Polymate3D
Active Member
Hello everyone
I have done marine fishkeeping for a long time but most of it was fish only aquariums, or maybe a small hermit crab or shrimp. Nothing which could move the rocks themselves, so for years I just placed them together in a form that worked and was sturdy.
Fast forward to now and I have a emerald crab and...yeah. So I got some milliput and tried to use it to bond some of my live rock together (Yes this is some old stuff I got locally). Put them together. Held them in place for a few minutes. Falls off.
So placed 2 piece on top in a way which would stay there regardless. Placed it in the aquarium. Next day lift the top rock and milliput has bonded to it, but not the base rock.
Then I got some D-D coralline coloured stuff. Tried a entire stick and didn't get a single piece to adhere. This resulted in talc releasing which I did not know was a thing and Fluval EVO + No Skimmer (refugium based) = 5 dead fish!!!
So take a few weeks away from the aquarium. Sort water quality out, big water changes, let everything settle again. Now I tried Ecotech glue to bond the rocks. Exactly the same problem. Won't adhere 2 rocks together. At this stage, I have practically given up and looking at a alternative route. The live rock is rather porous stuff and you can break it with your own hands, so its not tough to begin with. I also tried a toothbrush to clean the specific contact patches.
So am I being super silly and missing something? I obviously did with the loss of the fish and feel awful for it. It was only going through it that I discovered about this.
Do most people do this with dry rock and in a dry environment prior to using it? I though doing so inside the aquarium was okay but I'm just killing animals and losing money. I have never gone through something like that in my 16+ years of fishkeeping, and don't intend on doing it again.
Thanks for any feedback / tips / advice. I'm currently considering just designing and 3D printing my own rockwork designs, and fitting some broken up live rock inside to seed them. Original ones from last year went well.
- Paul
I have done marine fishkeeping for a long time but most of it was fish only aquariums, or maybe a small hermit crab or shrimp. Nothing which could move the rocks themselves, so for years I just placed them together in a form that worked and was sturdy.
Fast forward to now and I have a emerald crab and...yeah. So I got some milliput and tried to use it to bond some of my live rock together (Yes this is some old stuff I got locally). Put them together. Held them in place for a few minutes. Falls off.
So placed 2 piece on top in a way which would stay there regardless. Placed it in the aquarium. Next day lift the top rock and milliput has bonded to it, but not the base rock.
Then I got some D-D coralline coloured stuff. Tried a entire stick and didn't get a single piece to adhere. This resulted in talc releasing which I did not know was a thing and Fluval EVO + No Skimmer (refugium based) = 5 dead fish!!!
So take a few weeks away from the aquarium. Sort water quality out, big water changes, let everything settle again. Now I tried Ecotech glue to bond the rocks. Exactly the same problem. Won't adhere 2 rocks together. At this stage, I have practically given up and looking at a alternative route. The live rock is rather porous stuff and you can break it with your own hands, so its not tough to begin with. I also tried a toothbrush to clean the specific contact patches.
So am I being super silly and missing something? I obviously did with the loss of the fish and feel awful for it. It was only going through it that I discovered about this.
Do most people do this with dry rock and in a dry environment prior to using it? I though doing so inside the aquarium was okay but I'm just killing animals and losing money. I have never gone through something like that in my 16+ years of fishkeeping, and don't intend on doing it again.
Thanks for any feedback / tips / advice. I'm currently considering just designing and 3D printing my own rockwork designs, and fitting some broken up live rock inside to seed them. Original ones from last year went well.
- Paul
