Wet Aquascaping

[Bluemonk]

So i started my tank earlier than expected due to a shipment of tampa bay rock arriving. So now my sand is bunched into one side of tank and the rock is on the other side. Since the cycle is coming to a close and there is a bunch of hitchhikers in there i have to do my rock arrangment underwater.

My question is if i arrange everything can i use
Just superglue to hold it all together? Will it be strong enough without epoxy? Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Both super glue and putty can barely hold frags in place, I wouldn't trust it to try to hold rocks together.

 

[BryanM]

I did not secure any of my rock.. I know this bucks the trend/advice, but several of my rocks must weigh 20 pounds or more. There's no way if I needed to I could life 3-4 of these rocks out of the tank.

I carefully leaned some of them on the back glass, then placed some on the sand in front of that, and then started building up. I fiddled with things until they felt solid, and I haven't had any issues yet.

 

[BryanM]

 

[ScottF]

I did not secure any of my rock.. I know this bucks the trend/advice, but several of my rocks must weigh 20 pounds or more. There's no way if I needed to I could life 3-4 of these rocks out of the tank.

I carefully leaned some of them on the back glass, then placed some on the sand in front of that, and then started building up. I fiddled with things until they felt solid, and I haven't had any issues yet.

This is very old school. How we did it twenty years ago. These days I prefer to get a little more fancy in my aquascape design.

I did have a mini rock slide once it the tank that I had up from 2008-2016. It resulted in a dead harlequin shrimp.

 

[ScottF]

So i started my tank earlier than expected due to a shipment of tampa bay rock arriving. So now my sand is bunched into one side of tank and the rock is on the other side. Since the cycle is coming to a close and there is a bunch of hitchhikers in there i have to do my rock arrangment underwater.

My question is if i arrange everything can i use
Just superglue to hold it all together? Will it be strong enough without epoxy? Any tips would be appreciated.

This may work if you are just stacking the rocks on top of each other, but I wouldn't trust it for anything load bearing.

I used a mix of wet and dry rock in one of my tanks and it was in interesting experience. I didn't want to keep the wet rock out of the water for too long. So I couldn't get super fancy with it.

You can use MarcoRock Power and thin superglue to make instant bonds. I would hold the rocks together, sprinkle a little MR Powder between them, squirt a little glue on the powder, sprinkle more powder, spray more glue.

I would reinforce this with a little Two Little Fishes Aquastick reef epoxy in load bearing seams. Then I would layer a little MR Powder and glue on top of the epoxy to hide it. You end up with white sandy patches, but they darken up after a month or two in the tank. Eventually you can't tell the differences between the powder and the rock.

The MR Powder can be purchased at marcorocks.com. Just be careful if you do this. There is an exothermic reaction between the powder and the glue. You don't want to accidentally get some glue on your fingers and cover it in powder. I wear dishwashing gloves to do this and I've had to quickly take them off because it started burning my finger.

 

[Fish Fan]

Another vote for just stack it like a Neanderthal

 

[ScottF]

I also remember Deven from reefdudes making an aquascaping video recently where is used something else to create an instant bond. I can't remember exactly what, but you could search youtube for "reefdudes auquascape" if you wanted to try to find it.

 

[ScottF]

I also remember Deven from reefdudes making an aquascaping video recently where is used something else to create an instant bond. I can't remember exactly what, but you could search youtube for "reefdudes auquascape" if you wanted to try to find it.

Nyos reef cement and superglue.

 

[Fish Fan]

You can "instant bond" wet rock using regular, non-gel super glue and baking soda. The baking soda acts as something of an instant set, and strengthens the bond. But, you absolutely must rise well any excess baking soda or it will crush your alk.

 

[slingfox]

So i started my tank earlier than expected due to a shipment of tampa bay rock arriving. So now my sand is bunched into one side of tank and the rock is on the other side. Since the cycle is coming to a close and there is a bunch of hitchhikers in there i have to do my rock arrangment underwater.

My question is if i arrange everything can i use
Just superglue to hold it all together? Will it be strong enough without epoxy? Any tips would be appreciated.

My entire rockscape is liverock from the ocean assembled underwater (some portions done in bins outside the tank and some directly inside the tank). You can take a look at My Tank Thread and see my post in September 2025 describing my experience. In short, it was painful but I made a bunch of mistakes.

In terms of products to use I highlighly recommend the Tunze 2-part epoxy and the Tropic Eden Moldable rock for big / key joints and connections. For superglue find something reliable and it can help reinforce. I found the PolypLab superglue works great as well as the BRS brand. When using superglue outside the tank I often used the instant set spray.

Here is my current rockscape:

 

[ScottF]

My entire rockscape is liverock from the ocean assembled underwater (some portions done in bins outside the tank and some directly inside the tank). You can take a look at My Tank Thread and see my post in September 2025 describing my experience. In short, it was painful but I made a bunch of mistakes.

In terms of products to use I highlighly recommend the Tunze 2-part epoxy and the Tropic Eden Moldable rock for big / key joints and connections. For superglue find something reliable and it can help reinforce. I found the PolypLab superglue works great as well as the BRS brand. When using superglue outside the tank I often used the instant set spray.

Here is my current rockscape:

Man those Stratons are sexy. I think that's going to be my birthday gift to myself this year. Four Straton X's and I'll move my XR30s to my smaller 90g tank.

 

[slingfox]

Man those Stratons are sexy. I think that's going to be my birthday gift to myself this year. Four Straton X's and I'll move my XR30s to my smaller 90g tank.

You will not be disappointed When my wife walked by the tank the first time with the Straton X up she commented that they look great. That made it worth the upgrade!