Anyone with tips for stacking rocks?

[myjohnson]

Is this the post with the dark rocks you were talking about?

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?p=374137#post374137

I don't think those rocks are the same as the ones I got.

They are the exact same ones. I'm sure of it. I help him a bunch of times getting the rocks in and out of the tank.

They don't look black/gray like yours because they have all that algae on them.

[Complexity]

No sand in the tank yet. I wasn't going to add that until after the rocks were in for the reasons you gave. The rocks need to be solid on their own without any sand.

I've been working with the rocks, and if I work with them long enough, I can find rocks that seem to interlock together. And their heavy weight seems to help keep them stable.

What I think I'll do is start with the largest rocks, and work my way smaller as the rock piles get taller. In some places, I will need to add smaller rocks to fill in gaps in between the larger rocks, but as long as I maintain a brick style pattern by covering joints between two rocks with one rock, I think I can get it to work.

I just need to work very slowly and carefully until I get it the way I want.

[Zulaab]

please DONT epoxy your rocks. They are going to stay in place once settled down. If you have rock movement later on seldom does it cause problems. Another positive is your not using round boulders therefore movement is not going to be problematic.

Now this is how I setup my rockscapes and works well.
I install the crate in my tank.
Then I put all the rocks I want to use on the living room floor and in my mind look for the size of tank I am going to want to build around.
Then I stack rocks on the carpet (if it wont stack there, then how is going to stack in your tank)
Once I have a nice stack I break it down carefully and put them in my tank.
Once everything is where I want it, I ADD SAND LAST..
Sand used to stabilize rock work, ends up being your bane of your rock work, as your cichlid ALWAYS decides to dig where things are the most UNSTABLE.

Now if sand is already in the tank.. I would recommend strongly as you place your bottom rocks you dig them DOWN into the sand.. even if they are being covered with sand in the end. Having a stable bottom works better than anything else I have found over time. :)

[Complexity]

Getting epoxy to work isn't the problem. The problem is the weight of the rocks. The rocks in the picture weigh a total of 400 pounds. Even if I only use half of them and break the design into two or 4 pieces, I'd still be looking at 50 pound pieces. I can't lift that.

[Nickintex]

http://www.aquabuys.com/page/aqb/PROD/ss_epoxy

[Complexity]

How about the use of aquarium sealant or coral glue/epoxy to get them in a configuration that you would like?

I know people have tried that with varied success. I thought of doing that, but I think the rocks would be too heavy for me to put in or take out afterwards. I can barely carry some of them just as they are. These rocks are extremely heavy. Very, very dense.

[Complexity]

Here's a sketch of the design I have in mind:

[Nickintex]

How about the use of aquarium sealant or coral glue/epoxy to get them in a configuration that you would like?

[Complexity]

These are the rocks. They look darker when wet. I tried to get some large rocks in addition to the small ones.

Largest ones:


Medium:


Small:


All of them:

[Complexity]

Is this the post with the dark rocks you were talking about?

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?p=374137#post374137

I don't think those rocks are the same as the ones I got.

[Complexity]

I'll do that, thanks for the tip.

Pics are uploading as I type. I'm overheated from moving all of the rocks so I need to cool off. I am not in good shape to be doing all this by myself.

[myjohnson]

EK have those same rocks in his tank. Made his ilangi look really dark. Still a really nice rock. You might want to do a search for EK's ilangi thread and look at some of those pictures.

[Complexity]

I know I have at least twice as many rocks as I need. I wanted to have a good variety to work with so I kept grabbing rocks.

How big is the tank? 90g, All-Glass brand.

What you plan on keeping in it? Tang cichlids

Where did you get the rocks? nepco.cc I got what they listed as magma boulders. Looking on the internet, I'd say they may be basalt. They are the same rocks jmccalip has in the tank he's selling. He has a video you can see in this thread.

So is the problem of having rocks touch the back that they'll scratch the glass? Not something like having pressure points that commonly bust the glass? I will be careful to prevent sliding and to not put too much pressure on the glass, but I wanted to know if letting them touch was commonly known for busting tanks or not.

[armthehomeless]

Depending on size, but generally I wouldn't use the back glass as support.

+1
I've seen a few too many tanks get scratched that way...

If you do do it, be certain that the rock will not slide down.

I'll admit that I have rock leaning against the back glass in all my tanks... but I'm certain that they aren't going to slide.

[myjohnson]

I got 280 pounds of rocks in my 125g. The bottom glass with plastic grill over it makes the glass really strong.

When rockscape I like to buy 2 REALLY big rocks, some medium size rocks, and a lot of small rocks. When scaping, you can lay the rocks almost any which way and it comes out looking more natural with this combo nation of rocks.

It also depends on the type of fishes you keep. The above is what I would do for a tropheus tank.

If you are keeping something else then you can apply the Gold Rule of scaping and that will produce a even more natural look.

How big is the tank?
What you plan on keeping in it?
Where did you get the rocks?