Aquascaping help

[m0nk3y69d]

So I just put 67lbs of bace and live rock in my 55 galon tank and its going to be a reef tank with coral but I can't figure out a good way to set it all up the way I have it now I only have about an inch of swimming room between glass and rock for the fish and I don't want to push it right against the back wall because of dead spots all the rock pices I have are rather large and round and it kinda looks like a wall with little holes going through it every nos and then any ideas will help thanks



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[afamousjohnson]

Get a pic up and the critequing and learning from experience will help you work your scape to work for you. In a reef you will not like your rock that close to the front glass, or the sides for that matter. A few inches from the glass will take you a long way down the road

 

[CoryC]

get a new tank. 55s are waaaayyyy too narrow for reef tanks. just mho. youve got a 4 foot tank with no space. 120s are 4 foot, 90s are four foot. maybe find a 45-55 cube? honestly though unless you hack up your rock into small peices with a hammer you're going to have a hard time making any kind of aquascape in a 55 that doesn't look like a brick wall.

 

[m0nk3y69d]

But what about the back can I put it right on the back wall and put a circulater on it to help with dead spots


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[afamousjohnson]

Keep working with it as well as you'll find you can create space saving features with your rock while usually creating overhangs and caves.

 

[m0nk3y69d]

I can't aford to just buy a new tank and new equipment I have what I have and I need to work with that for now


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[Mike&Terry]

In our experience, we've found that it is easier to aquascape if you already have a design idea in mind. Browsing through aquascape show off and build threads can help you decide what appeals to you. Minimalist, columns, islands, fruit stand, etc.

Once you have the general idea of what you want your 'scape to look like, it's time to get to work.

For us, we found it easier to work with the rock outside of our tank. We did this in our garage, but outside can work just as well. We taped an outline of our tank's footprint on the concrete floor and marked off the overflow and our closed loop intake and outlets.







There are many ways to go about it, but we found that drilling holes in rocks and using fiberglass rods (1/4" and 1/2") secured with Aquastik epoxy putty and zip ties worked best for us. Driveway markers are made w/1/4" fiberglass rods and can be picked up cheap at one of the box stores. We ordered our 1/2" fiberglass rods online.

hth

 

[afamousjohnson]

I used the outline method also, but if you are just stacking "in tank" build works cause they never really fit the same way twice. You don't want it right on the back glass but its better an inch off the glass back there than in your displaying view. Hit up a pic- what have you built thus far?

 

[ebushrow]

You can use less rock....you don't need to use it all in the display....use your favorite pieces and put the rest in your sump.

 

[m0nk3y69d]

This is what it looks like now and it doesn't look that bad there are holes and caves but there not very big


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[m0nk3y69d]

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[tomterreefic]

+1 for less rock in the display. Also, you can stack rock higher on the ends/corners in order the create more space in the center. You can even separate the rock columns into bommies and have open sand bed in between giving you space for plate corals and clams. Separate columns often helps territorial fish coexist.

Check out BulkReefSupply.com for great "how to" videos on how to shape rock to best fit your needs.



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[Dan1789]

You can lean it against the back wall if you want, it just makes it harder to clean. I have prices of mine leaning against the back wall and I have a small tune back there to help with flow. I just can't get to certain spots with my scraper. With the depth of a 55 I would do something similar to what I described.

 

[m0nk3y69d]

This is what I have now but I think I'm going to move the one on the field more towed the corner


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[m0nk3y69d]

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[tomterreefic]

Looking good. A lot easier to keep messing with it now than later when the rocks have corals on them.


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[m0nk3y69d]

This is what I think I'm going to go with there are spots for corals and spots to hide

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[CoryC]

chocolate chip star fish? be careful they are known to eat some corals.

 

[tomterreefic]

Is that a Chocolate Chip Starfish? They are great for fish only tanks, but are not reef safe. They make a good meal for Harlequin Shrimp.


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[m0nk3y69d]

Yeah I know he's going back to the lfs when I get my first coral


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