Rock or sand 1st?

[Charley75]

Just curious what the norm is these days. Still in the planning phase (been out about 12 years) of my 90 gal mixed reef. I’m planning on about 5” DSB. I think last time I did this I added the sand 1st, and then kinda pushed by bottom layer of LR down into the sand a bit. Should I just do the same as before, or put rock directly on the glass 1st?
Thanks

 

[James M]

IMO
rock first and then sand. Give you extra stability because the sand holds them in place

 

[Xam]

IMO
rock first and then sand. Give you extra stability because the sans holds them in place

Yup, I agree. My midas blenny has found a wonderful cave under one of my base rocks that he digs sand out of every day. My leopard wrasse has found another just like it and is buried each night.

More stability adding the rock first +++

 

[Justin Cook]

I'm just here to agree with everyone else. Rock first and then sand for stability. Even if you don't plan of having critters that will burrow under them, the sand will still get moved around somehow and having a stable base for your rock work will save you plenty of heartache.

 

[jtl]

Sand first, protects the bottom glass from the rocks while you are aquascaping.

 

[Xam]

Sand first, protects the bottom glass from the rocks while you are aquascaping.

Truth. I think some are putting hardboard down first, then rock, then sand. I dont have experience with that though, but I'm sure someone around here has and can answer questions.

 

[RJinPV]

Rock first. If you stack rocks on top of rocks and then a sand digging blenny gets in there the rock work will come tumbling down. Second reason: if you get tired of the sand because it becomes a detritus trap or you just want to change it out, then you can siphon it out and replace without disturbing all the rocks and coral.

 

[Charley75]

I never had any stability in the past, but just curious what the majority did. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Rscott]

Are you glueing

 

[SeaJay]

I had to redo my aquascape and didn’t remove the sand. No I have a diamond goby who has toppled some of the base rocks. Going to be a pain to fix.

I’ll always go rocks first.

 

[SeaJay]

Sand first, protects the bottom glass from the rocks while you are aquascaping.

Just don’t drop them and you’re fine. Even if you did drop one, I think it’s highly unlikely it’s going to break the glass.