Do you lean rock on glass?

[rocketeer]

Just wondering. I carefully stacked my LR so that you can see all the way behind the reef. No rock leans on the glass. I guess I was worried about damaging the glass in my 120 gallon tank. The glass is 3/8" thick.

Now I'm worried about reefquakes. Also I would like to stack the rock a little higher. That's tough to do with a narrow free standing pile of rocks.

So here's the question. Do most people lean the rocks on the back glass? Glue them together? How do you get rocks piled almost up to the top of your aquariums?

Jack

[captexas]

Jack -
It is good to have some room behind your rock work to allow water to flow freely through all sides. This improves the filtration ability of the live rock and helps prevent any troublesome deadspots.

You can lean your rock against the back glass and it will be alright. The only issue with doing so is that the rock can scratch the glass. Some people do glue rock pieces together, but that also restricts you from moving things around in the future as most people end up doing over time. It is important to have your rock situated so that it is stable and won't fall over it a fish or turbo snail bumps it.

An easy way to help support the rockwork is to use 1/2in. pvc and fittings. You can build cubes or other shapes with it for the rock to lean against and support the higher rock in the tank. The rock on the end of the tank can angle towards the back to hide the pvc. It will get covered in coraline algae overtime anyways. Hope that helps!

Chris

[Markster]

I lean LR on the back glass at points as opposed to no gaps across the back. This allows for light to pass down and for inserting the tongs, etc. when you have a small piece of coral or something like that falls between the rocks.