My new 120 upgrade

[Krish]

I wonder if people epoxy the dowels in? guess I'll have to ask Mojo

Yeah...He'd probably know seeing he used all the techniques or Nikki.

 

[mattseattle]

yeah, that is where i learned it from! i didn't see anything about epoxy though.

 

[szidls]

You shouldn't need to epoxy the dowel in the rock Matt. Just tap it in with a hammer. And yes be ready to break some rock while drilling. Use a spade bit and take your time.
Scott

 

[Scooterman]

Ever thought about using ty wraps on egg crate to make caves etc? I saw this a few times where they made a box like crate & ty wrapped the rocks to it, I once made a PVC bridge for rocks worked well, the center was left open while the outside was covered with rocks, was cool!

 

[mattseattle]

hmmm - sounds like a good idea. i have a few rocks that have caves like holes in them already and was going to use them to create a cave. aquascaping a real tank (unlike my 55 gallon) is going to be a lot of fun.

thanks scott. i'll go buy a 1/2 spade drill bit.

 

[fishermann]

Why not a masonry bit to drill rock??

 

[mattseattle]

good question - i don't know....anyone anyone?

 

[jesshimom]

Well Scott used a spade bit to drill his rock... the pukani is quite soft rock and he had no problems.... They also used a spade bit on Mike's rock when they were reaquascaping his tank a while back. You will also used a
1/4" bit to drill for zip ties too.

 

[mattseattle]

great - more tools i gotta buy!

 

[Maxx]

I just used a masonry bit on my rock and had no issues other than not being able to really effectively drill my one piece of lava rock.

I also didnt do anything to the acrylic rods I used to attach several of my rocks together. I just inserted several of them from different angles and they held just fine. Now all covered in coralline and other things, unless I point them out, very few people see them.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Some ideas for to help you out with acrylic rod aquascaping....

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=728472&perpage=25&pagenumber=22

Travis used epoxy to help his aquascaping. My experiance with the epoxy and the acrylic rods was less positive...it kept falling off and annoying the crap out of me. So I quit using it.

Nick

 

[mattseattle]

Nick - thanks for that link! That is a great thread and definitely helped me. He definitely had the supplies! I like the 3 island approach he took.

 

[mattseattle]

Ok, well I received my Lumenarc's Mini's from Pacific Garden this week. I haven't fired them up yet but so far they look pretty amazing. It's weird what we pay for a bunch of bent reflective metal.

 

[bc_slc]

how much did you pay for them and do you have a resource website for the light output/reflection of the minis vs the regular luminarcs?

 

[plack]

how tall are the mini's ?

 

[mattseattle]

here are the dimensions - 14.5"W x 14.5"H x 6.5"H

as far as pricing they were 129.00 before i added the glass option.

as far as a comparison between the minis and the regular i don't think sanjay or anyone has performed a study on them. not that i found anyway. i went with the mini's because the regular ones would not fit in my canopy.

 

[Scooterman]

Thanks for the information Matt, they look like they will preform very well, I know you'll be happy.

 

[mattseattle]

yeah, I think so.... I'm working on placement in the canopy now.

 

[Krish]

Nice Matt!! I love those reflectors!

 

[mattseattle]

sexy, aren't they? i still have the protective plastic on the reflector and don't have the glass installed. i'll probably fire them up tonight after i find someone to help me lift the canopy up and onto the tank.