DIY rock formations.

Well i have been doing some research about the DIY aquascaping. I have looked into several methods and want to hear some ideas on what would work better.

First choice is aragocrete, i know its been discussed on the forums and i like the idea of the high mold ability, strength and natural look. The only down side is the high cycle time which i guess is standard with any type of rock so that is thrown out the window anyways.

Second is a DIY setup i seen on Marcorocks.com, he uses plaster and an adhesive to mold rocks together to form rock walls and other forms. Now is the plaster strong enough to support something like say an arch, or ledges and caves. I would use some smaller rock sizes like say 5-7", and some rubble to fill in the larger areas. I would also use several uprights of PVC, elbows and t-fittings to make a stable structure to plaster the rubble and rocks to.

The last option is the same as the last except with dental plaster or some type of craft plaster (water proof of course). I know other plasters are more rigid than the stuff marco uses so i am looking for some suggestions here.

The reason i ask is because we are getting the new light setup and we are bored with the simple center structure we have. So i want to use some of the pieces we have and get some new rock to do the entire structure,a nd use the larger pieces we have in the lion fish tank.

Now we dont have much as far as an established reef goes, mostly some mushrooms, some sea whips and a condy and some zoa's. we only have a few fish so i will set them up in the lion tank with a divider to keep them safe for the swap.

For the design im going for something that goes up high in the back with caves and being something like 10-13" across the bottom tapering up to about 3" towards the top, our tank is tall and narrow (20x20x32) so this is the big issue for the structure being so strange.

Thanks for any input.

 

Check this build thread out. This is by far the most amazing rockscaping I've seen.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/biocube-65-g-underwater-sculptures-76259.html