Any thoughts on rock arrangement... - What to do and what to avoid

C

clownfish74

[All,

I'm in the process of arranging my rock in my tank. I currently have what I think is 110 pounds of Texas holey rock and will be getting live-rock soon. I want to know if there are any "strategies" of placing the rock or is it a do what you think looks good kind of thing.

I started out (and still want to) place the rock such that there are crevices throughout the rock structure to give the fish places to swim between and around and behind etc. I put the big pieces on the bottom and will put the live-rock scattered throughout the tank above the sand line to give it the most access to water to help it spread.

Any thoughts?

I also would like to know how to place my water pumps to circulate the water. Should I point them directly at the live-rock, anywhere but direct at the rock, bouce off the glass, etc. I currently have a mag 5 that seems to powerful for my 58 gallon right now as it seems to move around and suck the sand into it unlesss I have hold it to move stuff around (used it to salinate my water but is off now). I also have 3 maxi-jet 900 pumps coming that I figure will do a better job of full time water circulation.

Thanks.]
 
[Dan,

Arrange your rockwork so it doesn't look like a wall, and try to avoid consistency because that tends to look man-made. Be sure it is stable so it won't fall over and scratch the glass.

Powerheads need to be arranged so the flow is good. Some even put one behind the rockwork to keep stuff from accumulating there.

At one point, I had 4 powerheads in my 29g, so don't think your 3 x MJ900 will be plenty. Matter of fact, if you can change that order to 3 x MJ1200, you won't regret it for a second.

You can set up that Mag 5 as a closed loop if you like. Be sure to use 1" plumbing to get maximum flow.]
 
[Dan,
Ditto on Marc aboput looking man-made, I spent a long time arranging and rearranging mine to get it just the way I liked it then I changed it again.
One thing that I did that I have not heard anybody else do is place my rock in my tank first and then added the sand. That way when the sand shifted or was sifted it would not tumble over. I stacked it up so there is plenty of room under it for the sand and things to live.
I have also moved my power-heads around a couple of times to make sure there are no dead spots.
Send pics :smart:]
 
[Try not to use the glass as a lean-to for the rock. The added pressure isn't a good idea imo.

Doesn't the amount of water movement required/desired depend on the types of corals he intends to keep? I have nothing but my sen900 dual return for movement in my tank full of softies and I enjoy both the performance and the appearance.]
 
[Random is good, symetric is bad. The more space between rocks the better, try and avoid the "bulldozer" look.]
 
[I would not worry about rock touching the back glass but you want clearance on the sides or you will never get it cleaned.]
 
[I placed softball sized, cheaply aquired, liverock on the bottom of my tank. Then filled in the sand so that there is a solid surface just beneath the dsb]
 
[Resist the urge to hid powerheads behind stacks of rock. I did this and it looks great, but is a royal pain to get to the powerhead for servicing.

I ditto the suggestion to put the rock in first then the sand. Especially if you plan to add critters that will dig - like gobies.]
 
[I wasn't talking about touching... I was talking about having a pile of it leaning on it. I resealed a 115 because the previous owner did that.]
 
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