Sand & Live Rock placement

[Fryman]

I have heard that the liverock should be directly on the bottom of the tank (touching the glass/acrylic) and then fill in w/ sand. The reasoning provided is that if sand is under the rock it could shift, causing a rockslide & possibly even crushing livestock.

Some people glue a short length of PVC on the bottom of the rock so that the rock is "held" on top of the sandbed & you don't have a bunch of live rock hidden under sand.

Then I've read about people who put eggcrate on the bottom of their tank, rock goes on this and then sand. Different reasoning was provided; the eggcrate was for protecting the bottom of the tank from scratches.

Finally I know that there are people who put sand in first and then rock on top. My friend did this and when I asked him about it he said it will settle over time and doesn't matter. This is probably the easiest method.

So, what did you do in your DT?

 

[mjwz06]

Instead of PVC or eggcrate, you can also lay a piece of acrylic down to protect your tank bottom.

 

[bluebill]

Now that is a good idea!

 

[porksmash]

I put eggcrate under my large piles of rock to protect from scratches, but nothing under the smaller rocks. I added my sand after rocks.

 

[snorvich]

Is your primary concern scratches? Or is it water flow?

 

[davocean]

I lay eggcrate on the bottom, then a thin layer of sand, then my rock structures that are pillars w/ acrylic rods mounted to acrylic sheets, and then I fill sand in around that.
Even our 6.0 quake last Easter here didn't knock anything over or break anything(knocking on wood) and my pillars were still standing just fine.

 

[Fryman]

Is your primary concern scratches? Or is it water flow?

Scratches on the front glass from a rockslide, & crushing livestock. I don't see how water flow would be affected.

I'm upgrading from a 55Gal to a 90Gal. I put my rocks in first because that's what I was told at the time. It was a PITA putting the sand in after rock was already there. Now I have to re-do my aquascape & trying to decide how to go about it.

 

[hollister]

You want to build up the rock. U usually place the bigger pieces on the bottom glass then build up. I use PVC to create open areas which could be placed on the bottom glass. What u dont want is a space under the sand for debris to collect. Sand on the bottom glass...

 

[biecacka]

BB!!!!
lol

 

[zachfishman]

Is there any concern with placing large (heavy) amounts of LR directly on the tank bottom? I don't care if the bottom of my tank is scratched, but you've gotta wonder about creating small points of high weight pressure on glass...