Aquascaping help

[silverwolf]

I'm looking into doing my aquascaping so that you have basically vertical walls with rubble on the bottom raised off the bottom with eggcrate, the bottom will also have 2 sets of spraybars. I need help determining the best way to attach the rocks together to keep them stable. Also would this design have any major problems detrious being trapped behind the rocks? This will be in a 120gal tank with ~3000gal/hr closed loop and 700 gal/hr runnig threw the sump.

 

[Krish]

You want to try and keep flow going around the rocks as much as possible. I see a lot of people running into problems when stacking against the walls of their tank...Me included on my first ever saltwater setup If you get some flow up behind those rocks, then it should work out fine. I love the idea you are going with and should look really nice! About how to stack them, some people use zip ties, and strap the rocks together (sometimes you may have to drill holes in your rocks to do this), some people use acrylic rods, I've even seen people use hot glue and all kinds of stuff! Me, I'm a stacker(LOL) Just make sure if you use any type of glue, silicone etc it is not toxic...I wish you all the best

 

[silverwolf]

I'm hopping by keeping the wall very shallow maybe 1 or 2 rocks thick unlike the mass of rock stacked aginst the glass like I have seen in other tanks that I will not have a problem with water circulating threw them

 

[Krish]

I'm hopping by keeping the wall very shallow maybe 1 or 2 rocks thick unlike the mass of rock stacked aginst the glass like I have seen in other tanks that I will not have a problem with water circulating threw them

Yeah...You should be fine once you have space between the rocks for flow.

 

[silverwolf]

Does anyone know how strong the acrylic rods are? And does acrylic or the zip ties degrade in saltwater?

 

[Krish]

A lot of people use them both and they will all last and hold up. Take a look at this link below and you can see how Mike's tank (Mojoreef) was aquascaped using zip ties

http://pics.llarian.net/08-21-2004?page=2

 

[Little Luey]

Agree, you want to have flow all around the rocks, I would not put them against the walls, more like leave a couple of inches or enough space for you to clean the back wall of algie or for the smails to move back there for cleaning. These areas may acumulate uneaten food easily, so plan on a open structure rather than a wall. Caves and overhangs are good for fish to create their territories (house).

 

[Fishead77]

A lot of people use them both and they will all last and hold up. Take a look at this link below and you can see how Mike's tank (Mojoreef) was aquascaped using zip ties

http://pics.llarian.net/08-21-2004?page=2

That's pretty scarry when you can climb inside of your tank!!

 

[shallowreef]

i think its cool!