Live rock - directly on the sand?

[jcpetersen]

Here's another 'help the newbie' thread?

Should live rock be placed directly on the sand bed? Or on some sort of support to elevate it off of the substrate?

I've seen pictures with both methods used, and I just wanted to get some opinions.

 

[liquid]

I have mine directly on my sandbed and have had it that way since December 1999. No problems so far. Some people place them on PVC supports just in case their sandbed somehow shifts due to burrowing fish, etc. The worst case scenario is that your sandbed shifts enough to cause your entire rock structure to collapse and possibly kill some of your inhabitants or even break your tank. You probably could go either way depending on what you want to keep...

Shane

 

[NMreefer]

I have mine directly on the bed as well. I tried the PVC supports one time and ended up having a mass genocide of hermits. Seems they crawled through the holes in the LR and into the supports, never to come out. I'm sure it was something I had setup wrong, but none the less I didn't let history repeat itself.

Phillip

 

[uryy4me]

I tried setting mine on sections of PVC pipe and was unhappy with the results. I also found my rock being burried in the sand (and turning black) so what I did was to put egg crate on the pvc and place the rock on top of it...this seems to work well for me.

 

[lawndoctor]

FWIW I turned and gently pushed the first layer of rocks down through the sand until they were resting on the tank bottom.

 

[Len]

Elevating them isn't a bad idea for a little more mobility in the substrate, but to tell you the truth, mine all sit directly on the sand like most people's. I did kind of what lawndoctor did and have the rock somewhat buried for support, but not quiet to the bottom of my DSB.

9 years and no probs here.

 

[Anonymous]

I put the rock on the glass in my 75G, then added the sand. This is a stable base that will never crash due to burrowing animals.

I recently set-up a 37G tank and didn't want to waste money burying live rock in a 5 -6" DSB. So I used acrylic rods and plumbers epoxy to raise the rock off the bottom. I really like the way it turned out and will use this method in the future. I would suggest thicker rod for higher, heaver rock structures. Here is a thread that shows pics of this method.

Louey

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
I use both methods, and it really does not matter. Just personal taste.