how to stack live rock?

well, now that I put my new rock in the question comes back?
How do I stack my rock best?
Maybe somebody could give some good advise on that, because it really seams tricky.

I red a lot about it, here's what I got so far:

* No leaning rock on glass
* Try to touch the sand as little as possible
* Don't stack "solid", leave a lot of room between the rocks

well, that sounds quite easy but seams almost impossible for me to make a nice "wall" like that.

 

The advice that I got was to stack the rock on its pivot points. My natural instinct (being a guy that had buit a stone wall once before) was to build a wall with the rock. But, after talking to my LFS about this, they showed me how to balance/stack the rock on the pivot points. This took awhile to get the hang of it - I think I re-built my aquascaped about 20 times before I got the design I liked. I layed it out on thr floor next to the tank to get a rough idea on what it would look and feel (you need to apply downward pressure on the structure to make sure it can stand up to the crabs etc). I think aquascaping is an art in itself!

 

You probably can't explain that part about the "stack/balance on the pivot points", right? That's probably one of those things that you have to see.
Maybe somebody should make a movie about this

 

think of a box. The corners are the "pivot points."
you know that the rock will move on those points. Another idea is to drill into the rock and use PVC / plastic rods to connect them yet be hidden.

 

I notice lots of spaces between stacked rock is beneficial for fishes. You can do as much of this only if the rocks are oblong/flat and big pieces. Small pieces tend to pack. IMO.

 

Crutkas explained it well. It's not easy to build the "structure". You can even use under water curing epoxy to cement the rock. If you decide on an expoxy compound - I suggest buying it from the LFS or some other marine fish supply dealer.

 

Another idea is to use long wire ties to hold the stuff together. They may be a bit unsightly at first, but will quickly become covered in coralline and disappear!

I bought a bag of them about a month ago...too bad I haven't used them yet! I got the idea from the Dallas World Aquarium. I got a lot of odd looks from people who were wondering why I was looking behind the rocks and not at what was growing on them! ;D

 

But what do you do if you need to take it apart? I've been breaking mine down some so I can remove excess coral, especially star polyps and mushrooms. They've already grown back and I need to take some of the rock out again to clean it up. My LFS has been benefiting from this.

Cindy

 

That is why I like the idea of the rods. you have a small hole in yoru rock ... yes but it should blend decently in.

 

I gotcha! Mine is all live rock so i'm not going to be able to lay it out on the floor--can I? What do you use for rods and what size? how deep is the hole that you drill for the rod?

Cindy