What's your experience with Live Rock Epoxy or Cement?

[gman6369]

We sure love to imagine beautiful reef tank aquascapes in our home reef tanks but seeing them and accomplishing the vision are two different things. Besides live rock one of the key ingredients for a spectacular aquascape is the epoxy or cement that holds it all together! Today let's talk about it!

1. What's your go to epoxy or cement when it comes to keeping an aquascape in place and why do you prefer it?

2. What other methods do you use, besides an "adhesive" to keep your live rock in place?


BONUS: Show us a photo of your aquascape!

image via @dragonfish

Acrylic rods and hydraulic cement work flawlessly

 

[Chelsie]

extra thick glue and inset for planning and then emarcos for permanent hold

 

[ReeferCubano]

I’ve never had the luxury of aquascaping rock that wasn’t wet. All of my aquascaping is done underwater in my tank. I use epoxy covered in superglue to join rocks. It’s super frustrating, but I can usually accomplish the goal. Here’s an old/bad pic of my current build.

Beautiful.

 

[JKBrown]

I used grout and fiberglass rods as well. Made 5 or 6 large rocks from hand me down dry rocks.

 

[Tom@HaslettMI]

No glue, epoxy, or dry rock here. Scaped with the tank full of water and some corals already attached.

Tom

 

[Reef_Town]

Glue and insta set with emarco 400 for the win. I've been working on making these faster for some people. The mortar does take time to get right and is frustrating when securing it upside down and I find bare fingers or silicone tools to help avoid it staying on your hands.
Best advice is that it will cost more money in materials and takes more time then you would think, but it's a very fun and rewarding project if you have the time and workspace for a mess. Oh. Open a window when you are smashing rocks and blowing dust off. You don't want to breathe it in.

 

[billyocean]

I'm sure adding cement would solidify everything "better"..but joints never broke, only rocks. Even that only broke with a 40 lb bucket of sand that slipped out of my hand onto it while in the tank. I did the gluemasters thin with crushed Marco. I then went back through the joints with gluemasters thick. You need a strong steady handed friend to hold it at different angles upside down as my sections weighed 40-60 lbs. Other than that I used nothing else. Just grabbed the base or other strong holds to move.

 

[srussell.516]

Watched a lot of videos in Korean to educate and inspire myself. All done with Extra Thin Superglue and Marco rock Dust.

 

[Jeffcb]

205 pounds of KP Live Caribbean rock shipped in water. No Glue.

I already had 125 pounds for about a month. Added 80 more today.

 

[kagisexton]

120lbs of rock in a 175g shallow. Only 2 months old. All frags are being grown out in 40 breeder right now. No glue used and none will ever be used. Perks of a shallow tank!

 

[LegendaryCG]

I really like the pink Marcos mortar. Easy to use and works well, has a nice color too. Not a fan of the 2 part epoxy at all. I put this together with a hammer, Marcos, and some patience. It’s not ever coming apart unless I break the rock.

 

[polyppal]

Go E-Marco400 or go home...

 

[mindme]

I did the BRS NSA method. BRS glue, insta-set and marco. It worked well, picture doesn't really do it justice since you can't see all the details. It's 3 rocks, 1 on the right, and 1 big one on the left and a smaller one that looks like it's part of it from this angle. And a few little rocks scattered about.

That is a long arm on the left side towards the bottom. It has a brace in the middle, but I'm not sure it's actually needed. It held without it, but I felt better adding it just in case. You can't tell because of the sand, but more than appears is above ground, the sand just evens up with it.

Sorry for bad pic, I suck at cameras. Only recently figured out how to get most of the blue out.

I will never use epoxy again. It's terrible.

 

[LBReefer]

I used @Glue Masters ultra thin and Caribsea gravel to build, then reinforced with E-Marco-400.

I really like the open space and asymmetry. This is one of the few negative space approaches that looks natural to me.

 

[Stevel]

I like to build arches and use three different epoxy’s. Not only epoxy arches but the feet of the base rock so it doesn’t shift. After rock work is complete then I add the sand. Mainly because of gobies and Jawfish like to borrow.

 

[Calizoa]

I used gel and accelerator for initial connection then thin with powdered Marco rock i made for all the joints for a flawless look.

 

[Calizoa]

We sure love to imagine beautiful reef tank aquascapes in our home reef tanks but seeing them and accomplishing the vision are two different things. Besides live rock one of the key ingredients for a spectacular aquascape is the epoxy or cement that holds it all together! Today let's talk about it!

1. What's your go to epoxy or cement when it comes to keeping an aquascape in place and why do you prefer it?

2. What other methods do you use, besides an "adhesive" to keep your live rock in place?


BONUS: Show us a photo of your aquascape!

image via @dragonfish

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

Did you get any phosphate issues from the black grout initially?

I've never had any issues with phosphate, iron, aluminum, silica, toxins etc that concerned so many about using black lava rock and colored sanded grout.

I did however cure the background in a makeshift pond for months with many water changes. If you're thinking about trying it, I would highly advise to build it outside of the tank and let it cure in water for a long time. Also don't use a grout that is mold resistant, as it will have some kind of toxin to prevent the mold.

 

[Chris.F]

Gel superglue and insta set first then emarco 400 morter and packed dry sand into it to try to hide it.

 

[KLS1993]

I used BRS super glue gel and snow poles... Turned out pretty good