Rock stacking for FOWLR

[Bigflatus]

I have noticed in pictures I see online that most people have their live rock stacked against the back wall of the aquarium. In my setup, 55gals with 65lbs of rock I tried to stack the rocks in the middle to give the fish room to swim behind it.
The main problem with this is that it is a lot less stable. In fact my clown fish has taken it upon himself to do some re-arranging and caused a avalanche.
So I guess my question is does having the rock stacked against the back wall create a big dead spot, or how do most of you with a FOWLR have your system setup?

 

[swreefer]

Use some underwater epoxy to attch the pieces together. This will help stabilize the structure. Just bond the pieces where they touch. Onece it hardens you should have a structure that the fish won't be able to knock down.

 

[Bigflatus]

How long does that stuff take to dry? Is it toxic at all?

 

[swreefer]

Underwater it is about 1/2 hour for it to harden pretty well. It is non-toxic. I like the TLF pink type but there is a type (Aquamend) that Home Depot sells that is a lot cheaper.

 

[Mac1]

Rather than wonder about the toxicity of your reef epoxy (one's sold for the aquarium trade are generally harmless), just use plastic Zip ties. Certainly cheap and easy to get. To avoid dead spots in the back of my tank, I place powerheads in the back to blow water around. Either make sure they are somewhere you can get to them easily (gotta clean em once in a while), or make sure they have a good prefiltering system. I have a small Eheim buried in the back of my tank, get back there and clean it once or twice a year. Been working great for me for 3 years now.

- Mac

 

[M.E.Milz]

The 2-part epoxies works fine, they harden within 10-15 minutes, and are fully cured overnight.

You may also want to try and track down some Tonga branch rock (looks like tree branches). This stuff is great for building a stable rockwork that allows plenty of circulation. The trick is to lean the "branches" against the back wall, and then stack your other rock between the branches.