Is your live rock ON the sand or IN it?

[Hal1]

I searched the old posts on this topic, but the votes were 3 to 3, so I'll try again:

How many of you have your live rock sitting on the surface of the sand (or an inch or two down) vs. sitting on the glass with sand filled around it?

I'll grant you that the structure is probably more sturdy if the rock is sitting on the glass, but what would I do if I decide to rearrange my rock? I wouldn't want to disturb the DSB, would I?

I think the only fish on my wish list that might be a digger is a firefish (the rest are butterflys, angels, tangs, chromis, cardinal, clown, 6 line wrasse, and niger trigger).

 

[ShipMate]

Mine is sitting on the sand, with the reasoning that: more exposed rock = more biofiltration. Covered rock is basically dead. no problems as far as stability if carefully arranged imo.

 

[Reefscap]

I would put the rock on top.YOU WILL rearange the rock some day,I'ts just somthing you will do.Better yet put the rock on top of 4 inch pvc.

 

[Anonymous]

Set it on the sand unless you want to do a lot of added work for nothing. What are the advantges of the bottom or a pvc rack?

 

[pez]

I have a rack allows water flow around the rock and over the entire sand bed. Don't see too much PVC racks on the reefs though

 

[Chucker]

Got my LR set up both ways. I've got a pistol shrimp who tunnels around, so I've got some LR on top, some touching the bottom, and some partially embedded in teh sand by design. As far as I'm concerned I think that some LR buried in the sand creates another microhabitat for critters to populate, and gives me a better shot at high diversity.

 

[esmithiii]

On my 55 I put it on the glass, then added the sand. The problem is that if you put it on the sand then burrowing fauna can cause the whole thing to topple. I found that since only the bottom rocks are burried, rearrainging is quite easy.

On my 180G I built a PVC frame and I am stacking the rock on it (the rock arrived yesterday so I am still re-arranging)

 

[esmithiii]

The rack allows you to tie the liverock down. If you place the rock on top of the sand, two problems arrise: 1) the sand is compacted where the rock sits on it reducing the effectiveness of the DSB (I don't necessarily think it is a big deal, but others have commented on this( and 2) burrowing animals, even pods, can cause whole sections to topple. The PVC elevates the rock off the bottom and keeps it from toppling- the best of both worlds. It also aids in aquascaping.

Some people use egg crate instead of PVC.

Ernie