Joining LR

[mikmcgyver]

This may sound crazy but:
Would it be possible to join LR by drilling holes with a Hammer drill and "pinning" them together with acrylic rods or stainless steel pins? I found a site that sells acrylic rods fairly cheap and am tired of my crabs, snails and fish knocking over the smaller pieces of LR in my tank... Also my goal is to do a larger tank and it it is hard to locate extremely large pieces of LR( over 75lbs or so) All I see around is smaller pieces of LR, 15-20lbs or so.
I am looking for stability. I wanna create tunnels and ledges for the fish to swim in and through..

 

[rcdude1990]

i heard u can drill the LR and put in like pieces or plastic coat hangers in it
i wouldnt put any stainless steal in ur tank
thank about the coat hanger thing it should work

 

[ophiura]

Yes, you can do things like that. Someone where I used to work would create LR structures that you could hang (these were in deep cylindrical tanks so we could easily stack things from the bottom up). He drilled it, and used PVC threaded rod and PVC nuts to secure it.

 

[hefner413]

I saw somebody on here installed the rods in the tank when he was building the tank initially... then just drilled the rocks and put them on the rods. I would buy my LR online, unless you can get good deals at LFS's. I got my 120 lbs of LR online for $2 a pound after shipping. Not a bad price at all...

 

[dmitry]

I would not recommend plastic coat hangers - they are probably not strong enough (depending on how long a piece you were working with) and would bend and possibly fall apart. Acrylic rods, probably 1/2'', are great for this.

 

[mikmcgyver]

I got a guy that gives me LR for what he pays for it. So basically cost... Just all the pieces are about 15-20 lbs each and wanted to make some bigger pieces.
I found some 3/8" acrlyic rods.. You think that would be big enough? I have the link but am not sure if it is ok to post it on here...