sand first or rock first when starting out tank??

[scoobs]

I done sand then rock.. Works fine here

 

[garnet13aj]

I put rock then sand. The reason for this was because I wanted the rocks to be resting on the bottom of the tank. If they are resting on the sand and a critter goes under them they can shift killing the animal sometimes and more importantly they can shift the rock, which could shift rock it's resting on, which could fall and crack the tank. It might seem unlikely but my sfe likes to dig under rocks to make himself a "cave" and w/the rocks resting on the glass bottom it hasn't been a problem.
Call me weird but I think rock is more stable on the sand bed than the glass. I can push the LR down some and the sand bed conforms around the base of the rock. LR is not evenly flat so if on glass it seems to rock and tilt unbalanced. Just my opinion though.
The sand supports the rock as it sits on the glass so it doens't shift, but as I said before if an animal burries under the rock and it's not resting on the bottom it can shift.

 

[garnet13aj]

just talked to the lfs and he said the reason that im replacing my sand is to get all the metals and crap that comes from tap out of my system...then put all new LS and try to get my system back up and running...if thats not the problem then im going to be soo f#@&ing pissed off took out all sand...i really hope this was the prob.
You may want to wait for other opinions, but that sounds like a little "fishy" to me, I would think water changes would have done the trick.