Rock placement question

[Jonathan Troutt]

So I’ve read a lot about LR placement over the past week. A lot of different opinions talked to people. I can seem to get a straight answer. I have a 40 breeder. And I have my rockwork close to my back wall of the aquarium. Most of the glass is hidden so you can really see it. And while it has some algae on it it’s not a whole bunch.

So the question here is, is it acceptable to have your rockwork close to the back panel vs an island style. I like to have a lot of sandbed room up front which is why I like it as such. As long as there is some flow behind the rock of course my mind tells me that it should be fine. But I want some more experienced people to fill me in here.

Seems like a lot of what I have read has been opinions on the look of it or how it’s hard to clean or coralline grows on the glass and it’s tacky. Are there any downsides that are not aesthetic.

Thanks in advance this community has been amazing so far!!

 

[P-Dub]

Here is what I can offer you. If you allow any portion of your glass to build up with coralline algae over a long period of time, it will etch the glass panel. Now I heard that you can remove this etching but I have tried all methods suggested and had zero luck, and I do mean zero. I allowed the back of my tank to build up with coralline and portions of the front at the bottom for about 7 years. It has permanently etched the glass. Keep that in mind when you make your decision. Other than that, it is up to your personal taste on how you decide to aquascape.

 

[Tautog]

***’s a personal eye appeal. There’s a few things to remember, but I’ve changed the rock scape a dozen times over the first 2 yrs, so don’t glue rock together. I’ve added shelf rock, but be sure it Cure it for 6-8 weeks. Try your best to keep the least amount of base rock on the sand creating your scape. This we give more flow. Keep a few spaces open , even by the back wall, and only extend your rock half way up to 3/4’s. Be sure to give the fish enough room to swim above and below the rock. Coraline is a good sign of a maturing tank, good daily and monthly maintenance is key.
A very warm Welcome to Reef 2 Reef ! There’s great info here!

 

[vic5hands]

By placing the rock work against the glass you lose water flow and get a lot of waste build up .

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Awesome thank you all you have given me some great things to think about!

 

[jd371]

By placing the rock work against the glass you lose water flow and get a lot of waste build up .

This. I also wanted the fish to have more space to swim and hide. So my rock work is a few inches away from the back glass, if you were to look down into the tank it would look like a racetrack layout with the rock work in the middle. My CBB loves to take laps around the rock work and if something frightens it, it hides in back of the rocks out of sight.