Cut and cement dry rock into a dry rock wall (16G)

[Muffin87]

My tank is a 16 G cube, and I want to avoid having a giant pile of rock right in the middle of the cube, so the fish will be behind the rockwork 50% of the time.

 

Is it advisable to create a rock wall, by cutting each dry rock piece into two halves and cementing several halves together, each piece being stacked on the top of the other?

The wall would then be made to lean against the back glass of the tank. The weight would be supported by the bottom of the tank though.

I'm afraid the tiny cavity wall between the back glass and the rock wall might get dirty over time and become a source of nitrates.

 

My idea would be to achieve something looking like the image below, using CaribSea Life Rock. Obviously my tank is much smaller than the one in the image.

 

[MSunkin23]

HI Muffin, I also just started a 16g cube (bio cube). 

I personally don't recommend this, but thats not to say it couldn't work. You would definitely want a good flow pattern of water against the wall for filtration. And I would also worry about a dead spot in the back.

 

To be honest, I never had an issue with fish hiding, one time I thought my antennae goby was dead but he reappeared after 2 weeks. Not clue where he went (it was a small tank).

 

The tank you have pictured may be a good tank for FOWLR, but not sure corals would do well as the light would have no place to hit them.

 

Are you considering any other type of scape? - I have attached a picture of the scape I just created, what do you think?

[Muffin87]

I would really like a wall like the one I showed you or something "iwagumi style" (see image). The long oblique rock on the left is perfect to showcase corals and also gives the tank a very natural look I find.

 

 

 

I like that you also have a longer rock slightly pointing to the top.

How did you manage to secure that larger rock on the top of the smaller one? I just got Nyos Reef cement to achieve a similar effect

[MSunkin23]

Hey Muffin. Thats an awesome tank you found there. I personally like the iwagumi style. I actually found an article on reefscaping using the 'Thirds principle'. I have been trying to incorporate this into my new scape - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-on-creating-amazing-aquascapes.97209/

 

What I used was a simple plastic coat hanger and epoxy. I found rock with holes in it (or would have drilled if needed). And I literally thread the plastic coat hanger rod through the rock. I then used epoxy around each hole in the stacking process. I live in an earthquake zone in CA, and I feel confident that this is secure enough for my liking.

 

On the Nyos Reef Cement -- I want to start out by saying I am an avid tile-guy, in that I have had my days and weeks using thinnest mortar remodeling bathrooms for fun. I just purchased the Nyos Reef Cement and I hated it. I was actually able to return it. It is possible I received a bad batch, but I found Epoxy to work better actually.

For me, I knew by going with BRS reef saver or Marco rock I would be able to create the scape look I was looking for. IMO you can't go wrong if you use either of those rocks,  but you would have to cycle from ground zero.

[MSunkin23]

Also this is the tank today with one small tweak with a small rock in the gap. For me that small rock made the world of difference in the layout. Also on this tank, there is about a 2 inch gap from the back wall which allows flow around the whole rock scape to utilize filtration area.