deep sand beds

hi could some one help me i am thinking of having a dsb.
is normal aquarium gravel ok?
does the live rock sit on top of the sand directly or do you have to raise as much rock off the sand?
what sort of depth are we looking at?

 

Usually in a reef environment we use sand, aragonite sand that is. Regular gravel will deteriorate in saltwater. specially the bright pink and green and... well you get my point. As for depth, i try to get a minimum of atleast 4" of sand but thats JMO. Someone with more experience will probebly shine in and give you another answer. As for the LR, it sits on top of the sand. I pushed mine in a little so it would be more stable. Hope that helped.

Marc.

 

what kind of fish are you getting? if your planning on diggers you might want to put the rock in that you want as a base first then put the sand around it. i did that when i set it up and glad i did cause of my engineer gobies. some diggers can collapse the rock if its not stable. just use aragonite sand and go with at least 3-4 inches some have gone with 5-6 or deeper but thats jsut the tank owners preference. dont bother mixing it with crushed coral it gets to be a pain and always rises to the top i did that at first and ended up sifting the cc out. i wouldnt go with gravel not only will it break down but there may be minerals in the stone you dont want in your aquarium where saltwater will pull those minerals out and fresh water wont