cichlids dig anyway, so make sure you put all your stonework in first onto either the glass or some'egg crate' plastic square light covering, it helps dispers weight, i myself just went onto the glass with no trouble, the other thing you need to watch out for is toxic pocets, too deep of a substrate will lead to toxic gases building up int he snad, but if you and the cichlids move it about once a week it should be fine,
