Floating Rock Scape

[Wilson]

Been thinking about this build for some time. Saw this picture and finally got inspired to do it.


Broke down a 10 gallon AIO FW tank last night, scrubbed it down and finished the build today late afternoon. It's been nice to have some time away from work.

I present, the floating rock scape. Of course, the turtles are just place holders since the tank isn't wet. Once I fill it, they'll be replaced with real ones. Maybe a couple of angels, a tang or two. Wyoming white clowns, obviously. @nano1908

Here's a top view. Spent like 10 minutes smashing rocks before I remembered I have a 5 gallon pail of rubble rock.


Here's the side view.

Table top is made of pennies.. I'm thinking zoa all up and down the rock, either GSP carpet on the bottom, flower anemone carpeting it or just sand bottom to reflect some of that light back up, reduce the shadowing. Then maybe 100 sexy shrimp wiggling about.

I'm a little concerned about the glass flexing, but not enough for it to stop me from making it anyway? Dunno. It was fun to do regardless.

Necessary disclaimers.. Just sharing, NFS.

 

[Mark_C]

Excellent

 

[DEL]

sick!!!!!!!!

 

[MadReefer]

Nice. Was thinking of that when i picked up the cube which I couldn't fit so got rid of it.

 

[Avrohom]

Wow

 

[iTzJu]

thats awesome!

 

[Sponge]

Love it. Fresh ideas are awesome. And your rock work looks great

 

[amado]

Yeah I like it. I having that space under the rocks for fish to swim is great. Also helps with flow

 

[Juano908]

Really nice!!!!!

 

[DangerDave]

It looks great. If your worried at all about the glass, I’ve seen people use clear acrylic rods for support. If you place it right in the shadows, they’re very hard to see

 

[deepblue68]

That looks awesome!!

 

[Wilson]

It looks great. If your worried at all about the glass, I’ve seen people use clear acrylic rods for support. If you place it right in the shadows, they’re very hard to see

That's the plan right now, but I have a 1 inch thick acrylic rod, clear.. or a ¼ inch pink, used for pointing out frags. One seems overkill, ¼ would be obnoxiously bright.

 

[jmckdvm]

That looks really nice! Is it all mounted on a pvc pipe attached to a bulkhead?

 

[Wilson]

That looks really nice! Is it all mounted on a pvc pipe attached to a bulkhead?

Yes it is. And yes I'm afraid of the glass cracking haha. As suggested above, I'll likely add a piece of clear acrylic rod at the end of the rock to alleviate some of the downward weight. Hope it can still maintain the floating illusion though.

 

[jmckdvm]

What did you use to plug the bulkhead? (I guess you could cap the end of the pipe too).
Good job!

 

[Wilson]

What did you use to plug the bulkhead? (I guess you could cap the end of the pipe too).
Good job!

You know, it was the weirdest thing. I was trying and trying to find a 1 inch plug, instead of a cap. Couldn't find any online or hardware stores. Considered doing a ball valve set up coming out the side so I can drain the tank for water changes too.. couldn't really find anything that size. So late last night I'm sitting on the couch staring at my display, as we all do.. zoned out and my hand is fiddling with something. I look down and wth, it's a 1 inch plug. Glad we all hoard random things.

 

[jmckdvm]

Glad I saw your thread. I will definitely keep this in mind for my next build.....which I have been planning in my mind for years! I think I would incorporate it in with a more conventional aquascape, perhaps to fill in some "hard-to-reach" areas. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Hockeynut]

I think you could put a 5” x5” piece of acrylic on the outside of the glass to help spread the point load out then you would be fine

 

[Wilson]

I think you could put a 5” x5” piece of acrylic on the outside of the glass to help spread the point load out then you would be fine

Contemplated that. I think aesthetically that would be even worse than the acrylic rod haha.

 

[Hockeynut]

Contemplated that. I think aesthetically that would be even worse than the acrylic rod haha.

You could use black acrylic and make it round so it just looks like a bigger washer on the bulkhead I don’t think that would look too bad I think the acrylic rod will get full of Coraline and eventually take away from the luck of floating rock work