Aquascaping? To glue or not to glue..

Hi!

I have 60 pounds of base rock in my tank and I am about to add another 50. I havn't officially set my rock up the way I want them. Do most people just stack the rock? I have read a few threads about gluing and adding rods... I think that drilling the rocks for rods may be a bit too challenging for me (but I have the rods), but maybe if I just glued?

I want to make interesting structures but am afraid of things falling over.

Should I just stack or do a lot of people use glue, too? I was thinking of gluing the base layer, and then stacking the top. And I have heard not to stack against the glass.. but every fish store I go into has the rock against the glass!

What do you all do with your tanks? How do you recommend I go about this? (My tank is full of water, 110 gallons, I am planning on draining 35 gallons of water before I rearrange the rock.)

Thanks in advance!
~Pepper

 

when i first started i just stacked my rocks and were never satisfied with it and tried to drill and glue them together but it is a lot of work.
i decided to use a hydraulic cement to piece every rock together. it dries very fast and sets 2-3 mins so you have to work very fast. it has to be cured for at least 2 hours but placed them in my tank right away and everything is fine. one thing to look out for is diatom bloom because of increased silica in your water column because of the cement. mine did not cause diatoms, so i was lucky i guess.
one thing to remember tho, once you glue them, you cannot change things up from then on. so make sure you like the rock placements before gluing or cementing.
happy reefing

 

glueing, or drilling the rocks and adding acrylic rods only adds to what you can do with your imagination. you can do so much more with it. some really awesome minimalist aquascapes are done with acrylic rods.

 

You could try some coral epoxy to help hold the rock together a little better as well.

 

EPO-PUTTY! Works wonderful under water! I just made a bunch of balls, slightly smaller the a golf ball size. Lifted the rock I wanted to stay put, stuck the ball of putty under it an set it down. That rock does not move!

 

I have never used epoxy or glue,or rods in 8yrs because if and when I upgrade tanks I just take out piece by piece.Also if you dont like a coral that is over running a rock you can just swap it with some one else alot easier if it is not glued down