by Dr_DBW

The reef support will also work as a mechanism to keep larger organisms from disturbing the lower layers of the sand bed (in particular sand sifting gobies). The parts used for construction are as follows;

2 x 1200mm x 600mm x 12mm Opal Eggcrate

This is the sheet size of the egg crate as purchased from the manufacturer. Two pieces had to be purchased to cover the bottom of the tank completely.

400mm x 100mm PVC Piping

Cut to 35mm lengths. This is the support structure for the egg crate. Used 12 in total, 6 per sheet of egg crate. These are located at even intervals across the egg crate.

? x 32mm PVC Piping

This is cut into length of 70mm with slits 10mm long cut into the end to allow it to fit into the egg crate. The reef rocks will sit on these lengths of piping.

Reef support diagram.

The egg crate has to be cut into two equal lengths to cover the base of the tank. Anything much longer that this and it is impossible to get the egg crate into the tank, because of the support rails on the top of the tank. The piece located at the overflow end of the tank has to be shaped so that it fits beside the overflow. The large diameter PVC piping was used as some was left over from the skimmer project and provides a more stable base than that of 25-32mm piping. The 32mm piping is attached to the egg crate by sawing slits around 10mm long into the end of the pipe to fit the egg crate. Considered gluing them to the egg crate with PVC cement, but this would occur as placing the rock into the tank so that the exact positioning is known. The glue and its fumes would not be exactly good for the rock or anything attached to it.

As it has ended up, now the eggcrate only extends for about 2/3rds of the length of the tank. Reason for this is that the reef structure is now only limited to 2/3rds of the tank and no longer keep any sand sifting gobies. The PVC piping on the top of the eggcrate didn't work all that well. However, the solid support from the eggcrate, without having to have the rock going all the way to the glass bottom works very well. It makes for a very stable reef structure that isn't weakened by the fish and sea cucumbers moving sand from around the rock base.

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