gettin my rock off that darn sand

[rhidien]

So… this weekend I got the bright idea of putting my rock up on pylons to get it off the sand and hopefully create better flow throughout my tank. To do this, I cut pvc, drilled a bunch of holes in it so pods, water, worms, ect could get thru it and help maintain movement even thru the piping. Then I took lighting screens and cut holes in the plastic, to put the pvc thru, so they couldn’t tip over and would be all connected. I then put it on top of the sand, shoved the pvc thru the holes I had cut out of the plastic screen and into the sand. Then I carefully stacked my rock on top of the pvc pieces. At the time it seemed like a great idea, but now I’m a little concerned that the plastic lighting screen will help trap detritus in the sand. I plan to put a small layer of sand on top of the screen, but hope it doesn’t restrict turnover in my live sand and become overly anaerobic and clump. I really like the look of sand in a tank, my tank is about 7 months old now, with a sand bed of 3-4” and seems to be doing quite well so far. I was worried about it creating problems down the road, especially with so much rock sitting directly on top of it, but now I’m a little concerned that my great idea, may end up being the down fall of it. Any opinions, not on the value of a sandbed vs. bb, but as to weather or not you think the screen will restrict movement to much. The squares are probably a centimeter open, typical florescent lighting screen, so worms and pods in the sand should not be restricted at all by it.
Thanks,
Bryan

 

[wrightme43]

I dont think it will restrict flow. The Jaubert plenum system uses the exact same thing, just lower in the sand bed. Steve

 

[rhidien]

that's what I figured... I guess since it's sitting on top of my sand bed right now, I just visualized it becoming a detritus trap.

 

[MikeS]

hmmm....having a hard time picturing what you did....you put the eggcrate (screen) on top of the PVC then stacked the rocks on the eggcrate? How far above the sand bed does the eggcrate sit?

MikeS

 

[rhidien]

No, basically I took the egg crate/lighting screen and put it on top of the sand. I then broke out a couple of the squares to make holes just big enough to put the pvc pipe thru. I then cut/drilled and stuck the pipes into these holes to make pylons for my rock to sit on. Basically the egg crate just keeps the pvc pipes from moving around and causing a rock slide. Then I'm putting a thin layer of sand on top of the egg crate to cover it, both to look better and hopefully so it doesn't trap detritus in it, by catching it in the squares... instead it can roll along the top of the sand until it is broken down or skimmed. So, basically, right now it is sitting right on top of the sand, but soon will be, right under the sand.
While the egg crate is plenty big enough for all the bugs and such to move about in the sand, my concern after doing it was that it would restrict movement of the sand where it's been placed and cause clumping.

 

[rhidien]

Here's a quick 3d sketch I tossed together to better explain what I'm talking about.

 

[wrightme43]

A quick 3-d scetch huh? How in the world did you do that? Thats really cool.

 

[rhidien]

Thanks.. my full time job is a 3d artist, for video games. I tattoo part time, this is my main gig, so using a 3d max I modeled this out. Really, it only took, maybe 5 minutes at the most to throw together, since my description didn't seem to be completely conveying what I was talking about.... anyway, hopefully it won't cause me problems down the road! It's so stressful both on the corals and me taking everything out to rearrange the tank, especially since I have a 30" tall tank!