Live Rock Support Structure?

I have to find a way to secure a bunch of LR into a structure. This has to be done without affecting the biological capability of the rock, or 'poisoning' the water.


Basically, I have a temp tank full of good live rock that I need to transport and secure in the destination tank as quickly as possible, then put the substrate and fish in right afterwards.


Most of the pieces are good enough to figure out a stable stacking technique, but I have one that I want to be the 'showcase' piece, and it will probably need something to make sure it doesn't move. It's this one, on the right











I want this piece to be the highest position in the tank, with the top of the plate at about 18" off the bottom (30" tall tank), offset to one side.


I was thinking I could drill a hole in the base of the thing and then build a stand out of PVC pipe that would sit on the bottom of the tank, and the other rocks would be stacked on that. Something along those lines. But what kind of bit would I use, a standard masonry bit?


Is there another (reef safe) way that is fast and effective?


What about the rest of the rock, beside using the same method of drilling holes for PVC pipes, what is a good method to secure them together, aside from a diligent stacking method?

 

I thought about acrylic rod, but 1/2" PVC is more durable, less chance of it shattering, plus it's way cheaper. $30 would get me 300 feet of 1/2" PVC.

I don't have a hammer drill so I guess that's good /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

 

I'm thinking that I will get a hold of one of these large masonry bits and drill the pieces in various places as I remove them from the temp tank before transporting to the destination tank. I will create a PVC pipe base structure that I can drop in the tank and use to position the rocks by sliding them over the pipes. Then when each piece is in the general position, I will use the reef-safe epoxy (the clay-like stuff) and push that into the hole around the PVC pipe, so that will more or less hold it in place.

I think some of the PVC will probably be visible for a while until it encrusts over. But I'm OK with that. Going to safety and final appearance. Maybe I'll use Schedule 80. I was thinking of using the Electrical (gray) S-40 but even that would show up. The really dark gray S-80 will be less noticeable.

So the only question then is - how much of that putty epoxy can I use in one shot and not affect the water? I'm going to be running carbon so I think that will take care of it - but just to be safe I figured I would ask

 

Ok so back to this Marcos Masonry stuff. Here is what I need to actually get done. Per this thread

http://www.greateriowareefsociety.org/Forums/tabid/78/aft/29916/Default.aspx

I am going to remove all rock and sand from this tank and drain it. I have a temp tank set up with rock, sand and fish. The plan is to then place all this rock from this temp tank in the destination tank and structure it and secure it.

Then what I will have left is a tank full of fish and sand that needs to go in. Problem is that I can't take the sand out while leaving the fish in the temp tank. So I would have to either wrangle all the fish, then drain (water will be transferred with them as much as possible) then remove sand, and place sand in destination tank.

Hmmm.

I think what I will have to do is structure the rock in the destination tank, let it cure for 20 minutes, then fill it to submerge the rocks, leaving it bare bottom and only partially full. Then I would wrangle the fish, remove the sand, transport, drain the tank, add the sand, then put the water back in, filling the tank, and then the fish.

So, can you point me to somewhere I can read up on the Marco's Masonry, and does anyone in Des Moines have a bunch?

 

is it this

http://www.marcorocks.com/bondingmortar.aspx

 

Alrighty, after talking to mfisher and Marc from Marco rocks, I'm going with using the Marco mortar stuff in conjunction with putty epoxy and/or rubble rock. Going to place the putty in blocks and/or rubble rock on points so that each rock will sit in the proper position, then lather in between with mortar and do this in stages. Will continue the progress on the main thread, thanks for all the help!!

Main thread:

http://www.greateriowareefsociety.org/Forums/tabid/78/aft/29916/Default.aspx