pimp and i have discussed useing light diffusers from home depot "eggcrate" - {they are used in drop cielings to cover the lights} {like 5 bucks for a 24 X 24 inch piece}- - - - -cut it into the shapes you want and build a structure with it and zipties {no glue in the tank,lol} and then use a small massonary bit to drill tiny holes in the live rock if needed and zip-tie it to the structure covering it all up, you can really get creative building arches and bridges and platforms for corals or resting ares for fish like gobies and such...........skies the limit man ............if things get heavey, double up the eggcrate .......just like buildin a house

the PVC pipe could be used the same way or in conjunction with the eggcrate for supports and such too, i may even try to use the pvc to route current through the rocks with a small power head hiden behind the rocks

and don't worry about seeing any of the structure to much as it will crust up with coraline eventually


Boss

yeah dude you can do it. Its called live framing. There are tons of benefits with doing it. Give me a few minutes and I will post a picture of what can be done. and maybe a diagram. You use less live rock.......so that saves you money. The pvc will hide powerheads so that will add to the astetics. it prevents dead spots because water flows better with pvc. You can rearange the rock anytime you want. only draw back is you have to drill your live rock.........which takes some care. I havent done this........but my lfs has a tank set up.....its pretty sick. there was an article on it in reefkeepers magazine too. give me a few and I will post a diagram.

This is just a crash course of what to do but here it goes.
As you see in the top.........this is a lay out of pvc. They are connected for stability and placed strategically for caves and the use of powerheads. The gray circles would be where you would want to put the powerheads. and the red is the overflow box. This will hide your overflow nicely and it will permit a nice flow throughout your tank. The blue circle is the incoming water from the sump. By placing it here it will also be hidden and can let the water be fully circulated before going back into the overflow to be filtered again. the sand space will allow space for corals as well. As you see in the second diagram........the column on the left is what your pvc would look like standing up. only drill the holes after you have cemented your live rock. so you know where they should go. The diagram on the bottom right is what your live rock would look like if it was cut in half. You would drill it about 3 to 4 inches in and get some epoxy shove it in there and then put your pvc in there following the epoxy. Not only will this give it strength, but it will help prevent dead spots on your rocks. The notch in the pvc is so it will hang in the structure properly. If you dont notch your pvc it will just fall out. :) Okay enough babbling. Any questions just ask.

well i just thought of using this idea last night a 1 in the morning ill go in depth of what im thinking of doing...

i want to set up a system of pvc sort of look like this

> fist image: this would be the base of the structure that would be under the sand so it would not be visible what i want to do is buy a much larger pump and connect this base structure to the return of the pump to increase flow in the tank ill go in to this later

> second image: is the first series of flow this flow would be one solid connection straight to the blue triangle. this blue triangle would be a base for the tower of rock and in between the rocks i would put a return or two at or near the top hidden from view. The green and orang will be two separate flows that will go to the vertical pieces that will have many small holes drilled in them along with the cross pieces that will hold the rock to stop dead spots and blow ditirus off the rock

that is what im thinking about so far