How to stop large pipes from moving and getting wedged against the glass?

[Irecruitfish]

I was thinking to stack them all in the center with a zip tie(2 bottom 2 top). Will be unsightly until the plants grow taller.

 

[Sassafras]

If you do the zip tie thing, you can improve the look and stability by drilling small holes in the pipes, orienting all the holes to the center and zip tying the pipes together from the inside rather than putting the zip ties around the outside. Could then follow up by coating the pipes with some waterproof spray foam and sculpting it to look like rock, even sprinkling sand on it to match your substrate if you wanted to.

 

[Flaring Afro]

I personally would try to give them a buried footing. Possibly with a small ½" PVC pipe running along it that is shoved into the gravel, making the small pipe full of gravel. I've never tried to cement piping together in this way though.

Edit: just noticed the depth and that's it's sand, unless that tank is huge. What I said would be quite visible. You could still do this with vertical PVC slices but I'm not sure how well that will work.

 

[jjohnwm]

I rarely used single chunks of PVC because of their tendency to float and drift around. Much better to cement a few pieces together into some kind of 3D construction that is more stable. Use the clear PVC solvent cement, just a few dabs are enough to secure a couple or three pieces together. You can also smear a thin coat of the cement all over the outside of the pipe and then sprinkle it with gravel, or just roll the thing in gravel (almost like breading a fish fillet before frying). The gravel conceals the very artificial-looking pipe and also weights it down to a useful degree.

You can also cut the pipes into shorter pieces and then attach them together using T's, Y's, X's or other couplings. These can be glued together permanently (and even gravel-coated as mentioned above), or they can just be left as is, allowing them to be pulled apart at a later date if necessary.

Depending upon the size of the fish, you can also saw the pipe pieces in half lengthwise, producing two semi-circular hides from each piece of pipe. Much easier to weigh them down or brace them against rocks, wood or each other to keep them from moving around.

 

[Irecruitfish]

If you do the zip tie thing, you can improve the look and stability by drilling small holes in the pipes, orienting all the holes to the center and zip tying the pipes together from the inside rather than putting the zip ties around the outside. Could then follow up by coating the pipes with some waterproof spray foam and sculpting it to look like rock, even sprinkling sand on it to match your substrate if you wanted to.

Solid idea thanks... I'll look into the waterproof spray foam.

 

[Irecruitfish]

I rarely used single chunks of PVC because of their tendency to float and drift around. Much better to cement a few pieces together into some kind of 3D construction that is more stable. Use the clear PVC solvent cement, just a few dabs are enough to secure a couple or three pieces together. You can also smear a thin coat of the cement all over the outside of the pipe and then sprinkle it with gravel, or just roll the thing in gravel (almost like breading a fish fillet before frying). The gravel conceals the very artificial-looking pipe and also weights it down to a useful degree.

You can also cut the pipes into shorter pieces and then attach them together using T's, Y's, X's or other couplings. These can be glued together permanently (and even gravel-coated as mentioned above), or they can just be left as is, allowing them to be pulled apart at a later date if necessary.

Depending upon the size of the fish, you can also saw the pipe pieces in half lengthwise, producing two semi-circular hides from each piece of pipe. Much easier to weigh them down or brace them against rocks, wood or each other to keep them from moving around.

Any chance you can send me the link of the cement to use that's safe for aquarium usage?

I was going to set it up like this but would certainly prefer the cement glue versus doing the zip ties because the fire real sometimes swims like a maniac and I don't want it to get cut on any sharp edges. This is why I removed a lot of the rocks ahead in their previously but then again I had more sharper edge rocks so I will probably look into some smooth polished pebbles larger pebbles

 

[jjohnwm]

In your earlier pic, those looked like grey PVC pipes, which are easily glued together with any PVC solvent cement; I've used both the grey and the clear cement for those. But that last pic shows ABS (black) pipe, which uses a different solvent; the only type I've seen is a horrid mustard-yellow stuff which works well but looks terrible.

There is also a transition cement, used to glue PVC to ABS. I haven't used it in years, don't remember what colour it is.

Sorry, no links; I don't order stuff like this online, just pluck it off my endless shelf of assorted DIY junk in the basement...which is stocked from my local hardware store. Be aware that whichever cement you buy will eventually harden in the can after it's been opened. No matter how tightly you close the container nor how carefully you clean the threads on the cover, after a year or two it's usually pretty useless. Buy it in small quantities; you don't need a lot for this project...unless you go for the coating with cement and then sand option, in which case you will go through a fair bit..

I'd let any of these solvents dry and cure for at least a week just to be safe, but I've used them for many years without any problems regarding toxicity.

Just occurred to me; if you roughen up the surface of those pipes, you can likely use 2-part clear epoxy for any of these purposes as well. It might not be ideal for creating waterproof couplings in a run of pipe, but for just holding the pieces together and/or securing sand or gravel to them, it would be perfect. And it won't go bad sitting on the shelf!

 

[Irecruitfish]

In your earlier pic, those looked like grey PVC pipes, which are easily glued together with any PVC solvent cement; I've used both the grey and the clear cement for those. But that last pic shows ABS (black) pipe, which uses a different solvent; the only type I've seen is a horrid mustard-yellow stuff which works well but looks terrible.

There is also a transition cement, used to glue PVC to ABS. I haven't used it in years, don't remember what colour it is.

Sorry, no links; I don't order stuff like this online, just pluck it off my endless shelf of assorted DIY junk in the basement...which is stocked from my local hardware store. Be aware that whichever cement you buy will eventually harden in the can after it's been opened. No matter how tightly you close the container nor how carefully you clean the threads on the cover, after a year or two it's usually pretty useless. Buy it in small quantities; you don't need a lot for this project...unless you go for the coating with cement and then sand option, in which case you will go through a fair bit..

I'd let any of these solvents dry and cure for at least a week just to be safe, but I've used them for many years without any problems regarding toxicity.

Just occurred to me; if you roughen up the surface of those pipes, you can likely use 2-part clear epoxy for any of these purposes as well. It might not be ideal for creating waterproof couplings in a run of pipe, but for just holding the pieces together and/or securing sand or gravel to them, it would be perfect. And it won't go bad sitting on the shelf!

Thanks will look into this... I'm thinking to start off with zip ties and getting more tall plants to somewhat hide this.