Anyone drilled a live rock to add holes , What do you use ?

[Jenn]

I have a nice , pretty large piece of tonga branch rock in my main tank
kinda looks like a hand , it has about five 3" fingers reaching up...

I want to drill a hole in each finger of the top of the rocks so
I can put in plugs in for some acros ; )

I have a crodless drill... what kind of bit sould I use to drill a hole...

I dont want to crack the rock and need a nice size hole to fit the plug.

The rock I have is pretty thick , so it shouldn't crack , I'm praying : )

How big is a plug ... Is it about 1" ?

Any suggestions are helpful

Thanks ,

Jenn

 

[redfishbluefish]

Any bit for drilling concrete will work on rock as well.

As far as size, I don’t know what plugs you have, but mine fit into an egg crate shelf which has ½ inch openings. So for me, half inch would be just fine.

 

[Jenn]

Oh thanks,
I didn't buy them yet ,
but I've seen the corals for sale with plugs attached to them aready
and I want to prepare the new spot for them to come home.

so, I guess your saying plugs fit into a 1/2 " hole?

 

[redfishbluefish]

I can't speak for all plugs, but the plugs that I have either have an approximate half inch stem or no stem at all...just a flat disc.

Your other option would be to get flat plugs or cut the stems off and glue the disc part to the "fingers" of the rock. No drilling needed.

 

[Jenn]

Yeah , flat plug could work , but would have to use glue and glue could come loose..

Wouldn't want to loose my prize coral if it fell off.

I liked the idea to just take the plug with a spiked end and just cradle inside a hole.

Without the glue, Then I could also move them around if i needed to .

Think T-5 lights will work for Acros ?

 

[magic]

Yeah , flat plug could work , but would have to use glue and glue could come loose..

Wouldn't want to loose my prize coral if it fell off.

I liked the idea to just take the plug with a spiked end and just cradle inside a hole.

Without the glue, Then I could also move them around if i needed to .

Think T-5 lights will work for Acros ?

What size tank? The general rule of thumb is T5s are good for tanks that are 24" deep or less.

Bob

 

[reeferwanabe]

I'd say chances are pretty good you may break a finger off with a concrete drill bit I'd go with a sharp smaller thread drill and go slow

 

[Chuck_NJ]

What size tank? The general rule of thumb is T5s are good for tanks that are 24" deep or less.

Bob
[/quote]


Not to hijact this thread but is there a general rule of thumb for PC lighting?

 

[Jenn]

What is a thread drill ?

Is there a piece/ bit that can be added to the end of my cordless screw gun
to make this work for me to drill the holes?

I'd like to get a nice even rounded hole in the rock to add the plugs in,

Anyone doing this ?

I could use a screw on the screw gun and just keep redrilling bigger and bigger hole ,
but don't want to get a screw stuck in my cool rock either

My tank is 30" tall , but where this rock will sit is 6 - 8 " below the water level so it will be very close to the lights to put in the corals that demand more intense lighting.

I have some... Hammer , Torch ,Frogsporn , Muchrooms , Polops , Riccordias , Sponges, Gorgonians, ect ...all doing well.. but no acros yet

I know acros can only survive if placed on the top , Think T-5 will work for me ?

Anyone growing acros with T-5 ?

 

[redfishbluefish]

What is a thread drill ?

I can only guess that they meant threaded drill bit.  If so, these are very expense bits that have threads at the one end instead of a smooth shaft.  I am only familiar with threaded bits for wood...didn't know they came for concrete.  But again, very expensive for one bit.

Is there a  piece/ bit  that can be added to the end of my cordless screw gun
to make this work for me to drill the holes?

Yes!  There are a series of sizes for conventional drills.  Here's a pic of some of the bits I have from 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch that fit regular drill chucks.  What I suggest you do is drill a small hole first and then continue to increase the bit size until you get to 1/2 inch.  You're welcome to use my bits if you're in the Sayreville area.

 

[Jenn]

Thanks for the picture of the bits

Are these kind of bits expensive also ?

I'm gona look for them , Thanks for offering to share yours ; )

I'll let you know

Hope this works , cause it'll be so cool

 

[JohnS_323]

I agree with the flat disk approach. If you're worried about them not sticking properly, use a combination of reef epoxy and gel-type crazy glue. This combination works great and is removable (with a little tug) if you ever want to reposition things. Look at it this way, do you think you'd be able to find another one of those rocks if you accidently broke off one or more of the fingers? Probably not. If it were me, I wouldn't risk it.

The epoxy/gel process is really easy and won't be as likely to ruin your rock. I can give you step-by-step instructions if you think you want to go that route.

 

[Jenn]

I'd have to go slow if I decide to drill it, and test it..
I'll proubly know right away if it'll work or not.

I heard that the underwater glue stuff don't work to good...

I'm guessing you use a kind that works good

What kind works good to glue rocks together ?

 

[JohnS_323]

The process we use works great. The putty/glue combo sticks very well and very quickly. What you'll need is a tube of reef epoxy that can be purchased at just about any LFS and a tube of crazy glue gel. The best stuff I've found is the type the club sells (if you're anywhere near Jackson, we have a few tubes of club stock available for $6).

The process is really easy. Pull off a chunck of the reef putty and mix it together really well. Flatten it out and squeeze a small amount of the glue onto it. Fold it over and mix it together well and form it into a ball. Make a small recess on one side and fill it with glue. Push that to the bottom of the frag disk. Make a recess on the bottom of the putty ball and fill it with glue. Put it in the tank and push it onto the rock where you want it. Hold it there for about 4 to 5 seconds and that's it. It's stuck until you want to pull it off. Once you add the glue to the putty, you have to work fast because it hardens up in about 3 or 4 minutes. Also, be sure to wear latex/nitrile gloves because the putty gets a little sticky.

If you want to swing by and pick up the glue, I'll show you how easy it is and how well it works. There really is no better way, IME, to glue something into your existing reef.

 

[Jenn]

( JohnS_323 ) Thanks

So, your saying that you can put super glue on the bottom of the putty

and then put Wet super glue into your tank

to adhear to the rock you want inside your tank...

This wont hurt fish and corals ?

I've used some Hold Fast Marinelane putty to try to create some small rocks together
to hold corals in place.

It would only work if wrapped putty round rocks to make the rocks structure strong.

This stuff I had wouldn't hold the two rocks together by drying them together with putty...
but I didn't add the super glue

So.. If this Reef epoxy you guys use is different and better , I need to get some please

 

[Jenn]

I looked at the link to the picture of the reef epoxy...

It looks like what I was already using

I guess the super glue is the key