+Dogfish Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 Drove down to the truck terminal and got my pallet of Marco Rock. Looks good. Large pieces about 16" to 18" long. Really no rubble but what came off while it was in transit. A bit heavier than Pukani but not by much. Tons of holes. Will be great for aquascaping. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 i love watching this come together... but man i just wanna see water in it already!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Me too. This is killing me, having to wait and wait and wait. Now the bloody rock has to cure. I will have the tank inside next year for sure. Got the heaters cranked out in the garage. The overflow box welded to the tank should be cured soon. Going to set up my QT tanks out in the garage. Once that rock is in I'm going to be more than ready to have something that moves in that tank. Might go out and pressure wash the rock even if it is freezing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Power washed some rock. Its cold outside when wet. Put 1 piece in a bucket of RODI water. Tested after 4 hours. No phosphate yet. Anyone know who would stock Dr Tims or some other bacteria in S. Austin. Petco? Since its live i'm sure a freeze in transit would not do it good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted January 4, 2018 Author Share Posted January 4, 2018 I need some feedback ideas for rock work. I took it out of the barrels to pressure wash and decided to stack a few pieces up. Sort of how I want it to look. Here are 3 views. The tall section is going near the back corner. 3 power heads will move water thru openings in the rock work. Any suggestions? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Greef Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 18 hours ago, Dogfish said: I need some feedback ideas for rock work. I took it out of the barrels to pressure wash and decided to stack a few pieces up. Sort of how I want it to look. Here are 3 views. The tall section is going near the back corner. 3 power heads will move water thru openings in the rock work. Any suggestions? Looks nice. If you have a drill and time, Id recommend drilling a few holes and using some pvc/rods/tons of superglue to connect some of the stacked pieces. It can save you a big avalanche headache down the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 Rock: I will build some stuff out of pvc to hold the rock off the bottom of the tank, and drill some holes for pvc pipe to hold pieces together. I will also hollow out the back and bottom of some the rock to make it lighter. (my back is killing me, or I'm killing it). I want to make some straight holes thru some of the rock for looks.(tube worm like). Tank: With the help of a few buddies and a few breakfast taco's we got the thing in the wall. Hard to see the tank without something covering the back sides. That the wife's project. Will have to get the MP60's in place first so she knows where to cut the holes. I need to work on the trim border while the rock is soaking. I will make sure it covers the sand depth. I never thought the green and brown sand was attractive against the glass. I plan on making it re-moveable for cleaning with a magnet. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 That's looking very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Me likey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Ooooooooh! AHHHHHH!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BobcatReefer Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Also, my suggestion on the scape would be to go higher on at least one of the front 2 islands, and/or add some bridges and overhangs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 25 minutes ago, BobcatReefer said: Also, my suggestion on the scape would be to go higher on at least one of the front 2 islands, and/or add some bridges and overhangs. That's a great suggestion......... I re-worked the scape a bit. Added height to both front pieces. Too dark outside to really get the feel of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Amazing! I’m with isaac now....fill that baby up! It’s been great to see this come together. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Looking good! (post the pictures from your Kessil thread, it's easier to see how it will look.) +1 on more arches/bridges and I would have one tower, either one of the islands or the main structure go all the way to the surface. It looks great just the way you have it but fish feel more secure having places with overhead protection so the more I can work in without getting to "busy" I'll do. They still have the fear of predators attacking from the top and when spooke I see a lot of fish scoot under overhangs but they are still curious and will start looking around so they're not out of sight or fighting for a few hiding spots. Looking at my tanks with a tower going all the way to the surface seems to accentuate how tall a tank is better than a rock wall, kinda the same way a channel going all the way to the back accentuates the depth/width of a tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Dang! That's looking amazing!Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Wow is all I can say and I can’t wait for you to fill this thing upSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 I spent today drilling holes for the pvc supports connecting any unstable rock. That 1/2 inch drill didn't break my wrist this time. Most of those 30lb pieces are not going anywhere even when underwater. Got all the jigsaw pieces in the tubs. Will start soaking them tomorrow. I had one problem. The overhang supported by the pvc in the picture (white arrow) is not very secure after removing the support. With a piece of pvc between the rocks its still sketchy. I had to put another rock bridge on top of it (other white arrow)to be sure it wont fall. How good is that reef putty stuff? Will it cement both pieces together if i put a big glob between them or does it have to be spread by hand? I also moved the 2 pieces apart (pink arrow) and made a longer bridge between them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BobcatReefer Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 If you need the bond to help hold/suspend that overhang, it needs to be superglue, not epoxy. If the need is just to stabilize, epoxy will be fine. As far as a glob vs hand spreading, a bit of both. Squish up a bigger ball than you think is appropriate and put it where you think the contact point is, place the top rock on and then spread as desired. Diggin' the scape v.2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 58 minutes ago, BobcatReefer said: If you need the bond to help hold/suspend that overhang, it needs to be superglue, not epoxy. If the need is just to stabilize, epoxy will be fine. As far as a glob vs hand spreading, a bit of both. Squish up a bigger ball than you think is appropriate and put it where you think the contact point is, place the top rock on and then spread as desired. Diggin' the scape v.2! The rock ledge is fairly stable. The contact area between the 2 pieces is about 8 x 6. I need some piece of mind. The rock going to be cycled before going in the tank. Its big and heavy and I can only fit 1 piece at a time thru the top holes. So what would you recommend to use on wet rock? How long to let it dry before adding water? Hours maybe? Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BobcatReefer Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Either should work on wet rock. Both work/cure underwater, so you shouldn't have to wait at all. The big difference is the final bond - if you use epoxy you'll be able to tear it apart later, but superglue is about as permanent as it gets. You don't really have a 6x8 contact point, you have multiple contact points w/i that 6x8 area. Find the actual 3 or 4 spots where the rock is going to meet and put the balls of epoxy there, then just do your best to get it on target and smoothed in and out of sight. I'll say again to use more than you think you should - it just doesn't go very far, and so much gets smooshed back into the rock. You can always scrape off excess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted January 9, 2018 Author Share Posted January 9, 2018 Next issue... I did not think this one out to the end. So I need to fill my tank with salt water. At least 300 gallons for starters. I am cycling the rock now. I cant use the 2ea 100 gallon tubs I borrowed to mix and store the water because my rock is in them. How do I do this? Besides buying a bunch of 55 gallon trash cans to mix and store it, are there other solutions? I was thinking of putting maybe 200 gallons of RO/DI water in the tank and then mixing the salt in the tank. Will I end up with a bunch of undissolved solids that are bad in the tank? I could then add the rock work. Maybe baste the rock to keep it wet while the rest is being made. Then add the sand thru a piece of pvc pipe. Any flaws in my old used brain's logic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 When I start new tanks I always put my sand in first then add RO/DI and mix the salt in there. Never had any issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BobcatReefer Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 I put in rock first to build the scape solid, then sand, then water. You could use some newspaper and basting to keep it wet. I wouldn't worry a whole lot about it, because you're still going to have cycling time in the tank anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 While the rock is out of the water and not cured, I’d drill a bunch of holes in it for frag plugs for corals. A lot easier to move corals around to different rocks, light, flow if you have spots already pre-drilled. But looking awesome none the less. That overflow is huge. Bigger than some peoples displays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 The rock has been soaking for a little over a week now. No PO4 , that I like. The cycle has started. I used bacteria, a jumbo raw shrimp and some ammonia. Starting to show some nitrate and nitrite. Here is a picture of when i was starting it off. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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