second guessing my rock work

M

meirvin

while I am waiting for my tank to cycle I am starting to have second thoughts about my rock work, I am starting to think I may have too much rock and wont have space for coral growth and happy fish. Part of the reason I moved to a bigger tank is for the fishes sake.

I have about 57 lbs of rock in a 65 gallon tank I have heard of the rule but like to be a little shy on the side of room for swimming.

the thing that is bugging me is the 4 inches of space in front of the rock to the glass. maybe I left too much room in the rear for water to circulate and avoid dead water space and could re-doo with less room in the rear? maybe it is fine the way it is and I should just leave it alone. OCD sucks.

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I would try to break it up and make better use of the two large pieces of shelf you have, and maybe some larger cavernous bits...
 
You should probably move some of it toward the overflow, even if you use the shelves for a type of bridge. Water could still flow above and beneath it, and provide you with more level spots to place corals. With those lights, odds are it'll be tough to keep corals near the top of the rocks as they are now.
 
I agree with the above. I would move it back some and make some caves / holes throughout the rock to give more dimension to the layout.
 
If you are ever fully satisfied with your rock work, let me know how you accomplished that. No matter what I set up, I'm usually adjusting a few times in a year. I like having "holes" or gaps between the rocks so that you can see all the way to the back in a few spots. Hard to explain without pictures, but basically have a couple pillars and that shelf rock resting on top.
 
Here is a picture from my tank that showed the aquascaping pretty well. I realize your footprint is different but the goal is the same. It should look random, unlike man-made (brickwork, stacking, etc) and avoid straight lines whenever possible. I don't know if you are married or not, heck I don't know if you are a man or a woman... but typically women are really good at aquascaping so can you turn to someone female for their naturally-inclined eye to assist?

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