too much/too big LR?--break it up?

[mtglore]

Hi Y'all. Sorry I don't have a picture to go with I have the thread, but I had some questions about my LR and aquascaping. I have a fully cycled 6 gallon Eclipse. It's been running for about a month now. The only livestock are a few Cerith snails.

 

Anyhow, I have about 10 lbs. of LR--only three pieces. Two are quite large, and the other is about the size of a baseball. The tank just looks so damn full already. There are nooks and crannies and such, but there's only so much I can do with three hunks of rock. So, my question is, is it OK to bash up the LR rock a bit (e.g., with a hammer) in order to make more manageable pieces? This seems like a stupid question, but I'm trying to be very cautious about everything.

 

Thanks.

[Smokin-Reefer]

yes, it's ok to break the rock. my suggestion would be to wrap the rock in a cloth so you can keep all the "rubble" to attach frags to later. try using a flathead screwdriver like a chisel to get it how you want it.

 

good luck.

[MrKrispy]

I have snapped pieces of rock of using pliers (out of the water).

I have two main pieces of rock in my 10g, and several flatter pieces crammed everywhere. I would prefer more horizontal areas to put rics and stuff, the bottom areas of my main rocks don't get much light because of overhangs and one of them is arched. Good for fish and critters, useless for corals.

[chrisc]

Seconded for the scredriver+hammer technique - has served me well

 

Just make sure to wash of the newly broken rock in some old tank water before putting it back in.