aquascaping - 5.5 gallon - stacking live rock -> fall over and crack glass?

[ggg111]

Hi everyone -

 

I am setting up a 5.5 gallon aquarium and have my live rock. I like the look of the rocks stacked against the back wall but I am afraid if I stack them a shrimp, fish, or the flow might knock one over, and it will hit a wall and crack the glass. I do not want to glue the rocks together. What do people do? Am I being ridiculous in thinking one of my tiny crabs / flow will move the whole rock?

[ScubaJ]

I've had rocks fall against glass, fortunately the glass is usually a lot stronger than you think. The water displacement slows them down where they really don't do any harm. Until you get into a HUGE piece of rock but that will not be found in any nano reef.

 

Some might have horror stories of it happening but its not likely in my opinion.

[Bill Nye]

Unless you have some crazy aquascaping ideas, you can probably stack them in a way they will be stable enough not to fall. Most falling rock is caused when you knock them by accident.

 

As a side note, I would try to leave a small gap between your rockwork and the back wall for flow and to allow your CUC to fit back there.

[Gerber77]

You can use reef putty to hold the rocks together. If you want to break them apart it comes off pretty easily.