# Foating rock, how do I get them to sink?



## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Hmmm... maybe let it float for a while in the hopes that it gets water logged?

Depending on how exposed the rock bottoms are, you could maybe take a more dense rock and hot-glue it to the bottom of the feather rock to weigh it down. Then just fill substrate up to hide the weight rock.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

Bake it in the oven at about 200°F for 20 minutes (smaller rocks take less time), remove using oven mitts, and carefully place in a pail of water. This opens the pores a bit and allows the Feather rock to absorb more water. It should fully sink this way.

I've used this method before and found it completely safe. I have also boiled them in water in a turkey fryer pot, outside only, and had the exact same results.


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## drondy (Apr 8, 2014)

Nice ideas!!! let me ask, will hot glue cause any problems in an aquarium environment?


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

drondy said:


> Nice ideas!!! let me ask, will hot glue cause any problems in an aquarium environment?


Not that I'm aware of. I've seen it used before, and I plan on using it to stick pieces of wood together to make a tree. 

It's not really "glue" like elmer's glue or something that has solvents and things that need to dry and might leech out. Hot "glue" is basically just a type of low melting temperature plastic.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

If you can't get it waterlogged enough to sink via boiling, I'd go ahead and try to secure it to some other piece of rock, like a slate tile or something. The featherock/pumice is rough enough in texture that almost any glue should be able to adhere to it, but you might have trouble with the slate or whatever. mechanical fasteners (screws, zip ties, etc.) would work pretty well, and you could just drive a screw into the pumice w/out a pilot hole or anything.

If none of those work, you might be able to carve out a hollow and fill it with cheap sand/gravel, and then secure it with some epoxy or silicone.

As to hot glue, I haven't used it since I was a kid, but I think I've seen quite a few other aquarium projects that use it, and I don't think there is anything that could leach out and be harmful. Mostly I don't think it will hold-up long term, but if you have a rough enough rock, it might work.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

I've never gotten hot glue to work long term underwater. It just seems to let go of the surfaces eventually.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Use silicone or super glue gel to glue things together. Might have better luck


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

Are you trying to attach the Feather rock together or something else?


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## drondy (Apr 8, 2014)

I will be trying to attach them together and some alone on the bottom of the tank. Attaching them together would still have the problem of the whole thing rising to the top unless there is some way of weighting it down to the bottom.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

I PM'd you.

The only way I've been able to attach the Feather rock together is by drilling holes with a carbide bit, inserting dowels and drilling matching holes in a second rock. It's difficult to get the exact layout correct so I only did a couple.

I don't recommend trying to weigh down any buoyant pieces of Feather rock because if the heavy rock moves, that lighter piece with shoot up to the surface and probably break something.

Either boil the rock or bake it in the oven. Just remember, once the rock dries out completely, it will float again.


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## drondy (Apr 8, 2014)

Thanks Deeda, I will be baking this weekend LOL. I'll let you know how it goes.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

The first time I baked instead of boiled them, the boyfriend commented that whatever I had in the oven sure smelled odd and when I pulled the rocks out, he just shook his head.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Good luck with your efforts.
As an aside, I'm a long time discus-keeper, and I've never seen, or heard of, using feather rock in a discus tank.
That's very interesting - would love to follow your progress and see pics of how it looks !
Perhaps I might even be able to help you a bit ensuring your whole project is a good fit for discus-keeping. Please don't hesitate to call on me if you have any questions concerning a good set-up for discus.


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## drondy (Apr 8, 2014)

Discus Paul, thanks so much for the help as I will most likely need it.

Well, I would like to report that I took Deeda's suggestion to Bake the rocks. Here is my report:

The rocks were about football size and had been floating in my 72gal for about two weeks hoping they would sink. I heated the oven to 250degrees and placed two rocks at a time on a cookie sheet a placed them in the oven for 30 minutes. I filled the kitchen sink with water. when I took them out of the oven, I placed each one very carefully in the water. One took a couple seconds and then sank. The other rock continued to float.

Happy and disappointed at the same time, I took the rock that sank and placed it in the aquarium. I took the other rock and placed it on the cookie sheet along with another rock and repeated the process. When I took these out and placed them in the sink they both floated. Well I was not a happy camper at this point. I was thinking that this may not be working because the rock were wet when I put them in the oven. While I was pondering what to do, I looked in the sink and both the rocks had sunk to the bottom.

Lesson learned - give it some time in the sink after baking and don't rush it.

I finished baking the rest of the rocks and everything is good. I would like to thank deeda for the wonderful tip. This is a great place to solve issues.

Cheers, Dean


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

Dean, I'm glad it worked out for you though I didn't think 3 minutes would have been long enough.

Thanks for the update, I've been wondering if you had a chance to bake rocks.


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## drondy (Apr 8, 2014)

That was supposed to be 30 minutes, sorry


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## greaser84 (Feb 2, 2014)

drondy said:


> Nice ideas!!! let me ask, will hot glue cause any problems in an aquarium environment?


I use hot glue to make filter pads for my hob filter's no problems what so ever.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

Thanks for reporting in on the baking/soaking method of waterlogging pumice.

I've got a boulder that's partially cut up that I'm thinking of using for a couple projects in the future, so I might end up trying that method.


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