melev

Contemplating bare bottom?

No, once this part is ready, sand will fill in beneath the rock and hide the acrylic support system.

Hey Marc can you explain why you are supporting your rock this way? I can think of a few reason but just curious on your thought process. Also do you think it may trap unwanted waste between the bottom glass panel and acrylic base support?

PS waiting for the next update.

When I set up the 400g in early 2011, my buddy Wes came over and helped me create the acrylic support system that was buried in the sandbed. No-one ever saw it, and I never got around to writing the supporting article. At the Aquascaping presentation I did with Scott Fellman at MACNA last year, I did show images of this rack to the audience. This time, I'm taking better pictures and will do a full write up.

What you see is a teaser shot of the project. The foundation rock is supported on acrylic rods that are glued into a full sheet of 3/8" acrylic. The pressure is equalized across the panel. Once water and sand is in the tank, you'll never see it. The rockwork is very shallow at the moment because it is the foundation layer; the rest of the rocks are in the 215g with corals all over them. These will be stacked on top of the foundation. Putting rock on the sandbed only works initially, but can shift over time due to flow and livestock interaction. Placing rock on the bottom of the tank and adding sand merely wastes 3-4" of rock buried beneath the substrate. This way I can have a DSB and my rockwork won't move, no matter how many cucumbers process detritus beneath the structure.