Stacking many smaller dry rocks/coral skeletons?

[Levinson]

Greetings,
When putting in the dry rocks, would stacking a bunch of smaller rocks (about 3~10cm) into a pile/mound also work? Can I expect it to do the thing the more usual sized dry rocks would do?
Or would it just become a big detritus trap? Would it be better just to go with the bigger sized rocks?
It is for a fish only setup and the rocks will be placed in the sump. The plan is to gradually replace the filter media that are currently in the sump with the rocks.

I would like the rocks to provide
- habitat for the copepods (tisbe) to grow when I put them into the tank in the future,
- the surface area for biofiltration and if at all possible, have anaerobic bacteria growth that can contribute to at least some nitrate removal

It would be in the sump so I'm not really after the looks.
Also, I do have an algae scrubber in the sump and sometimes I get bits of algae broken off from the screen. I'm concerned that these bits of algae might get caught in between the rocks and become nitrogen factory. Should I be worried?

Cheers.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Honestly, I think it’s fine. If you have pretty good flow down there I think the detritus won’t be an issue. Watch your nitrogen and if it rises, then take them out and try something else. I don’t think anything too bad can happen with this setup and I’ve had stacks of pebbles in my sump forever that I use as frag plugs, never been an issue.

 

[Levinson]

Thanks for the input footgal, I will give it a shot once I get my hands on some dry rocks.

 

[homer1475]

I have rubble, and smaller rocks in my sump for the same reasons. While detritus does get trapped in the rubble, I just take them out and shake them in my WC bucket once in a while.