PVC Pipe

[willist0]

Has anyone heard of using short pieces of PVC pipe stuck in the sand to keep live rock ever so slightly elevated above the sand for better water circulation around the rocks?

[CStrickland]

yup
people also make little braces out of acrylic, or starboard cut to the shape of the rock.
Try searching for posts about "rock lifts"

EDIT: the forum search doesn't work great for more than one word. for things like that I google: "rock lifts" site:www.reefcentral.com

[Ron Reefman]

Has anyone heard of using short pieces of PVC pipe stuck in the sand to keep live rock ever so slightly elevated above the sand for better water circulation around the rocks?

I'll go you one better.

I made egg crate platforms and raised them up off the sand with PVC legs. So about 90% of my LR is off the sand by an inch or two. I even did a second level about 4" higher so there would be more space behind my rock wall. I just use smaller rocks around the edges to hide the gap. I also used a 6" diameter piece of PVC pipe to create a big cave. I have 2 fish who sleep in there every night.

Left side:
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/RonReefman/P5310024.jpg (http://s395.photobucket.com/user/RonReefman/media/P5310024.jpg.html)

Right side:
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/RonReefman/P5310025.jpg (http://s395.photobucket.com/user/RonReefman/media/P5310025.jpg.html)

Over all view:
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/RonReefman/P5310020.jpg (http://s395.photobucket.com/user/RonReefman/media/P5310020.jpg.html)


It gives sand loving critters more room to live and play. It makes for water flow under the rocks so less likely 'dead spots' in the sand where cyano can get started. The tank pictured above has been set up and running for 5 years now and I wouldn't do a large rockscape without raising it off the sand now that I've seen how well it works.

Here is how it looks now:
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/RonReefman/P8160104%20R2_zpsm3m3ixo0.jpg (http://s395.photobucket.com/user/RonReefman/media/P8160104%20R2_zpsm3m3ixo0.jpg.html)

BTW, in 5 years I've had to do a lot of fragging to keep corals from growing all over each other! The above shot was taken after I made about 30 small colonies and over 75 frags.

If you have any questions about all the other PVC, just ask.

[KStatefan]

That looks rally cool. The only thing i can still see in the after is the cave.

[toothybugs]

And I just got one more idea for my ongoing build - thanks folks!

[Ron Reefman]

And normally you can't even see the entrance rim of the PVC cave. But I've been moving rock and corals since the last massive frag event a few weeks before I took this photo. BTW, I'm really big on making flow in the tank VERY random. That's why the OceanMotion system with 3 of the 4 pipes having Revolution heads that are at the water's surface half way between the front and back glass.

[CStrickland]

I also think this would be a really cool application of 3d printing
you could crank out whatever little plastic lifts you want

[nuxx]

LOL Ron that's awesome!

[Bent]

Dang Ron.

That is so cool, it's a shame it got covered up with rocks and fish and crap.