Floating Rockscape? Acyrilic rods + Liferock Arches in 12G long

[Drunkentrader]

Hey All - 

 

Sold my old tank when i moved as I wanted to start from scratch and actually take the time to design something a little more creative.. starting with a floating or at least partial floating rockscape.

 

The tank is a Mr Aqua 12G long ~ 36"Long 8"deep 9"Tall. Very narrow... and i don any rock touching the back glass, so I thought I would take a stab at making a partially floating scape using the Life Rock Nano Shapes(they come in a 20 pound package of 4 arches)

 

My question is: I already have the rock on order(20 pounds in arches, and 7 pound of misc life rock, both by caribsea) but i now need to know what to order to secure the floating arches/rock, so thought about getting some acrylic rods to drill the rock to secure it to the glass and or additional rock.  I was thinking 1/4" dia acylic rods would do the trick. I also spotted some "donut/bagel stands" that are basically the same acrylic rods(larger dia) that have a small circular base ---- although, for aesthetics, i would prefer all the rods to be hidden, meaning i prefer to have them hidden on the backside of the rock pointing horizontally and glued to the back glass <- is that a dumb idea?

 

 

If you were going to attempt to secure ~15 pounds of floating rock(3-4 pieces) and you wanted to minimize the amount of acryclic rods sticking out of the rock, how would you proceed and what would you use to secure the floating rock? Also, I doesnt have to have it ALL floating, it can be light load bearing pieces  12-18" in length.. ultimately, i realize i need to sketch it out and engineer things from there, but I am pretty set on wanting an arch coming from the upper left end of the tank(covering the InOut bulkheads) and extending acroiss at least a third of the tank. Other pieces may be secured to the bottom of the tank and reach Upwards and then extend lengthwise far enough where they may require an acrylic rod fastening the backside of the rock to the back of the glass.

 

 

 

Anyways, since i do not have anything sketched out, i am open to any ideas you all would have to scape and secure a semi floating reefscape using the life rock nano arches. 

 

Here are a couple picks of the build so far. Will scape it this weekend and get it wet the following week.

 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

27 minutes ago, Drunkentrader said:

Hey All - 

 

Sold my old tank when i moved as I wanted to start from scratch and actually take the time to design something a little more creative.. starting with a floating or at least partial floating rockscape.

 

The tank is a Mr Aqua 12G long ~ 36"Long 8"deep 9"Tall. Very narrow... and i don any rock touching the back glass, so I thought I would take a stab at making a partially floating scape using the Life Rock Nano Shapes(they come in a 20 pound package of 4 arches)

 

My question is: I already have the rock on order(20 pounds in arches, and 7 pound of misc life rock, both by caribsea) but i now need to know what to order to secure the floating arches/rock, so thought about getting some acrylic rods to drill the rock to secure it to the glass and or additional rock.  I was thinking 1/4" dia acylic rods would do the trick. I also spotted some "donut/bagel stands" that are basically the same acrylic rods(larger dia) that have a small circular base ---- although, for aesthetics, i would prefer all the rods to be hidden, meaning i prefer to have them hidden on the backside of the rock pointing horizontally and glued to the back glass <- is that a dumb idea?

 

 

If you were going to attempt to secure ~15 pounds of floating rock(3-4 pieces) and you wanted to minimize the amount of acryclic rods sticking out of the rock, how would you proceed and what would you use to secure the floating rock? Also, I doesnt have to have it ALL floating, it can be light load bearing pieces  12-18" in length.. ultimately, i realize i need to sketch it out and engineer things from there, but I am pretty set on wanting an arch coming from the upper left end of the tank(covering the InOut bulkheads) and extending acroiss at least a third of the tank. Other pieces may be secured to the bottom of the tank and reach Upwards and then extend lengthwise far enough where they may require an acrylic rod fastening the backside of the rock to the back of the glass.

 

 

 

Anyways, since i do not have anything sketched out, i am open to any ideas you all would have to scape and secure a semi floating reefscape using the life rock nano arches. 

 

Here are a couple picks of the build so far. Will scape it this weekend and get it wet the following week.

 

 

 

 

 

I like your canopy. 😊
 

What about magnetic rock pieces on the glass to help with support?

[Drunkentrader]

^ thanks! it was a $15 or $20 amazon special :)

 

I thought about magnets too... i think rocks appearing as if they are protruding through the glass is a cool dimensional look, and if Caribsea offered the same life rock shapes I probably would have fooled around with the idea of having some attached to the back glass and some other rock in the foreground for a bit more dymanic depth of field.