Bare bottom Aquascaping

[reefercorey]

So I am going to be setting up a 24 gallon nano cube and I plan for it to be a bare bottom tank. I have secured some base rock together using "Great Stuff" foam sealant. It worked great and I made some nice pillars with rock shelves at the top. My question is how do I keep these pillars stable in the tank? I have seen people secure rock to egg crate at the bottom with zip ties and then cover it with sand but I'm going bare bottom so that would look awful. They kind of already stand up on their own but I'm not sure I fully trust it. Any suggestions?

[WibblyPig]

Drill 7/16" holes in the rocks and then put 3/8" fiberglass pegs through the holes. You can get the pegs at a landscape supply place that sells Keystone blocks. 2nd option would be to epoxy the rocks together. Then you can use a dab of Silicon to keep them in place on the bottom

[ajmckay]

Drill 7/16" holes in the rocks and then put 3/8" fiberglass pegs through the holes. You can get the pegs at a landscape supply place that sells Keystone blocks. 2nd option would be to epoxy the rocks together. Then you can use a dab of Silicon to keep them in place on the bottom

 

Sounds like he's already bonded the rocks together using the pond foam...

 

If I understand correctly you just want a way to stabilize the rock structure and keep it from potentially tipping?

 

There are a number of things you could do. First would be to use a hack saw to create a flat bottom to your pillars. This should provide tons of stability. If you have any wobbles still after that then get some epoxy putty and put it on the bottom then sit it on the glass and it should give you a nearly perfectly flat surface.

 

If the rocks are still wobbly then you could use a glob of silicone to secure them to the bottom. Don't use a ton, but use a nice bead around the perimeter and sit the rocks down. This should keep them in place and you should be able to get them off again with a razor around the outside.

 

As for other ideas, those are my best - but you could also use some other rocks around the base to provide additional support. If your issue is "sliding" like some rocks can do on bare glass you could use the silicone trick but do it outside the tank and just let a thin layer of silicone cure. This may act like a "grippy mat" of sorts.

 

Good luck post pics~!

[bob115]

Great tip I picked up a while back, you don't need to do it with a hack saw. Take them outside and just rub them on some concrete. It'll grind a flat bottom in no time. Assuming you don't need to remove a huge amount of material, of course. You don't need to get it perfectly flat, but at least some flat feet around the perimeter of the base.

[reefercorey]

Thanks for the tips. I probably should have flattend the bottom rock before i stacked and sealed 3 other rocks on top of it but too late now

[reefercorey]

How does this look for an aquascape in my nanocube? Im not sure if I am going go keep the texas wholy rock because to me it kind of clashes with the other rock structure I made. Any thoughts?

oops, i don't think the photo posted because it was more than 1mb

[fishfreak0114]

You can upload it to photobucket and then paste the URL here. That should work.

[reefercorey]

http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w488/coreyd216/IMG_3198_zps2jir3dgv.jpg

 

http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w488/coreyd216/IMG_3199_zpsgsdake3w.jpg

 

http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w488/coreyd216/IMG_3200_zpsh4cejfsm.jpg

 

Here are some pictures of the scape I have thrown together. Any advice or tips are appreciated. Also, how is the that for placement of the powerhead? It does 800gph

[stash98]

I just scaped my Bare Bottom and personally feel that the separate rocks work better with sand. It works because it looks like the rock base is building and is all one piece under the sand. I ended up building a bridge for my bare bottom build. It looks better IMO and gives me more options for coral placement.