Anyone with tips for stacking rocks?

[DUHK]

If you need any help, let me know.

Did you have a layout in your mind and it just didn't turn out well or was it because you couldn't get the rocks in right?

[Complexity]

I could definitely use some help! I finally got my husband to do a little, but he complains about his back and the water and... well, this isn't his hobby.

I've been up all night working on these rocks. Got them in the tank in the manner I had laid them out on the floor. And just hated it. It looked hideous!

So out the rocks went.

I've cleaned the tank up. Had a scare when I saw what I thought was a crack on the bottom, but it turned out to be some silicone. I decided to go ahead and put a layer of sand down that's no taller than the egg crate in hopes it will help me from destroying this tank. I'm filling it with water again.

It's not looking like I'll have fish in the tank by tonight as I had hoped. I'm just not a rock scaper.

[DUHK]

I'm sorry about your short arms! You can try to use a towel to act as a basket as you lower the rocks down gently and remove the towel once they are safely in! I hope that helps!

Let me know if you need any help and please take lots of pictures after you are done with this project! We'd love to see!

[Complexity]

I have discovered something I never knew.

My arms are too short!

I am trying so hard to get the rocks in, but I literally cannot reach the bottom of the tank. I've dropped two HEAVY rocks already. Thank goodness for the egg crate. My tank would be busted by now without it. One rock hit hard enough to gouge the egg crate.

I'm so frustrated. If I could just get the first row of rocks in place, I can reach the rest since they'll be higher in the stack. But getting this first row in place is killing me. I now have one big rock in the tank, but I can't move it in place because I can't reach it well enough to actually make it move.

Wish me luck that I don't break this tank!

[Complexity]

I have water!

So far, I'm very pleased. Both filters are up and running with no signs of leaks. I might have some air getting into one, not sure, or it might be purging air already in it. I'll let it go for awhile and see what it does. It seems to be quietening down already.

The water is churning like mad since there's no media in the canisters and nothing to block the water flow in the tank. So I definitely have enough flow power!

Now to let that run while I clean up and prepare myself to lug almost 400lbs of rocks. Ack!

I'm curious, btw you said you painted the egg crate. What kind of paint did you use on that? Won't it dissolve/flake off in the water?

Krylon Fusion. Well used in the planted tank community. Make sure it's Fusion which is specifically for plastic.

Like I said, you probably already planned it this way, but I would hate for you to lug all of those rocks around for hours only to fill the tank and have it look much different than when empty.

Thank you; you're so kind to think of that. And I honestly hadn't thought about it. Scaping a planted tank is very different from what I'm doing now.

My focus has been so much on making sure the rocks are stable that I wasn't giving much thought as to water angles and all. Very good point!

I can't promise the rock stacks will look worth a darn. I'm just going to give it a try and see what happens. I figure if I don't break the tank, then I'll consider it a success.

[Complexity]

Sounds good, Peter! I hope to know today. Tomorrow at the latest (depending on how well my back holds out).

[peterp63]

Let me know when you've decided what rocks you're going to use... I have the same stuff in my tank and wouldn't mind adding more.

[Mzungu]

I know you've done it before (scaped tanks, etc.) But just in case you weren't thinking about it, sometimes a tank looks very different empty and scaped vs. full and scaped. Filling your masterpiece with water can often ruin your vision, lol. :) So just making sure that you WILL have the tank filled up to at least cover that first (or second) base layer, be able to look at it straight on through the water to ensure that the stack is where you want it, fills the space you intended, etc. Angles get all messed up underwater. :)

Like I said, you probably already planned it this way, but I would hate for you to lug all of those rocks around for hours only to fill the tank and have it look much different than when empty.

[FuzzyDragon09]

Sounds like you've really planned this out. I can't wait for the pictures. Sounds awesome!

I'm curious, btw you said you painted the egg crate. What kind of paint did you use on that? Won't it dissolve/flake off in the water?

[Complexity]

Hi flowerhornhouston! I appreciate the suggestion.

