Live rock positioning

[Littorina]

Hi there!

    Just wondered - when placing your rocks in your saltwater aquarium for the first time, and once you've decided on your rockscape positions,  is it better to glue the pieces together, to prevent rocks from falling and caving, or do people generally just position them in such a way as to be as stable as possible naturally?   If permanent attachment is sometimes necessary, what is safe to use?
Thanks!

[Stussi613]

Most people stack them and hope for the best.  Using marine epoxy doesn't work as well as drilling and putting acrylic dowels in to hold more precarious formations together.

I've been seeing more and more people using the black spray foam from Lowes to hold rocks together. It's aquarium safe and you don't really see it between the rocks...and it REALLY bonds the rocks together.

[Littorina]

Stuart, you have been providing me with wonderful advice since I joined!  Thank you :-)

Awesome tip with the spray foam - wondered if something like that would be toxic or not, but YAH that it isn't.  That way also, it wouldn't be as permanent, if one decided to change tanks someday and re-arrange the rocks - could just cut through the spray foam with a blade perhaps?  Don't think you'd be able to get epoxy and dowels apart!

[robt18]

I'm a stacker for that exact reason... when I get bored/need to move the tank/apartment/upsize I tend to move everything around and it's simpler I find. Usually you can find fairly stable positions for your rockwork. The same goes for your corals - if you glue them in place, you're going to have more of an issue moving them if they aren't doing so hot in a certain place due to light, flow, etc.

[Stussi613]

I'm a stacker for that exact reason... when I get bored/need to move the tank/apartment/upsize I tend to move everything around and it's simpler I find. Usually you can find fairly stable positions for your rockwork. The same goes for your corals - if you glue them in place, you're going to have more of an issue moving them if they aren't doing so hot in a certain place due to light, flow, etc.

I'm with Rob, I don't glue rocks together...but I do glue frags down since I have hermit crabs and turbo snails in my tank and they get back at me for being plucked out of the ocean by re-arranging my frag plugs, usually by knocking them into other corals and starting wars...or upside down on the sand!

[Littorina]

I just presumed coral frags WERE glued down when put in a new tank!  And HAHA about the crabs repositioning!
 
     Glad to hear rocks don't HAVE to be permanently placed. I had read a few warnings from reefers who said they've heard of accidents where precariously-placed rocks slipped and fell and cracked the aquarium glass!  GASP!.  :-)

[robt18]

I cram mine in as tight as possible to avoid the hermits redecorating I occasionally glue, but I find those pieces are always the ones who decide they'd like a new home after a couple months!

[Stussi613]

I cram mine in as tight as possible to avoid the hermits redecorating I occasionally glue, but I find those pieces are always the ones who decide they'd like a new home after a couple months!

I saw an awesome article on figuring out where you were going to put the rock in dry, then putting epoxy in the holes you want to put frags into and ramming a frag plug into the soft epoxy and then taking it out and letting the epoxy set...instant frag mounting system that makes it more harder for crabs and snails to go redecorating it.

Wish I could still find the link.

[Hookup]

The guys covered some of the basics for sure.

I went with all cement in my display... no moving rocks ... EVER ... LOL

I would recommend you get two sticks of the Two-Little-Fishes reef epoxy and use it to glue your rocks.  This is strong enough to stop any land-slides but would easily come apart with a little hand force (no hammers, just pull & twist) when you want to re-scape your tank.

One more note, you'll want to avoid dead-zones on your sand-bed (assuming you're going with a sandbed).  So if you can get some rocks on the bottom that are more like table-legs, or use acrylic rods to make legs, then the sand under and directly around the rocks won't have issues down the road.


Good luck.

[Greatwhite]

That's a good idea, Hookup.. I've never thought much about keeping my rock off the bottom.  Everything of mine is stacked tight, with heavier rocks at the bottom.  That definitely results in dead zones underneath.  I may do some aquascaping some day and build some legs.

[Littorina]

Thanks everyone!  Great ideas and advice!  :-)