How do you support your rocks?

[Tanu]

esmithii: thanx!

Personally, I won't paint the pvc: when you've just finished the construction, I'm sure you'll see some pvc here and there.. Like shadetree said: corraline algae covers this perfect.. For the rest: corals, corals, corals!!!

And: here and there a little piece or chip live rock.. I've tied little pieces of LR to one of the outlets of my sump using cable ties. The other outlet had some more space around it, so I drilled another small piece of LR and sticked it on the outlet: no outlets visible anymore!

I don't want to see anything unnatural in my tank at all, and after quite a time of doing experiments, I think I've handled: no PH's visible, only the strainer on my overflow, but I really don't know how to hide it..

I've decorated my tank using this technique about 16 months ago, and it is nearly impossible to see any pvc anywhere..

Tanu www.tanu.nl

 

[Anonymous]

Being military, I usually just go commando. Kind of getting personal aren't we?


Mine Live Rock however also goes commando. I pushed it down to where it is touching the bottom of the tank. I don't tie off rocks either I just stack them in a way in which they won't fall. Takes some fiddeling with them but that is part of the fun in my opinion.


RLTW

 

[kaotica]

i covered the bottom of the tank in eggcrate and then put my pvc shelf on top of it, i then stacked the rock around that and up on top of the pvc. hiding all the pvc is kind of a pain, but I plan to use rubble and what not to patch up the little holes that are left. I hid 2 powerheads in the shelf so they create current from the inside. All you see now is the wires comeing up from behind the rock.

this is a pic of the transfer process from the old tank to the new, I already had placed about 1" of livesand in the tank, so you can't see the eggcrate at the bottom of the tank, but you can see how I made the "shelf"

Here you see the completed project

 

[Dargason]

Several of the books I've got recommend not placing rocks right next to the back glass, in order to make maintenance easier, and to avoid scratching.

In several of the pictures, I've noticed that many people don't adhere to that rule.

I can go either way right now. What are the pros and cons of stacking the rocks against the back glass? (Or putting them very close, anyway...)

 

[kaotica]

it really a matter of 2 things-
1) waterflow - you need as much as you can get EVERYWHERE ( so by stacking against the back you limit waterflow behind the rock)
2) cleaning - when you have rock stacked on the back glass it's really hard to get to some areas to scrape algae and what not off it. eventually it should get coated, like the PVC in coralline, so to me, it boils down to personal choice - there is no real right or worng way

 

[6_line]

To all those who use the PVC support structure...you do place the rock in the center of the structure as well as the outside, right? Does the skeleton serve as a cavity to hold the rock in place? I'm trying to picture how to adequately hide this structure while creating an aesthetic appearence.
Thanks

 

[shadetree]

6-line,

I placed rock in between the top pieces of pvc as well on the outside. Here are some pics.
Before

During

After

The pvc is immediately almost invisible, before coraline or anything else even grows on it.

Scott

[ August 28, 2001: Message edited by: shadetree ]