DSB and LR

[Mihai]

I'm having a deep DSB (6" - Southdown) to aid in filtration and
denitrifications (and also because I afford it in my 90gal). The
problem I have involves putting LR on this DSB:

On one hand it is recommended to put the LR at the bottom of the tank
to help with the stability (as the LR will get in the sand anyway as the sand
gets sifted and/or dissolves).

On the other hand, I do not plan to lose the first 6'' of each of my
LR pieces that stay on the bottom.

I saw in Michael Paletta's "The new marine aquarium" some stands made
of cpvc, but they don't seem too stable. Any help would be
appreciated. And by the way, if I end up putting something below the
LR, I absolutely do NOT WANT to see it.

 

[MI0706]

Mihai: In my 55 gal with a DSB (approximately 6"), I used base rock. It was something like $1.49 per pound. I grabbed 40 lbs of base rock, put it on the glass bottom and filled in around it and over the top of it with LS and DS. This provided a great base for my LR.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I have used "dead" rock and fake rock under the LR. A pvc structure can also be made perfectly strong, if done correctly. One thing you could try is get very fat pvc 4 or 6 inch pipe, cut it into short segments of a few inches and set the rock on that. You can keep them below the top of the sand, and you won't have to hide as much LR in the sand...

 

[taikonaut]

My PVC pipe are covered with coralline algae, but yeah, it is still not very pretty due to its uniform shape. Rock is not that heavy underwater, and I use 1" and 3/4" pipe to lift up the rock from the sand.

 

[Mihai]

Cool prices for base rock. Unfortunately there is none around that is so cheap and to order it it will be more expensive just to ship. I guess that I'm stuck with the large diameter PVC pipes. I'll try to hide them as good as I can

Thanks,
Mihai