Secure rock work to tank bottom?

[mgargiullo]

I've got a haddoni anemone that is just over 14" across when it's fully open. It's currently in a 40b as when I purchased it, it was only about 5" across. It's obviously not comfortable in such a small environment as it has taken to wandering the tank. While I have come to understand I will never have nice things in the tank while it wanders, I want to keep it safe.

In the next month or so, it's moving to a 90 I'm setting up in my office. In an effort to keep it safe from falling rock, I'm attaching all the rock together. However, I have one pillar like structure that will be taller than it is wide. I'm wondering if it makes sense to silicone it to the bottom of the tank so the anemone won't knock it over and crush itself.

Good idea? Terrible idea?

I'm looking for input or other thoughts.

[zeemofree]

Originally Posted by mgargiullo

I've got a haddoni anemone that is just over 14" across when it's fully open. It's currently in a 40b as when I purchased it, it was only about 5" across. It's obviously not comfortable in such a small environment as it has taken to wandering the tank. While I have come to understand I will never have nice things in the tank while it wanders, I want to keep it safe. In the next month or so, it's moving to a 90 I'm setting up in my office. In an effort to keep it safe from falling rock, I'm attaching all the rock together. However, I have one pillar like structure that will be taller than it is wide. I'm wondering if it makes sense to silicone it to the bottom of the tank so the anemone won't knock it over and crush itself. Good idea? Terrible idea? I'm looking for input or other thoughts.

Makes sense to me

[Blue spot]

Hi mg. have you thought about drilling through your pillar and putting a rod through it. That should keep it a together .

[South City]

I think it's more about it falling over from being top heavy rather than holding it together.

I've seen aquascapes where people have attached top heavy structures to a piece of egg crate or a larger flat rock to act as a base to make them more stable. That would be my preference so that it could be easily moved if I decided that I wanted to rearrange things at a later date.

Originally Posted by Blue spot

Hi mg. have you thought about drilling through your pillar and putting a rod through it. That should keep it a together .

[PsychoticBeauty]

You can go ahead and silicone the rocks to the bottom if you like, but your going to have to wait 24 hours before you can add water. In other words, live rock won't work.

[Kevin Guthrie]

I have a Haddon's. I keep it in the anemone exile tank because you need tangs in a reef to keep the algae down, and the average lifespan of a tang in a reef with a Haddon's is pretty short. In fact, I swear they go walkabout when they sense that you have added fresh meat to the tank.

Not sure how much rock they can plow, certainly 10 lb pieces are not too heavy. If you are intent on putting the guy in your reef:
1) line the bottom of the tank with plastic window screen and put the gravel on top of that. This way if you ever have to remove the guy you are cutting plastic screen instead of risking a ripped anemone when you pry him off the glass.
2) Make your tower sturdy, then drill some thru holes near the bottom, and zip tie the structure to a big square of egg crate. Not sure what the anemone will do if it hits the egg crate but I doubt it will go under.

[D-Nak]

Originally Posted by Kevin Guthrie

Not sure how much rock they can plow, certainly 10 lb pieces are not too heavy. If you are intent on putting the guy in your reef:
1) line the bottom of the tank with plastic window screen and put the gravel on top of that. This way if you ever have to remove the guy you are cutting plastic screen instead of risking a ripped anemone when you pry him off the glass.
2) Make your tower sturdy, then drill some thru holes near the bottom, and zip tie the structure to a big square of egg crate. Not sure what the anemone will do if it hits the egg crate but I doubt it will go under.

+1. This sounds good. Best to secure the rock to eggcrate or a large piece of plexi that you can bury under the sand. With a haddoni, you'll have at least 3" of sand so it should be more than enough to keep the eggcrate/plexi on the bottom of the tank.

[Misled]

I did mine like this.

[crossguard]

All that trouble for a wall? Hmm...

[Misled]

All that trouble meant for ten years, no rocks were moved by large snails, starfish or nems crawling around the tank. Have you ever had a rock fall and create a problem. With that tank, nothing ever fell. Also, no rock touches the glass.

[crossguard]

Exactly!

It couldn't be anything other than a win 4 U...

Are you sure you haven't been Mislead though? There's always some truth to a joke

[mgargiullo]

Thanks everyone. If this guy wasn't so pretty and survived so long with me, I'd trade him in and have a nice peaceful mixed reef. The whole reason for the new tank is to give him some room and be able to keep some coral out of his reach.

I've done egg crate with him before and he plows it up, although not with 20# of rock on top, so thats a thought.

I also have a bunch of 3/8" acrylic. I could put the rock tower on a 1' x 18" piece with a rod up through the middle.

It's a 90gallon with the overflow on the back about 1' from the left side. I had planned on a large structure with caves, nooks and spaces on the left in front of the overflow and the tower on the right side with open space in between. Ideally, I'd love for him to settle in the back on the right side, but it's like herding cats... They go where they want.

I'll take some pics when I get it squared away.

Thanks for the ideas all.