raising rock

If you place your rock the way Jon Finch described in a post about a week ago, you will be fine and will avoid having the artificial grid visible in your tank.

Place bottom rock on edge rather than flat. Push it down through the sand until it contacts bottom, so that burrowing fish, shrimp or crabs cannot cause it to topple.

After hearing the warnings and seeing this method in use for many years in many tanks, it seems to me that the worry about keeping all rock off the bottom is overkill.

I would like to hear differing opinions.

I think raising the rock is beneficial in a few ways.  It allows less rock having to be placed directly on the sand bed, therefore helping to maximize the filtration going on there.  As earlier stated it allows fish to feel like they are hiding while they still are more easily seen.  It can also allow water to be circulated in areas that may not normally get circulation if the rock is blocking the flow.

The material I used for my shelf is 1/2 inch pvc with holes drilled in it.  I basically copied the one that was at Bird World about a year ago.  

When we had this discussion awhile back at a meeting someone mentioned that you don't want to use abs.  I can't remember exactly why but they did say it could be harmful to the inhabitants of the tank.