Looking For Hardscape advice

[eyebeatbadgers]

I'm getting ready to redo my 29 gallon tank, and I'm gonna toss the stump in favor of rocks. I'd like your feedback about this arrangement I threw together tonight.

[fishbguy1]

What are you putting in the tank? That would make a perfect tangnykian rock structure or small malawi. Afras and saulosis would be alright, but that's about it.

[eyebeatbadgers]

I'm putting plants in the tank There will be a lot more moss in this next setup than my current one. Probably a lot more anubias too, and some bolbitis.

The fish will include cardinals and neons, a few cories, a couple of plecos.

[fishbguy1]

dude...that's alot of rock...haha

I would say put anubias, ferns, and vals in it, and make it a tangnykian tank.

Otherwise I think it'll look good, but that ammount of rock might be a bit overpowering. If you tie alot of moss and anubias to the rock, it'll look sweet though.

Can't wait to see it in action!

[eyebeatbadgers]

It definitely is a lot of rock. The proportions are a little hard to see in the pictures, but there will be 2-3" of room on either side of the rocks, and about 4" of room in front of the rocks at the base. The stack is about 14" tall, so if it's sitting on 3" of substrate, it will almost reach the top of the tank.

I may chisel some of the back side of the rocks off, so they sit further back in the tank, and will give more swimming room in the front. Of course it'll all be siliconed together, so there won't be any pieces falling down and crushing fish or busting glass. It's really only about 5 main rocks, with some small ones stuck in the crevices.

I also collected some soil while I was romping through the woods, the stuff looks just like Aquasoil Amazonia. It will be put into action in this tank pretty soon as well.

[BradH]

Dan I think this will be cool! You should have called me and I would have gone stomping through the woods with ya. haha I'm interested in the soil you gathered. How much do all those rocks weigh and are they anything that will alter your ph? That's the only 2 things I would worry about.

[eyebeatbadgers]

The rocks probably weigh around 60-80 lbs. I plan on putting down the plastic grid material cichlid folks use in their tanks.

The rocks all pass the vinegar test, so they won't alter the pH too much, probably will make the water a bit harder though, which isn't a big deal really.

I'll give ya a holler next time I'm planning on running out there, which will probably be weekend after next. I love that place!

I got a sweet driftwood stump that you might be interested in too, I'll send you a pic in a minute.

[eyebeatbadgers]

Heck, I'll just post them here...

Character baby!!

[jinx©]

I'm liking the rockwork myself. I say go for it. Nice looking wood btw.

[BradH]

Originally Posted by eyebeatbadgers

The rocks probably weigh around 60-80 lbs. I plan on putting down the plastic grid material cichlid folks use in their tanks.

The rocks all pass the vinegar test, so they won't alter the pH too much, probably will make the water a bit harder though, which isn't a big deal really.

I'll give ya a holler next time I'm planning on running out there, which will probably be weekend after next. I love that place!

I got a sweet driftwood stump that you might be interested in too, I'll send you a pic in a minute.

Is that too much weight for the tank glass? I'm over paranoid about stuff like that. lol I think the rock scape will be awesome though. Any pics of the soil you got? Oh and definitely let me know next time you go.

[eyebeatbadgers]

No dirt pictures, but imagine Aquasoil, and you're pretty close.

The rocks will be fine on the glass, the plastic grid material is supposed to help disperse the weight over the entire length of the tank.

Thanks for the input, keep it coming. I see a lot of chiseling and siliconing in my future

[mistergreen]

looks cool to me.. I hope you'll reassemble this into the tank and not put the whole thing in at once.. I can see issues with that. You might want to put a styrofoam base between the rocks and the tank.

[eyebeatbadgers]

So I should use styrofoam instead of plastic "eggcrate" ? Styrofoam makes more sense to me.

And I will be putting this in piece by piece, not in one shot. That would get ugly fast

[BradH]

Any update on this?

[jargonchipmunk]

use the eggcrate not styro. I'm sure you'd be fine either way, as 60lbs of rock really isn't that much, but the point is to distribute weight, not cushion.

If you think about it from a physics perspective, styro won't distribute the weight nearly as far as the light diffuser (eggcrate) will. The eggcrate divides up the weight of the rock throughout the whole tank, whereas the styro itself will simply increase the "points" of weight.

Either one would work, and with this small amount I'm sure using nothing would work too, but if you're going for safe.. go all the way :-)

Plus, the good thing about the eggcrate is that you can tie off deco or unsunk wood etc to it and everything stays put. (that's also the BAD thing if you want to remove those pieces but whatev :-)