Stacking live rock with PVC

[culligan_man]

Would it be possible for me to take a masonry drill bit and drill a hole in the live rock where I want to join it with another piece and then slip a small PVC pipe in between them? Is there a better way?

[bellis31]

I think most people use fiberglass rods for that. Not sure where they get them though.

[Recliner]

I did this. No issues at all and love what you can do with your aqua scape when you use the PVC to add the frame so you're not depending on just stacking

[culligan_man]

never seen fiberglass rods to my knowledge. just had a thought of using pvc bolts lowes sells them in contractor pack up to like 5 inches could cut the head off of them and use them but I don't know if they are made with any chemicals I wouldn't want in my tank

[bellis31]

If they are made of PVC then they should be fine..

[KRBNSOL]

I created a column using PVC without any tank issues. The acrylic rods can be smaller in diameter and may be less visible depending on how you stack. The masonry bit (depending on the rock) should get thru it fairly easily.

[gone fishin]

I used those driveway reflectors. They are pretty cheap.

[Fizz71]

I purchased acrylic rods from usplastic.com. I've heard of people using the driveway reflector rods like gone fishin mentioned as well but haven't had the need since I found out about them so I've never tried it.

I used PVC a long time ago and it worked, but there are issues.... If you seal them without filling them there is a lot of trapped air and they float. You can seal them filled so they sink better but if they every break it better be something reef safe you filled them with. If you DON'T seal them or if they break you will have a lot of dead space and that can be bad if it gets disturbed later on.

Stick with solid rods of acrylic or fiberglass.

Also...I've actually seen people zip tie rocks too. I had bought LR from a reefer getting out that zip tied 3 pieces of rock together that formed a very solid large base out of 3 medium size rocks. Not sure I'd do it myself, but I figured I mention it since it is viable.

[acidflea]

anyone have pictures of how you used pvc or rods for this purpose?

[Cozwey]

Ok if you look at the rock structure on the front left of my tank you will see how it looks after it is done. I simply used a masonry bit to drill holes in the rocks and then cut the afore mentioned driveway rod from Home Depot into a 2-3' length. I slid the rod in the bottom rock and then used a small bit of aquarium 2 part poxy and then stuck the top rock on. Works like a charm. I use it all over when I am securing bigger rocks higher up.

[culligan_man]

ended up after all suggestions getting a small masonry bit and some long plastic bolts. proceeded to cut the heads off the bolts and put some aquarium safe sealant on them and dropped one end in the hole on one side and shoved the hole on the other piece on top. it looks like a charm and is invisible when put together.

[RickyRicardo]

I drilled holes in the PVC and used tie wraps to secure them. You need to play with your rocks a bit though

Building:



Final:

[Fizz71]

One thing I forgot to mention...it sounds like you have your plan but in-case others search their way...here I actually built a whole structure from my acrylic rods by connecting them to CPVC Ts and 90s. So I had a frame that sat in the tank with 8 rods coming either straight up or at an angle--then I drilled the rock and slid it on...no glue, although I did use coral putty.

The only downside is if you looked real close you could see the rods in the gaps between some of the rocks.

I did this because I had to stack the rocks very narrow to have room on both sides of a peninsula setup:


You can guess where I used it if you look close:

..but it's hard to tell.

FYI..I'm not using it anymore because I have much less rock in the display now, it's all in the 100g sump in the basement instead. More room for corals.