Anyone with tips for stacking rocks?

[Complexity]

After they soaked in bleach water, I removed them, rinsed them very well with the garden hose sprayer, and then soaked them water with a high concentration of Prime to dechlorinate them.

When I get them in my tank (before adding the sand), I will flush them again with water, syphon that off, and then flush them again with water with Prime added.

After I put the sand in the tank, I'm thinking I'll use the python to move the sand into the nooks and crannies. Once that settles, I'll do another water change, using Prime.

By that time, the rocks should be in good shape for me to add water, Prime, and then I can add my first fish (keeping in mind that I'll be jump starting this tank with lots of used media). I'll also use this tank as a holding tank for my plants as I rescape my 75g. The plants will not only help with adding bacteria, but it should help the tank cycle without large spikes in ammonia or nitrites. I'll keep a very close eye on the cycling process, making water changes as needed since I intend to stock the tank right away.

I should note that the plants won't be in the tank long nor will they ever be planted in the tank. They'll be there for just a day or two. But they should still help with the cycling process nonetheless.

[DUHK]

Hey complexity, I know you soaked your rocks in bleach water but after you took it out did you just rinse them and let them dry? I want to be safe cause I'm scared the chemicals in the bleach might mess up the tank water

[Complexity]

I'm sorry to hear that. But, yeah, no returns or exchanges.

Hopefully, you can get the rocks you want sometime soon.

[DUHK]

I found out I couldn't exchange the rocks I had for bigger ones. The one's I had were too small to look nice in an iwagumi set up. :\

[DUHK]

Will do! Thanks!

[Complexity]

Best of luck on your rock hunting tomorrow. Show us pics of what you find!

[DUHK]

Actually I'm going back tomorrow! The rocks there are beautiful, I just didn't know which size would work. It's easy to visualize what you want, but when you are actually at the yard it isn't easy at all. But now that I know, I hopefully will get it together tomorrow. :)

Thanks for the suggestion!

If anyone else is interested in an iwagumi set up and need help, I got some good advice here: http://www.aquatic-eden.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

Hope that helps someone!

[Complexity]

Sorry you didn't find the rocks you were wanting. I know that feeling.

Did you ask when they'd be getting more? Or maybe there's another rock yard that will have what you want?

Good luck in finding them. It seems like something as simple as rocks would be easy to find, but it's actually very difficult!

[DUHK]

I went to nepco today to buy some rocks :) I bought a couple of zebra rocks but I wasn't sure how to do the layout. I wanted an iwagumi but the rocks didn't really satisfy me :\ They all look really nice but I just didn't find the right size rocks I guess.

Nice place though!

[Complexity]

Yeah, I got it on Friday. Fish Ranch II got it in for me.

I'm excited too, but right now, I'm so exhausted, it's hard to feel the excitement.

I let the rocks soak in bleach water overnight. Cleaned and dechlorinated them this morning, set to dry. They're ready to come inside the house now. I'm going to follow Jesper's suggestion of bringing the rocks into my living room to figure out how to stack them. Then it'll just be a matter of tearing it down and putting it back together inside the tank.

I got the 29g tank moved. One of the filters had leaked, and the carpet underneath is a mess. I'm trying to decide on whether I should work hard to clean it up before putting my 90g in place or not. If I try to clean it, I'll have to wait for the carpet to dry before setting up my 90g which might set me back. It's what I should do, but my body is already aching so I might be lazy on this one.

Excluding the carpet, I'm ready to move the stand in place and put the tank on it! The problem is my husband isn't being of much help. He's thinking he can help me move it tomorrow evening. Ugh. More setbacks on my time.

Once all this heavy work is done, then the real fun will begin! I can't wait to get it up and running with fish in it.

[Mzungu]

Hooray! I'm so happy you FINALLY got your tank!! :)

I'm excited to see the progress. You'd better take lots of pictures! From empty to full.

[myjohnson]

not these rocks.....

[PhishPhreek]

You can always drill a hole in the rocks and incert a pin to keep them alligned & stable.

[Complexity]

I don't know how well I'll be able to hold true to the sketch. The biggest problem is stacking the rocks that high while still keeping them stable. I just measured the stack I've been playing with, and it's still one row of rocks too low and the base of the stack is as wide as I can make it (it's probably wider than I want already). If I make the base wider, then I won't have the space to add the rocks in front that creates a design. This is going to be quite a challenge!

I need to move the 29g so I can put the new stand in its place, but it's too heavy for me to do alone, and my husband is saying his back hurts. I really don't want to have to do a complete tear down of that tank! But I may have to. :(

So the plan is:

Move the 29g.
Get the 90g stand in place.
Clean rocks.
Put 90g tank in place.
Stack the rocks.
Add sand.

And then I'll be in good shape! As soon as my new filters arrive, I can swap out media to seed the new tank with bacteria. I hope to have fish in the tank soon after that, depending on the cycling.

I may have to add an extra day in my plans since I can't move the 29g tonight without help, but that's okay. I'm still in good shape towards my goal of having all the tanks in good order in the next two weeks before the Fall semester at UofH starts.

[myjohnson]

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

I was thinking the same thing. Use the big ones for the main pile on each side. Surround them with the medium size ones and surround that with the smaller rocks.

From looking at the rocks you collected, I think it's going to be a bad@$$ looking rocksacpe.