Aquascaping? on the sand, on the glass, or pvc?

[LakeShow]

Im finally starting to pull everything together for my tank, i got my base rock today from reefcleaners.org (which looks great btw, thanks John!) and started playing around with aquascaping in my tank which doesnt have any sand in it yet, and it got me thinking, i plan to have about a 3" sandbed and at first was just planning on setting the rock on the glass and adding sand after, but after seeing the rock in the tank covering 3" of it just doesnt seem like the best way to go.

So my question is how does everyone start off there aquascape, does your rock sit on the glass, top of the sandbed, or do you use pvc sitting on the glass to prop it off the bottom?

I plan on having a goby/shrimp pair which i know will bulldoze my sand so i really dont want to just set it ontop of the sand.

Please let me know the best way to go would be on this.

Thanks

[reeftanknewbie]

Usually what I do is figure out how deep my sand bend will be. Then I cut 1.5" PVC pipe to about .5" longer then my planned sand bend. Add the sand, add the PVC pipe and carefully place my base rock on the pipe (long flat pieces of course work best). then build from there. If your building your own rock then put the pieces of PVC in before the rock dries so that you have a stable base to work with. This gives me space between my rock and sand for water movement and is very subtle and nearly unnoticeable. I have also used egg crating to build a platform or have seen people use there under gravel filter in similar fashion. harder to hide but works. My believe is to have as little dead space on your sand surface as possible. Hope this helps.

[ludnix]

I used a sheet of eggcrate and added my rock before the sand. This way the rock can't slide on the glass or sand. I have a pretty shallow sand bed and I almost never have seen the egg crate exposed.

[sowellj]

I used 1/2 inch acrylic rods and zip ties to build pillars, arches, and overhangs. For the bottom pieces I made 'legs' out of plastic coat hangers.

[JeF4y]

Originally Posted by ludnix

I used a sheet of eggcrate and added my rock before the sand. This way the rock can't slide on the glass or sand. I have a pretty shallow sand bed and I almost never have seen the egg crate exposed.

I did this too, but have about 3" of sand. I did it because I didn't want the rock on the glass and didn't want anything to be able to get under the rock since I didn't think it would be completely on the bottom of the tank.

[ReefMonkey13]

Originally Posted by ludnix

I used a sheet of eggcrate and added my rock before the sand. This way the rock can't slide on the glass or sand. I have a pretty shallow sand bed and I almost never have seen the egg crate exposed.

+1 on this . . I placed egg crates, rock then sand. I figure the egg crate will help distribute the weight of the rocks throughout the bottom glass and also prevent pressure points on it.

Good Luck

[KRASHPD]

Egg crate is the way to go. Put it down with about .5 inch space from the side glass. I then add just enough sand to fill all the eggcrate holes and pack it down. This prevents sand from moving around from flow. Then I aquascape the rocks onto of the eggcrate and add the remaining sand once I'm finished. You should ever seethe eggcrate unless you have very high flow and using sugar size sand.

[LakeShow]

Thanks for all the replies, seems like egg Crate is the way I'm going to do it, was planning on using it for a lid anyway so I'll grab an extra sheet. I was wondering how thick it is, can't seem to find it on line.

[JeF4y]

IIRC egg crate is around 1/2". May be 3/8"..