Binding rockwork

[hiimsean]

What do you guys like to use to solidify your rockwork? Last time I just used fiberglass rods. I’m not opposed to doing that again and I prolly will but I’m also looking for a good epoxy to use.

 

[jcook54]

I've been working with @Adam on his scape and we started with the idea of fiberglass rods and still may go that route for some of the surface pieces but we've been doing something different for the base structure. I've never taken this approach and I really like it. You set your rock up in a way that they make a few points of contact with the surrounding rocks. Once they're in place, find the point of contact and super glue them together. This will greatly increase stability as it dries. Once the super glue is dry, come back with Marco's E 400 aquascaping cement and really solidify things together.

Initially we were going to use just the cement but Adam suggested trying to super glue the pieces together just so everything didn't fall apart like some heavy game of Jenga and it worked really well. He's got a huge system and there are currently 5 separate "base" structures that will have to be connected once everything is in the tank and the fiberglass rods will probably be the way to go in order to prevent slippage but the super glue/cement method is working great. Please keep in mind that everything is dry while we set it up. I have used a similar cement for sticking things together in an active tank and it's really too messy to do more than 1 or 2 pieces per day.

Edit: I meant to include a link to the cement. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/e-marco-400-aquascaping-morter-complete-kit-grey-marco-rocks.html

 

[civics14]

I've been working with @Adam on his scape and we started with the idea of fiberglass rods and still may go that route for some of the surface pieces but we've been doing something different for the base structure. I've never taken this approach and I really like it. You set your rock up in a way that they make a few points of contact with the surrounding rocks. Once they're in place, find the point of contact and super glue them together. This will greatly increase stability as it dries. Once the super glue is dry, come back with Marco's E 400 aquascaping cement and really solidify things together.

Initially we were going to use just the cement but Adam suggested trying to super glue the pieces together just so everything didn't fall apart like some heavy game of Jenga and it worked really well. He's got a huge system and there are currently 5 separate "base" structures that will have to be connected once everything is in the tank and the fiberglass rods will probably be the way to go in order to prevent slippage but the super glue/cement method is working great. Please keep in mind that everything is dry while we set it up. I have used a similar cement for sticking things together in an active tank and it's really too messy to do more than 1 or 2 pieces per day.

Edit: I meant to include a link to the cement. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/e-marco-400-aquascaping-morter-complete-kit-grey-marco-rocks.html

I use the marco cement and it works amazing

 

[Doberman13]

I used a quarter of the instant ocean epoxy stick in my 42 gallon system and my skimmer was overflowing with bubbles for two days

 

[mphammer]

+1 on the marco cement
I also used fiberglass rod for the larger pieces and a few black zip ties to snug everything up