Live Rock Free Display?

[Reefing102]

Just thinking outloud. Has anyone considered or done a live rock free display?

So I don’t mean having a bunch of fake freshwater stuff but basically have all live rock in the sump area and line the bottom of the display tank with frag tile for frags to grow into colonies. Essentially a top of the reef look.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?

 

[Dbichler]

Fish need hiding spots and will be super stressed with nowhere to hide or sleep.

 

[FUNGI]

Just thinking outloud. Has anyone considered or done a live rock free display?

So I don’t mean having a bunch of fake freshwater stuff but basically have all live rock in the sump area and line the bottom of the display tank with frag tile for frags to grow into colonies. Essentially a top of the reef look.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?

so....like a frag tank?

 

[JGT]

Just thinking outloud. Has anyone considered or done a live rock free display?

So I don’t mean having a bunch of fake freshwater stuff but basically have all live rock in the sump area and line the bottom of the display tank with frag tile for frags to grow into colonies. Essentially a top of the reef look.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?

Meh, not going to look natural. You want layers of corals not all on the bottom growing upwards.

 

[Jekyl]

The rocks are responsible for living space needed for bacteria. No rocks, no fish.

 

[FUNGI]

The rocks are responsible for living space needed for bacteria. No rocks, no fish.

I would disagree.....
I've seen (and had) tanks, Fish only

 

[JGT]

He said he’d have rock in the sump.

 

[sesegaL99]

Need diff heights.

 

[Katrina71]

Just thinking outloud. Has anyone considered or done a live rock free display?

So I don’t mean having a bunch of fake freshwater stuff but basically have all live rock in the sump area and line the bottom of the display tank with frag tile for frags to grow into colonies. Essentially a top of the reef look.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?

I think if you did a live rock tank plumbed into your sump maybe? But agree on hiding space for fish, so a minimalist scape?

 

[Cthulukelele]

Just thinking outloud. Has anyone considered or done a live rock free display?

So I don’t mean having a bunch of fake freshwater stuff but basically have all live rock in the sump area and line the bottom of the display tank with frag tile for frags to grow into colonies. Essentially a top of the reef look.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?

I think it could work if you were doing a fast growing sps pseudo-frag tank with no fish until the colonies grew in. You'd probably want to wait a year or 2 before adding any fish at minimum I'd expect for the colonies to really explode and have hiding spaces for fish/dead shaded coral sections for them to hang out in. Would be very visually interesting if done responsibly with plenty of healthy live rock in the sump

 

[Cthulukelele]

Huge tabling acro colonies are actually the lifelong natural home for a lot of our fish, so I think it's a very challenging but possible goal

 

[Reefing102]

so....like a frag tank?

Even my frag tanks have rocks…lol

But thanks for all the replies! Seems to be pretty mixed. I can agree with fish being stressed concept, so it’d definitely be a fish added later kind of thing.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Even my frag tanks have rocks…lol

But thanks for all the replies! Seems to be pretty mixed. I can agree with fish being stressed concept, so it’d definitely be a fish added later kind of thing.

I think that if the rock is all in the sump why not. Very doable. It’s what I’ll b doing when I set my frag system. Tile and acro. Fish yeah like few a wrasse and tang, utilitarian.

 

[Ernie Mccracken]

Could be interesting if you had access to huge colonies or the patience to let things grow for 4-5 years. Tidal Gardens has a big "mother colony" tank full of huge corals and no live rock.

Whirling monti's and branching acros stretching to the top of the water is a great aesthetic, but definitely not practical.

 

[Reefing102]

@Tidal Gardens do you have a side shot of this tank?

 

[Ernie Mccracken]

This one definitely has a little rock in it, but look at those colonies.

 

[Tidal Gardens Verified Sponsor]

This depends greatly on the corals and the size of said corals. If this tank was filled with plates of small frags then 100% the fish would be very stressed. If the tank is filled with larger colony-size corals and frags then there would be room for fish to find a safe spot to hide. Again this would very highly depend on the types and sizes of coral. As far as stability, all your filtration and biological loads would be in the sump filled with the rock.

If you take fish out of the equation then 100% this would work. You may be battling an uphill fight with issues that certain fish help solve but as far as can it work, yes.

 

[Ef4life]

I sort of do it with my frag tank, I use little ceramic domes to grow zoas out. They are hollow and make perfect little homes for small fish like barnacle blennies, dottybacks, gobies etc.

 

[427HISS]

I think if you did a live rock tank plumbed into your sump maybe? But agree on hiding space for fish, so a minimalist scape?

 

[427HISS]

What method did you use in the first rockscape ?