Gluing acryllic rods to back of tank for live rock affixations

[ilikefish69]

So, idea out of nowhere. I ordered some acryllic rods to drill into my base rock to lift them up off the sand bed and for more overall stability. The acryllic rods are 1" in diameter, pretty freakin heavy duty. I had the thought... what if I cut one of the rods to be 3-4" in length, then drilled a 1" hole into a piece of live rock. Glue the rod on the back of the tank, and affix live rock to it so it's hanging off the back of the tank's glass.

What are the reefers recommendations on this? Good, bad, ugly?

 

[Gtinnel]

My guess is you will have a hard time attaching the rods to the glass strongly enough to stay attached. I have tried attaching just frag plus to my glass and they always fall off eventually, and that’s without the weight of rockwork on it.
If you do find something that holds the rod to the glass please post it on here, so I can get some.

 

[ilikefish69]

My guess is you will have a hard time attaching the rods to the glass strongly enough to stay attached. I have tried attaching just frag plus to my glass and the my always fall off eventually, and that’s without the weight of rockwork on it.
If you do find something that holds the rod to the glass please post it on here, so I can get some.

Yes this is what I was afraid of. I was thinking the weight of the rock wouldn't be too bad in salt water (dead sea, people float without trying) but who knows? The tank has water in it, so I'd have to drain it to the level I'd want to attach them and then glue and let it set before filling it back up.

 

[fishface NJ]

Do you really want your side glass to be holding the weight of rocks and corals?

 

[Gtinnel]

Yes this is what I was afraid of. I was thinking the weight of the rock wouldn't be too bad in salt water (dead sea, people float without trying) but who knows? The tank has water in it, so I'd have to drain it to the level I'd want to attach them and then glue and let it set before filling it back up.

What type of glue were you planning on using? When I tried mounting frag plugs to my glass I used a combination of superglue and epoxy putty, which I did with water in the tank (both are okay to use in water). They would stay for a week or two and then fall, and that was with basically no weight on them.

I suspect you won’t be able to get your idea to work l, but I think it would look great if you do find a way to make it work.

 

[bnord]

I have used an acrylic sheet smaller than the back the tank with small acrylic legs hidden in the sand for support (even have a magnet cutout for additional stability, them drilled holes in the sheet to hold the rods you are shooting for
Will try to find the picture, but the tank has been in place for 2 years like this

 

[ilikefish69]

I am gonna test it out on a small 20g, with a heavy rock and small rod. I was planning on using reef glue from BRS. Is super glue aquarium safe? I feel like with a 1" diameter there is a ton of surface area I can glue and connect to the glass.

The tank is on a stand and has a support around the bottom and the top. But I am.... rethinking.... whether this would work. What if I used lil' baby rocks, and also had some rock leaning against it from the middle of the tank? This would essentially offset the glass being pulled, as it would be pushing back against the rock pulling the glass?

 

[ilikefish69]

I have used an acrylic sheet smaller than the back the tank with small acrylic legs hidden in the sand for support (even have a magnet cutout for additional stability, them drilled holes in the sheet to hold the rods you are shooting for
Will try to find the picture, but the tank has been in place for 2 years like this

So you have an acryllic sheet the rods are attached to? I would love to see pics of this. Sounds awesome

 

[bnord]

So you have an acryllic sheet the rods are attached to? I would love to see pics of this. Sounds awesome

right, and the base of the sheet has legs that come out into the sand for stability

 

[Dburr1014]

So, idea out of nowhere. I ordered some acryllic rods to drill into my base rock to lift them up off the sand bed and for more overall stability. The acryllic rods are 1" in diameter, pretty freakin heavy duty. I had the thought... what if I cut one of the rods to be 3-4" in length, then drilled a 1" hole into a piece of live rock. Glue the rod on the back of the tank, and affix live rock to it so it's hanging off the back of the tank's glass.

What are the reefers recommendations on this? Good, bad, ugly?

I wouldn't want the weight on the glass like that but you could rest it against the back glass from the plug. Plugs under and on back.

There was a thread of someone who did the whole floating rock thing of a peninsula tank. I'll look for it.

Edit: Thread 'My floating tonga aquascape.' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-floating-tonga-aquascape.887488/