Rock directly on glass: pressure points?

cowfootball

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I built my rock structure on some cardboard and when I transferred it to the tank I noticed that it does not sit nearly as flat as it looked on the cardboard. The entire >60 pound structure is resting on what looks to be 10 or 11 points in the rock.

In my many hours of videos on the topic I didn't actually see this come up. I know some people use perfected base rock but I didn't buy any and was impatient... so here we are. Is this as big of a deal as I think it is? How do I go about fixing this?

I was thinking of just yoloing it and when I place the sand around it using a popsicle stick to push sand under to give it some more even support.

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exnisstech

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you'll be fine. I've been piling hundreds of pounds of rock on bare bottom for years in multiple tanks with no issues

EDIT: IMO eggcrate on the bottom is a detritus trap with no way to keep it clean. I like to keep a powerhead down low so it blows under the rocks. If your using sand it would be fine but not needed, dump it in and start filling .
 
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cowfootball

cowfootball

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some use egg crate to put beneath rocks to help even out the "pressure points" - for me, i just left on the glass and moved the sand around those points.

That's kind of the direction I was leaning, maybe just using a popsicle stick to push the sand under to give it a more even base when I'm laying the substrate.
 

mues

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I'm not nearly as worried about my 200lbs of rock as I am my 1300lbs of water on the glass :grimacing-face:
 
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