I'm going to be putting cichlids in the tank so I'm going to stack them before I put the sand in. It's done that way so the rocks cannot shift (and fall!) when the cichlids move the sand around.

I already have a plastic egg crate on the bottom. It looks like this one:

http://www.collins-consulting.org/orchids/eggCrate.jpg

What's good about the egg crates is that they give a place for the rocks to get a good footing. Plus, they help protect the bottom glass if rocks do fall. I think that might be the same thing you were talking about.

Here's what I plan on doing. I first painted the egg crate the color of the sand so when the cichlids dig the sand to the point of the egg crate showing, it won't be quite as obvious. I have the egg crate at the bottom of the tank now.

After getting the filters installed (almost done!), I'll then wash it all out with water to clean the glass and get out any debris that fell into the tank while I was working on it.

Then I'm going to move all the rocks inside and stack them on the floor as Jesper had suggested earlier. Once I get the rocks stacked the way I want them, I'll take the stacks apart carefully so I can rebuild the same stack in the tank itself. I'm going to go ahead and add some water to the tank when I put the rocks in because I think it will help with the extreme weight, making it a little easier for me to stack.

I'm going to try something when stacking them to get extra height. I have a few really nice large, flat rocks to use as a base. What I'm going to do is use those rocks as a second level in the stacks. The first level will be smaller rocks put together closely to life the base. Then the base rocks will go on over that. Their weight should prevent the bottom rocks from shifting; plus, I'm going to be very careful to be sure the bottom row is solid. Every row must be solid before I add more rocks on top.

From there, I'll keep building the rocks upward until I get what I want OR until I can see that I've reached the limit of what I can do with these rocks.

Once I get the rocks stacked in the tank, I'll then add the sand and use the pressure of the water from the python to force the sand into the rock structures. Then I'll let it all settle, do a water change, and see how clear the water is.

If all goes well, I might be able to start putting fish in the tank by tomorrow! The only holdup is that my new filter media won't arrive until Monday so I can't fill the canisters all the way with media. They'll just have the old media from my filter on my 75g. But I think I can get away with that for a couple of days.

I'm down to installing one more filter, and then I can start adding water!

[Complexity]

No problem! I'm just weird in that I always envision contaminates crawling onto my rocks when I leave them outside like that. My new black rocks have been on my patio for a couple of days (on a towel), and it's driving me crazy. I see some leaves on them by now, and who knows what bugs have crawled on/under them. Makes me feel like I have to clean them all over again!

Maybe I'm OCD about my rocks? )

[flowerhornhouston]

Rocks are beautiful for aquarium & safe heaven for fishes, but rocks can mess you up if you don't stack them up carefully. I don't know how high you plan to stack them up. My suggestion is that you put a clear plastic at the bottom (cut to fit the bottom glass) & fill the sand up first as the safe side incase some rocks fall down during stack up & can crack the bottom. fill water up half way (around 8"). pick the widest rocks at the bottom to the smallest at top. lean agaist the back glass & stack them up from there.

Good luck!

[Zulaab]

Very true Vicki. Some people just want to take the extra step because bleach evaps under heat.. and this is why I put it out there.

[Complexity]

Jesper, I agree that your advice is the best; however, I have never had a problem without sun drying. Or drying at all, for that matter.

I have taken rocks out of my 75g with BBA, soaked in very heavy bleach/water to kill and clean it, then dumped the rocks in heavy Prime/water to dechlorinate, and then put directly back in the tank. Not a problem.

I think it might be dependent on how porous the rocks may be.

[Zulaab]

When soaking rocks in Bleach its simple.
Soak in bleach for 24 hours.
Then Soak them for 24 hours in regular water.
Then remove rock put in sun for 24-48 days. Make sure that they are 100% dry (this is why you put them in the sun)
Once Bleach is sundried it evaps off.
Then put in tank and when you fill with water again just Prime / Amquel.
You are safe. I have never heard of anyone who has ever had a problem after this regiment. The BIG part is the sun drying. If you dont then you are going to end up with problems.