protection on the glass bottom?

[Bos]

I'm sure its been covered, does anyone do anything specific to protect the glass bottom for the rock's contact points, to protect glass and to distribute the load?
Even on a 100G tank, that's around 50-70lb of rock, pretty heavy.

I've seen small pieces of acrylic, egg crates, putty+glue, acrylic plate with rod...

 

[Murica]

Nope, my rock is directly on the glass. Glass is stronger than you think if the weight is spread out and on a flat surface. Just be very careful not to drop rocks on the glass. Most of the time you'll be fine, but you always run the possibility of it cracking after a big fall. And of course, if you put a layer of acrylic or something similar, it'll only make it stronger

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nope, my rock is directly on the glass. Glass is stronger than you think if the weight is spread out and on a flat surface. Just be very careful not to drop rocks on the glass. Most of the time you'll be fine, but you always run the possibility of it cracking after a big fall. And of course, if you put a layer of acrylic or something similar, it'll only make it stronger

I have seen people mention concern over rocks falling, but if the tank is filled, the water will likely “break its fall.”

EDIT, nonetheless, I do have Starboard covering my bare bottom :)

 

[Jase4224]

I used PVC pipe cut into rings for a previous large tank I once owned. Just matched the pipe diameter to the rock size. This kept my rocks off the sand bed and the fish used to hide in there too.

I also drilled holes around the PVC rings to ensure water could flow underneath the rocks.

 

[Waters]

I used egg crate and totally regret it now. Overtime with sand siphoning, I have less sand....so much less that it is hard to even cover the egg crate at times. Nothing looks more unnatural then exposed egg crate.

 

[OPtasia]

To avoid making the ubiquitous rubble pile in our 32 gallon nano, I used just some basic 2 part coralife epoxy to turn a very flat piece of base life rock on it's edge. There's epoxy holding the rock to both the bottom glass and the back tank wall to keep anything from knocking it over.

 

[jdpeters]

I have mine sitting directly on the glass

 

[miPapareef]

I flattened the bottom of my rocks and then put directly on the glass.

 

[DaneGer21]

I have a 1/4” thick layer of black abs plastic covering my bottom. I ordered it as an option when I had this tank built. Rocks will sit on this, then sand.

Crystal Reef Aquatics- 60”x36”x24”

 

[F22DRVR]

I used the same ABS plastic in my tank, only in white to replicate the look of sand. My tank has a bare bottom.

I purchased a 4'X8' sheet from a local plastic company for $33. I got two out of the one sheet, so I have an extra for the future.

 

[DWPhilli]

I have mine on egg crate. No issues yet