Rock fusion: How do you connect your reef rocks?

[MoshJosh]

Find places where the rock "naturally" fits together (with multiple points of contact) and looks appealing to your eye. glue the points of contact with Gorilla brand Superglue gel and let dry, apply second coat of superglue over the points of contact and let dry, use 2 part epoxy (purple obviously) to completely encircle all contact points. Make sure to use some sort of tool to really cram the epoxy in the hard to reach places!!!

 

[Dburr1014]

I've never heard of using baking soda before! What's the technical explanation for why it works?

(One thing I like about epoxy is the rocks CAN be broken apart at a later time -- helps with those large structures)

Instantly sets the superglue.
I just use sand instead. Layers, fill in the holes and looks so natural. Glue, Sprinkle sand, glue sprinkle sand, ect. Until it looks good.
This flat rock I mounted. Both were wet. It must be done outside of tank. But the good news is, it can be done in minutes. My main rock is covered in coral. I just pulled it out, glued the other rock, and back in the tank in less than 5 minutes. Strong like that was the rock in the first place. Can't see a seem cuz it's covered with sand, looks like rock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For a couple of decades, I have used Holdfast clay-type epoxy which has never let me down. Easy to knead and cures under water. My tangs kept knocking my red digi (below) I applied putty to base 4 months ago and has been stable since
Hard to tell putty is there

 

[TnFishwater98]

Superglue and epoxy scare me….Stack’em!

 

[Waters]

Marco cement, marco sand, super glue, and quick set.

 

[kazeespada]

I tried Epoxy, but I couldn't get it mixed right. Super Glue worked the best, but it has broken in some places, so gravity is doing most of the work.

 

[DannoOMG]

I used epoxy then cement to make the weird structure in the back center. Ya know the stuff that BRS uses. What the heck I tried it and it seems to work. I plan on gluing so more zanthids to the top part of the "half arch" later.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

I use Glue Masters ultra thin glue with powdered dry rock I get from breaking the dry rock to smaller pieces and from pieces too small to use.








@ReefGeezer,
I ran an experimented with covering the top surfaces of the dry rock with glue. The tank has been running the experiment for over 8 months now and I've never seen any algae growth anywhere. The only thing I've seen is Dino and cyano during the first few months of starting the tank. Aside from that there's been no sign of algae.

It grows coralline just fine too. Purple coralline over the surfaces covered by glue and green coralline for the undersides that didn't get covered with glue.

Check out my tank build to get more details.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Superglue,quickset, and a lot of patience.

 

[Treefer32]

Balancing is the way I go.. I tried a cement that softens and becomes stick when heated then hardens when it cools. The glue came off all my rocks within days of "adhering" them together. thankfully I stacked them in ways they remained balanced, but most if not all the glue was floating at the top of my water as little hardened flat disks. . . Did not work at all...

 

[Gtinnel]

I use thin superglue and either baking soda or rock dust.

Superglue and epoxy scare me….Stack’em!

It’s even worse when using baking soda. If the superglue hits your hands with baking soda on them it sets almost instantly and it gets incredibly hot

 

[ReefGeezer]

This is put together with Super Glue and Mortar on the bottom two-thirds. The top third is mostly live rock that is simply stabilized with two-part epoxy putty and/or super glue. That process worked out well from an aquascape perspective. It allowed me to build in some height without piling up a lot of rocks and made it easy to add and a lot of caves & arches. The tank is now about two years old and just starting to mature.

 

[Hemmdog]

I’ve always stacked rocks and made natural caves. It looks much more similar to what I see when I go scuba diving. I find many scapes with glue/epoxy to look too ‘designed’, so much so that I dislike the entire tank.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

The purple, epoxy/ cement mix is a great binder but it does not discolour, it's also not a solid fix... it's kinda of like a temporary hold
Altough my rocks was held strong and in place, a couple of wiggles and it was
Released.
I guess it's judgement on yourself to what you want temporary and what you want permanently.

Nothing should be considered permanent in aquriam life except dedication

 

[steveschuerger]

For now loose stacked. But I want to at least get the topmost rocks stabilized . So since I’ve got quite a few frag plugs I’m going to try to use them to lock in place with a little glue after making shallow holes to fit them in. These are how I’m going to use the plugs-

 

[Rick's Reviews]

For now loose stacked. But I want to at least get the topmost rocks stabilized . So since I’ve got quite a few frag plugs I’m going to try to use them to lock in place with a little glue after making shallow holes to fit them in. These are how I’m going to use the plugs-View attachment 3084116

Score the plug tops that you want to stick together, use anything to score/make a rough edge, sand paper will work great, glue needs something to adhere to/grab onto and a rough surface is better than smooth

 

[steveschuerger]

Score the plug tops that you want to stick together, use anything to score/make a rough edge, sand paper will work great, glue needs something to adhere to/grab onto and a rough surface is better than smooth

Yah, these were glued together as is. Took forever to dry solid. Thanks for the tip.

 

[vlangel]

I use epoxy as it can be removed and redone if necessary but holds pretty good when it needs to. I also stack rock when I can .

 

[Floyd-]

I just loose stack naturally. So far its worked very well.

 

[AKLiving]

Rock powder and ultra thin super glue makes bonds in seconds that are stronger than the rocks.

I didn't know anyone else was using powdered rock with thin super glue. I have used baking soda for years and just tried powdered MarcoRock when making my scape.
I will say powdered rock works even better than baking soda.