PVC for aquascaping?

Can anone post there before during and after pictures? I have done it before but am looking for some ideas for the redo im doing this week. I have decided this week is the week. The rock looks great in the tank but its not very spacious for the swimming spaces. I would like to open it up more. Can any post there unique aquascaping pics or pvc builds.

 

I've used PVC a lot in the past for aquascaping. I don't have it in my current 120g, but will be using in my 185g upgrade. Unfortunately I don't have any pics from my last tank (90g), but I can tell you what I did.

I had two basic uses of PVC...

1) The first was that I used it as a cantilevered arm to hold some nice flat shelf rock with no visible support underneath. To do this you basically make a large [ out of the PVC and rest the rock on top. The base gets secured by placing rock on top of it and the back is supported by leaning rock against it underneath.

2) I also created some stands to put rock on top of with the PVC acting as legs. These were sort of like an ottoman. This gave some nice shelves to place the rock on and even extend rock off of.

In both cases above, use cable ties to secure the rock to the PVC.

I also have seen PVC in use in the main display tank at World Wide Corals. A little different than how I did it in the past, but it looks wonderful. Basically it looks like they used the PVC to create sort of Christmas trees that act as additional support to create arches, and an airy feel. Looks absolutely wonderful.

Other notes:

- A long time ago (20 years) I had a friend who used to be the curator of the marine exhibits at Sea World. He said they used Krylon paint in all their fish displays to color up dead coral. I have used it on the PVC with no ill effects to help hide it. Though Coralline growth will also do it over time.

- You will end up using a lot of different types of PVC supports based on the shape of your rock. Just go get a bunch of either 1/2" or 3/4" (or both) depending on the size of the tank and buy a ton of elbows, 45 degree angles, T fittings, etc and improvise.

- Make sure you have a good pair of PVC cutters. Do not try to saw through the stuff. You will be making so many cuts that a cutter is a must in the interest of saving time.

- Get a drill and long masonry drill bits you don't care about so you can drill through the rock to both provide anchor points for cable ties and potentially the ability to drill a large enough hold to actually slide over the PVC.

 

some interesting ideas and links in this thread