Making shelf rock for a 23" cube tank..... need advice on aquascaping and formation..

I have a 23" cube tank that, in the coming year, I'll be converting from freshwater to reef. I'm graduating from seminary (M.Div.) and will be moving away in around 6-8 months. Perfect time to start making my DIY rock and getting it fully cured and cycled.


The tank itself will be soft coral and LPS dominated. I want to try to replicate the look of a stack of old Montipora shelfs and tabling acropora skeletons.



Anyhow, here is my basic plan. Please offer suggestions in case I'm reinventing the wheel here.


The shelves will be held in place by being stacked onto a 1" pvc pipe (maybe 2 pipes 8" apart, not sure yet). The pipes will be held in place by a large arago-crete base, just like a heavy Christmas tree stand.


The shelf-rocks will be made fairly thin (around 1/2" to 1" thick) and in random sizes and shapes (some "D" shapes, some "branching/finger" shapes, some straight branches). Each shelf-rock will have, near the edge, a slice of 1.5" diameter PVC cemented into it that will act as the "loop" that fits around the PVC pipe stack. The PVC slice will also act to help prevent the rock from cracking.



They will be stacked such that the larger, wider ones are on the bottom, and the shorter (or branching) ones are up top.


Has anyone done this before? Any tips would help.

My greatest fear is the hole in the shelf-rock that will slide over the PVC standing pipe. I fear that this spot will crack and break in time. Any suggestions, other than make that spot thicker and beefier?

 

This does sound like an interesting concept. Maybe you could try something like this instead, Nylon Thread Rod's, of the PVC?

 

The PVC will be stronger and more rigid. The nylon rods are good for when the rocks are stacked such that they "almost" support themselves, or are smaller/lighter.


These will probably be too heavy and will definitely not be able to support themselves the way I'll stack them, plus PVC is fairly cheap locally (ie no shipping).