Increasing surface area to mount corals

[ChrisQ0904]

I have a 75g display and as I keep adding frags I see my available space going away rapidly. I was looking at my tank today trying to figure out how to increase my available space but the only thing my mind kept going to was pull the rock and add egg crate. In all seriousness what is there that I can do in order to create more mounting area? The footprint is 36x24 and its 20 tall.

 

[johntdaballa]

Post some picture it will help

 

[ChrisQ0904]

 

[N4sty T4te]

Go BB, glue to back glass and bottom of tank?

 

[johntdaballa]

If you can move any of your corals. Place more live rock in your tank especially in the middle or right side. I use egg crates which does it's job .

 

[KingJason]

This is usually when I start planning a bigger tank

 

[Jisko]

haha I see plenty of open rock just remember if the plugs arnt touching you got room haha

 

[Macdaddynick1]

haha I see plenty of open rock just remember if the plugs arnt touching you got room haha

Yup, it's called one millimeter rule haha.

You have plenty of room, but here's what you can do when you actually run out.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-little-diy-for-those-of-you-with-packed-tanks.297120/

 

[Jisko]

Yup, it's called one millimeter rule haha.

You have plenty of room, but here's what you can do when you actually run out.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-little-diy-for-those-of-you-with-packed-tanks.297120/

SEE!!! he has the idea!!

 

[Lazys Coral House]

Adding what i call pedestals works. Using tonga branch rock, cut peices at differrent heights and glue vertically to rock. It allows corals to be close together with out touching. The acro has to encrust all the way down the pedestal before it can come in contact with another coral. It takes some practice but well worth the effort. The tall pedestals in back, shorter toward front of tank. This allows corals in front to hide the pedestal behind it. You can also glue at differrent angles once you get the hang of it
Here is an example of my tank once corals grow in to get an idea.

Same concept can be applied to a frag tank.
Here is a video of one of my tanks where i made pedestals that slide into rack. Go to about the 25 second mark of video

 

[ChrisQ0904]

Ok, so there's quite a bit here to process all at once first thing in the morning, so I'll just make a general post and hopefully cover everyone's comments.

I have actually thought about going BB for quite a while now but have a yellow coris (Not the end of the world if I have to get rid of it) my other concern is I have foam under the tank and don't know how I feel about looking at a silver floor once all the sand is gone.

I can move most of my corals because only a few have actually encrusted to the rock, I was thinking of egg crate but want the "display tank" look not the frag tank look for this specific one.

I'm kinda afraid of putting plugs too close together because of them eventually touching and where to move them once they start touching or get really close.

There is a possibility that I may get a 66L × (24 or 30)D x 19T. But if I were to actually go through with that it won't be until next year until I finish school and hopefully have a new job.

I found some of the comments pretty funny so thanks for a few chuckles in the a.m.

 

[ksfulk]

Looks to me that the simplest fix would be to remove the frags from the plugs - then you can glue them directly to the rock at all kinds of angles without issue. You could also look into ceramic rock frag stations that would give you some additional rock space as floating shelves on the glass to populate with more corals.

 

[SteveSTL]

Remember that this is a long term hobby. It's like landscaping - you don't plant for how it looks now, you plant for how it's going to look once everything grows and matures.

Take photos every month or so and you'll be able to see how things are growing and filling in spaces.