Gimmito's 450 gal L-shaped tank
- Thread starter gimmito
- Start date
rygh
Guest
Exciting! Aquascaping the rock piles was a lot of fun.
The trick I found to getting just the look you want - use small pieces!
To be precise - use a mixture of a few big ones, and lots of small ones.
If you build it up with pieces, concreted together, you can pretty much do whatever you want.
My ideal - random 3" - 6" rubble, combined with larger flat or long-skinny pieces for overhangs, bridges,
and key structures.
Think like you are building it with legos.
And in fact, you can play around with legos first, to get a feel on how to build it.
(A great way to get kids involved!)
Unfortunately, there is a really really big downside to all that.
It will easily take 10X longer to do. But for those not in a big hurry....
As a bonus, it saves a lot of money. Rubble is lots cheaper.
The trick I found to getting just the look you want - use small pieces!
To be precise - use a mixture of a few big ones, and lots of small ones.
If you build it up with pieces, concreted together, you can pretty much do whatever you want.
My ideal - random 3" - 6" rubble, combined with larger flat or long-skinny pieces for overhangs, bridges,
and key structures.
Think like you are building it with legos.
And in fact, you can play around with legos first, to get a feel on how to build it.
(A great way to get kids involved!)
Unfortunately, there is a really really big downside to all that.
It will easily take 10X longer to do. But for those not in a big hurry....
As a bonus, it saves a lot of money. Rubble is lots cheaper.
rygh
Guest
Yes, I meant cement a lot of small pieces together to create a really large one.
Using that really fast set concrete, you can pretty much just keep building.
You connect a piece, work on another side for a few minutes, and by then
the original piece is solid enough to build on.
Other tips:
1) You can make a wooden mold to build in, that mimics the same aquarium angles and overflows.
It allows for exact shape, and hold rocks upright as they dry.
2) Build multiple medium sized pieces that abut together tightly in the aquarium to look like one bigger piece.
Single giant heavy pieces are a pain.
But all depends on the look you want.
Without Coraline on it, it does look pretty different from a single large rock.
Using that really fast set concrete, you can pretty much just keep building.
You connect a piece, work on another side for a few minutes, and by then
the original piece is solid enough to build on.
Other tips:
1) You can make a wooden mold to build in, that mimics the same aquarium angles and overflows.
It allows for exact shape, and hold rocks upright as they dry.
2) Build multiple medium sized pieces that abut together tightly in the aquarium to look like one bigger piece.
Single giant heavy pieces are a pain.
But all depends on the look you want.
Without Coraline on it, it does look pretty different from a single large rock.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
nope, cut my own rock. I don't need to pay all those stinking labor charges for them cutting 
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
used a wet saw that I had when I cut tiles for my bathroom. Pics.. of me cutting? no. of the cut rocks, I thought I posted them in your thread already.gimmito said:
jestersix
Sponsor
The cut Marco rocks are nice, but it is easy to cut id you have access to a saw - and looks like JAR has that covered! A big agreement on using the Emaco 400 and Acryl 60 to do the rock work - you can do some crazy stuff with that. If you want a really long span, the addition of some fiberglass rods make it super strong. This is a piece I finished for a cube tank project - gives an idea of what you can do.
Not sure if there is a White Cap in your area, but that is where I get my Emaco products - for your project you could get away with a 50# bag and be in good shape, and a gallon of Acryl 60 goes a long way. PM if you have any questions...
Not sure if there is a White Cap in your area, but that is where I get my Emaco products - for your project you could get away with a 50# bag and be in good shape, and a gallon of Acryl 60 goes a long way. PM if you have any questions...
gimmito
Guest
jestersix said:The cut Marco rocks are nice, but it is easy to cut id you have access to a saw - and looks like JAR has that covered! A big agreement on using the Emaco 400 and Acryl 60 to do the rock work - you can do some crazy stuff with that. If you want a really long span, the addition of some fiberglass rods make it super strong. This is a piece I finished for a cube tank project - gives an idea of what you can do.
Not sure if there is a White Cap in your area, but that is where I get my Emaco products - for your project you could get away with a 50# bag and be in good shape, and a gallon of Acryl 60 goes a long way. PM if you have any questions...
Nice rockscaping ! As I recall, Ian and Ed did similiar rock projeacts in their tanks. There is a White Cap in SSF, but I already bought Sakrete hydralic cement and fortifier. What's the price on the Emaco and Acryl 60 ? Any diffrence between te two ?
rygh
Guest
I must say I do rather like that first T shaped rock from Jestersix as well. Very intriguing.
I still have a fair bit of empty space and leftover rock.
I also remember someone else built up a antler coral like structure, and grew GSP on it.
So envisioning some crazy twisted Y shaped thing, encrusted with flowing softies.
Hmm .... Neat center piece.
Agree on the fiberglass rods. Small concrete joints alone are really not all that strong.
Fine if load is distributed among multiple joints, or all in compression, but pretty bad
for a single twisting connection.
I still have a fair bit of empty space and leftover rock.
I also remember someone else built up a antler coral like structure, and grew GSP on it.
So envisioning some crazy twisted Y shaped thing, encrusted with flowing softies.
Hmm .... Neat center piece.
Agree on the fiberglass rods. Small concrete joints alone are really not all that strong.
Fine if load is distributed among multiple joints, or all in compression, but pretty bad
for a single twisting connection.
jestersix
Sponsor
Thanks guys...
I usually buy 100# of Emaco 400 + 1 gallon of Acryl 60 and it runs about $100. I really love how this stuff cures and it makes a super strong bond - but for sure it needs some internal support on longer spans and fiberglass rods seems to be the ticket. I have made small structures and placed them in my main display 2 hours after builidng with no issues, which is a big plus - I HATE curing structures!
I have yet to realy test the limits with this stuff - I keep looking for a chance to build a really tall/long hanging span to see how far you could go with it.
I usually buy 100# of Emaco 400 + 1 gallon of Acryl 60 and it runs about $100. I really love how this stuff cures and it makes a super strong bond - but for sure it needs some internal support on longer spans and fiberglass rods seems to be the ticket. I have made small structures and placed them in my main display 2 hours after builidng with no issues, which is a big plus - I HATE curing structures!
I have yet to realy test the limits with this stuff - I keep looking for a chance to build a really tall/long hanging span to see how far you could go with it.