My "deli sliced" Reef Cleaners rock scape :)

Hello to All!

This thread is an extension of my current tank upgrade project but I wanted to list it under the Reef Cleaners forum area since I have become an official member of the Reef Cleaners rock fan club!

I recently ordered a bunch of rock from John and in true form he was extremely accommodating in meeting my request for certain sizes and shapes of rock. This was my first rock order ever and the upon initial inspection when it arrived, (much to the great curiosity of my co-workers...."you ordered ROCK online?".....) the rock went way beyond my expectations.

Wanting to do something a little different with my rock scape in the new 50g I am working on, I took the rock to a local stone and granite supplier who cut it for me on a commercial wet saw. When I shared the initial pics with John, he referred to it as deli sliced rock and the name has stuck with me

The attached pics are proof positive that Reef Cleaners rock not only looks awesome on the outside but on the INSIDE too!

 

you are the best!

i think this is the first new idea in aquascaping I have heard about in a while, should come out nice. Take your time with it, but don't forget us when it is time to update.

 

My plan was to come up with something that took advantage of the vertical space in the tank, thus leaving a lot more open sand bed free for goodies, while giving me a lot of great shelf space for corals above - especially future SPS corals.

Most of you who have read any of my project threads know that my workshop is my livingroom floor. This time was no different. After a week or so of tiptoeing through rocks, it was time to get busy.

I bought a piece of MDO board from Home Depot and had the guy cut it to the same size as the tank so I had a good solid flat surface to work on. I raised that up on a couple of HD buckets so it was closer to eye level as I sat on the floor to work. Other tools I had handy were a hammer, a small chisel, a brush and dustpan and one of those pressurized air cans.

and so i started stacking my deli sliced rock.....

 

Very nice!

 

Awesome idea and layout

 

Impressive! That a pretty ingenious idea. If you don't mind me asking...How much did the cost of cutting add to the price/pound?

 

I used the Marineland Hold Fast epoxy sticks to glue the rocks together when I had something placed where I wanted it to be.

Using sliced rock really allows you to create some nice cantilevers with the rock, which I am hoping will also promote good flow through and around the rocks and corals that will be placed on them. You can make all kinds of caves and nifty places for fish to swim as well....

So here are some of the "close to finished" pics of what the main rock structure will look like. I have a lot of finessing to do with it now like apply rubble pieces (of which I have a LOT of from chiseling some of the rocks into smaller chunks.

I am going with 2-3 inches of sand so the rocks you see in contact with the MDO board are absolutely flat and "rock solid" as far as bases. I also wanted to take my diggers and burrowers into consideration so elevating the first shelf of rock on smaller base rocks will give them good places to dig and make homes without causing any rock slides. My bulldozer critters will not be able to push anything over either!

I also ordered some barnacle clusters from John as well. If you are considering some, GET THEM.....John's prices for the cluster sizes you get are amazing and the color and textures are really cool. I am hoping some future fish and pods etc enjoy hiding in them

So there you have it - my deli sliced rock scape! I have some other nifty ideas I plan to include in the final design once it is placed in the tank. I will keep you posted....

Thanks John!

 

a local place cut it for me, i was charged about 30 bucks for about 50 - 60 pounds of rock (he basically charged me for 1/2 hour of his time - per slice on a small job would average about 2 bucks a slice.....just ask your local stone or tile supplier. Places that do granite countertops might be another good resource as would a local mason. I will say this much : this gives you unlimited options and it can really stretch your rock a long ways, i have plenty left over for other projects or if i want to add or change anything as the new tank develops and matures.

I HIGHLY recommend this!!!

 

hah! I appreciate all the kind words about our product but that is some amazing creativity you have there.

 

this is too cool 8)

is there a build thread yet ?