I just set up my first marine tank, and started putting live rock in it. I've stacked it as loosely as I can, but in order to keep it really loose, have it leaning on the back wall. Is this okay, or how is the proper way to stack the rock?
How to stack live rock?
- Thread starter Jrpsaros
- Start date
BettaFishMommy
finkids make me happy :-)
:rofl:
yet i know exactly what you mean. stacking slate in a fw tank is like tetris too! lol.
yes, its fine on the back glass, so long as the glass isn't cracking, then you need to move it. You can pack it down a little, to make it more stable, but if you like it lose, then thats fine to. And, AFAIK, there isn't yet a "proper way" to stack LR 
The best advise I ever got concerning rock building….think tripod. Put down three medium size rocks and then a larger one on top of these “feet.” Continue building. This way you get nice little caves for your fish to swim in and out of and it doesn’t look like the Berlin Wall. (Am I dating myself? “Mommy, what’s a Berlin Wall; does it have anything to do with a Berlin skimmer?”).
Not sure what you mean by loose but you want it to be stable. Other than using an epoxy or drilling holes in the rock and securing with acrylic dowls you should try to connect rocks that naturally fit together. Leaning rocks on the glass is ok but too much weight on a single pressure point can lead to a crack.
Sometimes it's like Tetris and sometimes it's like Jenga (you want to avoid the later)
Sometimes it's like Tetris and sometimes it's like Jenga (you want to avoid the later
)
I would think stacking LR is more like the opposite of tetris - you want lots of holes and caves underneath, behind, between the rocks both for cover for the livestock, and for good water flow. If you pack it in as tight as you can, you're going to end up with dead spots in the rock pile unless you have insanely high flow to force water through the stack. Leaning against the back wall is fine, just try to keep it clear of the sides so you have room to scrape algae. I also recommend starting with a layer of eggcrate on the glass bottom, getting in a layer of rock then putting the sand in, so the rockpiles aren't directly on top of the sand. If they are, and you get something that likes to dig, you could end up with a toppled rock pile if there's any excavation under it.