+Mitch Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 I was curious as to what most people do in regard to placing their LR in their tank: 1) directly on the bottom 2) on eggcrate 3) use pvc pipe stubs on end 4) <fill in the blank> I was originally gonna do #2, but then just learned about #3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzobob Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 Directly on the bottom on my glass nano's. On eggcrate on my acrylic nano, and will be on eggcrate on my 120. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 I put mine on top of the sand and pushed it down to bury it in the sand. Personally, I don't care if the bottom of the tank gets scratched so I didn't bother putting anything underneath the LR. I've read about lots of people using PVC to support the rock, but most of them pulled it out after a while as the pipe served as large crab/detritus traps as well as a good home for someone who got the kraken worm in their tank! I went the acrylic rod route on vwmike's new 90G this weekend and I'm excited to see how it turns out as we don't have all the rock yet so we didn't take time to aquascape the tank fully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 I did a PVC structure. To avoid the nutrient sink I made the entire stucture a closed loop and have a maxi-1200 pumping water through it. The water exits through the holes I made to zip tie rock too. I am admitedly a bit nervouse about super huge polychaetes but it will at least make a good story if I get one. My build is over in the DIY section if you are inerested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 #1 for me. I went this route since I was planning on having a jawfish and pistol shrimp/goby pair. Both dig/tunnel a lot and I didn't want any risk of toppling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted September 21, 2009 Author Share Posted September 21, 2009 here's where I read about #3... he's doing 5.5" DSB using 2" pvc standoffs: http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/member-tank-projects/412-amphibious-135-gal-reef.html see post #17 my plan is to have a 3"+ DSB (is 120 lbs enough for a 90g?), and was worried that the eggcrate would leave small pockets of sand which wouldn't get shifted thru by the DSB critters. using the standoffs as described w/ holes above and below seem to facilitate movement. as far as placing LR directly onto the bottom, i was worried about the pressure points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 I relieved the pressure point issue by putting the sand down first. Pushing the rock down into the sand compresses the sand under the LR and helps spread out the load. There might be some points where the LR touches the tank bottom, but i'm not worried about excess pressures as the tank can take a lot more than the pressure of rock sitting on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdavis735 Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 i put my rock directly on the bottom and then put sand around it.this is supposed to be a good way of doing it to keep and tunnels from being created and causing a collapse of rock work.after almost 1 year in this tank i have never had a rock shift(On the bottom). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 I did the same as reefpug, i added the sand then pushed my rock down to the bottom, i have a pistol/goby pair and they dig like crazy to the point where i have very little sand under the rock anymore. but nothing has toppled over so all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 directly on bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atxryan Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 directly on bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddybluewater Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Sand first. I didn't want the rock directly on the glass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 You are all wrong! You need to suspend the rock using fishing line and eye bolts into the ceiling. That way no rock touches anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 You are all wrong! You need to suspend the rock using fishing line and eye bolts into the ceiling. That way no rock touches anything. spoken like a true artist. That'd be interesting to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Instructions on how to do that are in Calfo's Coral Propagation book. Thought it was a pretty neat idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 How about some rare earth magnets repulsing each other (one set on the bottom of the rocks, one set under the tank glass bottom). That way you could have levitating rock. Of course, then you would have to worry about the sides of the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I liked a propagation thing i saw in a book. Instead of suspending the live rock from strings suspend all of your corals from strings. Then your corals are free floating and can grow in all directions, thus doubling your grow rate. put all your live rock in the sump. I'm imagining elementry school science experiments with sugar rock candy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I liked a propagation thing i saw in a book. Instead of suspending the live rock from strings suspend all of your corals from strings. Then your corals are free floating and can grow in all directions, thus doubling your grow rate. put all your live rock in the sump. I'm imagining elementry school science experiments with sugar rock candy. Would they really grow more than on rocks? I would suspect that due to lack of light, you still would not get any growth on the side facing the bottom of the tank. On the plus side, you would not have to worry about hermit crabs attacking corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddybluewater Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 You can fix that by putting mirrors on the bottom and run a BB tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Supposedly it works really well with just a white sand substrate to reflect light with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 "On the plus side, you would not have to worry about hermit crabs attacking corals." i dont know about that, they mite crawl down the string i have acrobatic hermits they crawl up the darn seams on the tank, i even saw one riding a mexican turbo all the way to the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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