Contemplating aquascape change. Advice needed.

[ironman187]

Hey all, I love the look of my current aquascape layout, my fish love it too. However, when I set the tank up I cut equal lengths of 2" PVC pipe to just under my sand bed depth, and used them to prop up the rocks. This never really worked as intended and now my rockwork is falling over. In addition, I'm gearing up to dive deep into corals as a mixed reef, and I'm questioning whether the rock work is adequate for them. If you have any advice or think it looks fine, throw a comment out there.

 

[Bars]

Either securing or redoing your scape now will save you A LOT of frustration later on. I've had rocks tip over while placing corals and at best it's hugely annoying. Worst case you crack/damage the glass and/or damage your corals.

Also if you're thinking about changing it now, that feeling probably won't go away in my experience. Rescaping without corals is a whole lot easier than the other way around... Try to visualize what your tank would look like with fairly mature corals and scape accordingly.

I do like the way your tank looks. You could simply secure all unstable rocks with a reef safe putty. When I got my new tank I built the entire reef structure with aquaforest cement. I've since added a few rocks here and there which I secured with D&D epoxy. It's a very permanent solution, but I couldn't be happier doing it this way. I never have to worry about pushing just slightly too hard when gluing a coral. My shrimp/goby pair and diamond watchman goby can dig all they want as well without causing anything to tip over.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Use a safe epoxy and super glue that cures under water, or some how get the pvc out. Isn't good to have a unstable scape.

 

[HawkeyeDJ]

I'm building my rockscape outside the tank right now. I want tall rocks with a small base. To stabilize the rocks I superglued small pvc strips to the base of the rocks. They will be hidden by the substrate.