Evening all, almost ready to finish the 8ft cichlid tank, question is rather than have a 2 1/2 foot high pile of rocks what is the best way to build some sort of internal frame to create layers?, less rock required then. dimenssions are 8 x2.5 x2 ft or 240 x 750 x 600 if we talk cm. Like some do for reef tanks i assume?.

Thanks

Reefers use light diffuser, I have used plastic filing trays that I got from work because I couldn't find any difffuser

and support it with? or is it strong enough to hold the weight bent?

You could always do yourself a background out of poly/concrete.. Theres lots of posts on cichlid forum (or i think on here) on how to do it..

No thought about it ryan but not my cup of tea as the saying goes

and support it with? or is it strong enough to hold the weight bent?

I just use cable ties, mine is against the side and has rock hanging off the front of it so isn't really holding much weight. if you want to make like a platform use lengths of plastic piping, drill a few holes into so you dont have dead spots inside the pipes and use cable ties to hold it all together

as suphew says, like this (although if i were to do it again i'd put alot more holes in the legs!)