I was trying to figure out a way i could lift my rocks off of the sandbed the most inconspicuous way possible. I came up with this.
I should have taken better pics, but i will try to explain a little what you are looking at.
3/4 pvc and a bunch of couplings and T.s-This makes the frame which goes under the sand. This holds all of the short
acrylic rods as well as the acrylic sheets which create the majority of the weight capacity.
4 pieces 12" x 5 1/2" 5/16 clear acrylic sheet. the entire center of these cut out and after drilling the appropriate holes for the pvc and for the crossbeams, i then drilled 3/4 inch holes wherever they would fit in the remaining plastic to allow passage of water/sand/critters.
2 42" 3/4" cast acrylic rod-for the crossbeams which go through the 2 holes inm the acrylic sheet
20 or more 3/4" cast acrylic rod cut into 3-6 inch pieces. I take my grinder and machine(lol-ok that may be a little liberal use of the word "machine") one end of these rods to about 3/16" and cut the other end so that it makes 4 points to hold rock. I use a spade drill bit to make the holes in the pvc that secure it. I drill down completely through the top of a fitting and then when you hit the bottom i dont go completely through, i go through using a spade drill bit and let the tip go through creating the hole where the 3/16 tip goes through and the rest of the bottom hole makes a 3/4" seat. The 20 "or more" are needed so that as you are stacking rock and you need one longer or shorter, you have it available to swap out.
So, not a very successful picture or explanation of what i created. But it WAS a successful idea that lifted my 130 lbs of rock 4" off of my substrate. I actually stood on it on one foot all over it before i put it into the water(i weigh 210). So it is many times stronger than it really needs to be. It is a dream to stack on as wherever you throw a rock it just sticks as well as is adjustable to compensate for little things here and there in the rock.
