Building Aquascapes: Glue, Mortar, Putty or Other?

[revhtree]

When building a new aquascape from dry rock you have several options for securing it together. Especially if you want to create unique structures. You may also use a combination of solutions to achieve the desired look you want for the aquascape of your dreams! Some items readily available are Super Glue, Aquascaping Mortar and Putty for the "adhesive" part. There may also be others that I am unaware of. Le's talk about today!

What is your preferred adhesive to creating unique aquascapes?

 

[dakoop]

Just stacked up. I'm a rebel

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'm going other. Acrylic rods, long masonry bit in an impact driver, CA glue into the holes, then insert the acrylic rods. It's Very secure. Can come behind and add mortar to the joints, but if you align the rock properly, there's no need.

 

[Big Smelly fish]

I just stack, only glue I use is for frags.

 

[wmb0003]

Stack it up and hope for the best

 

[afrokobe]

super glue with sand/rock dust. putty is only good when its wet and mortar is a waste of money

 

[rmorris_14]

Other..stacked

 

[SPS2020]

I use the TidalGardens method of superGlue and sand.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I drilled my rocks with masonry bits and put an acrylic rod through it and used e-marco 400. Let me do some stacks that otherwise would not have stood up, especially with the amount of flow I run.

 

[ShadowMan]

I've recently switched to using AquaForest StoneFix. Super glue for corals, AF Stone Fix for aqua scaping

 

[Bucs20fan]

I use the good ole stack and trust your placement method.

 

[1ocean]

No glue...I select flat rocks along with cave like rocks and then start being a Michealangelo of reef rocks structures, using a grinder, hammer drill, mason hammer and chisel etc and make them fit secure naturally and make them all have a flat base to stand up on the tank floor. Yes it takes time, but I can create caves, small or large holes to increase water flow/fish swim through, ledges, etc. I kinda let the rocks help decide which rocks got together and look realistic..
I am not to sure what all this glue products do/ if any to the water....Already have a fellow reefer who wants to pay me to do my thing and help him do his rock work....I do find it relaxing to do and super fun....
attached is picture of the 300 in its first build stage, it has changed since I found some new rocks and redid it some...

 

[Chrisanthellae]

I'm working on a new scape right now using Instant Ocean HoldFast epoxy. I chose it because it was the cheapest per ounce I could find lol. I'm really impressed with the strength though and I'm pretty happy with the color. I'm going to cover it with super glue and rock dust anyway. Even without the super glue I can already pick up the whole structure as one piece.

Here's what I've got so far (definitely looks better in person):

 

[Chrisanthellae]

super glue with sand/rock dust. putty is only good when its wet and mortar is a waste of money

That doesn't sound right. Putty works way better on dry rock ime. Brs also tested it.

 

[fishface NJ]

AquaForest Stone Fix...mix the mortar, stick it on and it dries quick. You would need to chisel it apart if you wanted to separate the rocks again. Works great on dry or wet rocks

 

[afrokobe]

That doesn't sound right. Putty works way better on dry rock ime. Brs also tested it.

if you looked at the comments, the first comment is

which is the method i am referring to.... the joints created by this bond will not break before the dry rock itself breaks. Mortar and putty definitely are not as strong

 

[shakacuz]

I just stack, only glue I use is for frags.

this ^.

i’ve been thinking of going the acrylic rod route for peace of mind. my electric blue leg hermit is a bulldozer

 

[DeniseAndy]

Since I tried the thin super glue and sand method, I will use that. It holds so well and can be done on live rock easily and quickly.
I have used the marco stuff, and many of the putties. None work as well and as quickly. Otherwise, I stack.

 

[MySonWantedAHamster]

Having just gone through this process, we used a combination of super glue and epoxy for most of the aquascape. At the very end we added mortar to sure up some base joints, and the mixed a combination of sand and rock dust to cover up all the joints.

We had thin, medium, and thick super glue. Glue Masters Medium in a syringe (which is still really thin) seemed to work best to get into some tight spots while still covering the outer joint. We also tried three different epoxies. For a change, the least expensive option (Instant Ocean Hold Fast) was the easiest to work with and held great after wrapping the joints. We went through a lot of epoxy...

One tip that we learned the hard way, put enough glue down when covering up the epoxied joints with the sand/rock dust. The thinner glue soaks in fast. When we first rinsed/soaked the aquascape a lot of the sand and rock dust rinsed right off, which required a second round to cover it up.

 

[Seanb1]

I used gluemaster thin and pulverized Marco rock then soaked it in ro di water a few times to test for phosphates leaching out of rock.
Worked really well.