Aquascaping Rock Height

[SCuvanov]

Hello,

This is my first post, so I figured I would relate it to something I am doing right now.

Currently, I am in the process of setting up my first tank, I have a 50 gallon Cube with the dimensions 24x24x20. I am attempting to build up an interesting aquascaping, but I am not sure how tall it should be, or what the distance between the rock and the waters surface should be.

I want to crate a fuller looking tank, but avoid the rock wall look. At this point, the highest part of the structure is about 12-13 inches.

Here are some photos.

 

[Bob Escher]

I have seen guys having rock all the way to the surface and even break the surface with rock. I don't see if it matters as long as your happy with it and as long as there will be "caves" and holes for fish and whatever to hide in and go through. I could b wrong but I'm just reporting what I have seen and think

 

[tankstudy]

I find that if you cover the majority of the sand bed, it looks pretty full. Your height will probably be dependent on what type of corals you plan to put into the tank.

 

[SCuvanov]

Okay, I figured there wasn't an exact science to it. I was looking for more of a rule of thumb. I will probably add smaller pieces on as time goes on, but my main goal was to have a decent base structure that would provide a lot of areas for the fish, and also different types of corals depending on height/light/flow requirements.

 

[Bob Escher]

I find that if you cover the majority of the sand bed, it looks pretty full. Your height will probably be dependent on what type of corals you plan to put into the tank.

How would what type of coral it would depend on? If you had low light you would put them lower and high light up higher. I presume that you should not be filling more than half the tank with rock than it shouldn't matter should it? I'm a newbie so was just wondering because as I stated I can show a few tanks that had the rock all the way to the top of the surface and a few even had rock breaking the surface and they all had plenty of coral. So again please excuse learning process here

 

[tankstudy]

How would what type of coral it would depend on?If you had low light you would put them lower and high light up higher.

You kind of answered your own question. If you plan to run a range and variation of corals using low to extremely high light, you will probably want to build an aquascape to provide these zones, meaning it can go pretty high. We also however, have to include the PAR out put by the light source.

For example, you can kind of look at it this way.

(Coral type)+(Light Source's PAR output) = Aquascape Height you should build

So if you have a light source that can't punch out a very high par, that means you need to build rock work that brings the high light demanding corals closer to the light source.

 

[Bob Escher]

Sorry I wasn't even thinking of lighting at all. I guess I presumed ( wrong of course) that all light is created equal. Thanks for waking me up that what's outside matters as much as the inside of the tank.

 

[SCuvanov]

I plan on getting something along the lines of the AI Hydra TwentySix for my light source, I think I am going to try and pump the structure up and inch or 2 more, and then stop messing with it.

 

[SCuvanov]

Just a little update on the progress of the rocks. I may be trimming it down a bit after some of the new additions I made.

Overall height still the same, but I raised the archways to accommodate for sand height.

 

[Bpb]

I like to avoid the rock reaching more than half way up the total tank height. Especially if you're going to dabble in sps. Think of the best looking stag colonies and how tall they are. I like to allot at least that amount of height plus a couple inches negative space. Once the rock gets too high, it becomes wasted-unusable mounting space.

 

[michellejy]

It definitely depends on what type of corals (if any) you plan to have and a lot of just personal preference for aesthetics. I like what you have come up with.

 

[Bdog4u2]

280lbs in my old FOWLR. It may look like a pile of rock but it had a lot of caves and tunnels