy shelf thing