Too much rock??

[fox0521]

Hey folks!
I’ve got a 55 gallon set up as a peninsula. The tank is about 4 months old, and my question today is: can you have too much rock? I am worried that my tank won’t allow enough swimming room for additional fish, as I’ve already seen some minor aggression (territorial, clowns chase goby out of their corner) between my clowns and my goby (although, maybe my clowns just don’t like the goby making a mess of the sand bed ). Anyway, thinking about removing one piece of rock to allow for more swim room, but not sure how I would go about it without throwing off bio load. Let me know your thoughts! Some pictures below, trying to capture how much room is actually available to the fish between the rock and the glass on either side of the tank

Current stock:
2 clowns
1 banggai cardinal
1 gold head sleeper goby

wanted stock:
1 Coral beauty angel?? (Tank too small?)
1 yellow tang (small, about quarter size. Will move to my 125 when bigger)
1 royal gramma
1 wrasse?
Chromis

 

[Murica]

As long as you have good flow, you should be all set. Your setup looks good to me

That toadstool is going to quickly outgrow your tank, however if you leave it there

 

[DJF]

This is an opinion but- yes. No room for your coral to grow.

 

[fox0521]

This is an opinion but- yes. No room for your coral to grow.

I’m thinking of removing one of these pieces, how would I go about that without throwing off bio load?

 

[fox0521]

As long as you have good flow, you should be all set. Your setup looks good to me

That toadstool is going to quickly outgrow your tank, however if you leave it there

I’m thinking of removing one of these pieces, how would I go about that without throwing off bio load?

 

[Midrats]

I like it!

 

[DJF]

I’m thinking of removing one of these pieces, how would I go about that without throwing off bio load?

On a second look, if you like it, i say run with it... what I’ve found in my reef is that the rockwork is ever changing. As far as removing- on a newer tank disturbing the sand isn’t as much of an issue but that’s just it- do your best not to disturb the sand, do it right before a scheduled water change and siphon the muck out & maybe don’t move both at once unless things don’t look too disturbed after the first removal.

 

[fox0521]

On a second look, if you like it, i say run with it... what I’ve found in my reef is that the rockwork is ever changing. As far as removing- on a newer tank disturbing the sand isn’t as much of an issue but that’s just it- do your best not to disturb the sand, do it right before a scheduled water change and siphon the muck out & maybe don’t move both at once unless things don’t look too disturbed after the first removal.

What are your thoughts on the stock list with this amount of room? Any comparability concerns should I not open up more space?

 

[Murica]

I’m thinking of removing one of these pieces, how would I go about that without throwing off bio load?

Do you have a sump? With that little livestock i wouldn’t worry about two pieces of rock TBH. If you’re concerned just do one at a time... you should be fine

 

[zalick]

You can remove some rock without issue.

I think your scape looks great. But... It looks a little tight. I would remove some but that's my preference. The one you circled would be good.

in my current system I've removed around 100lbs from my initial scape.

this weekend I'm redoing it for third time in last 6 years.

mine is a peninsula too. I've been running tanks since 98 and this is my first peninsula. I've found it trickier to scape because you have half the typical distance between rock and glass/acrylic versus rock against back wall.

Do you have ample hiding space within the rocks?

 

[Chrille26]

I think its personal preference, some like a rock wall and others the minimalistic route. As long as the fishes have room to swim and your corals have room to grow, and you can access the tank to clean the glass and other maintenence its all good.
just dont add a fish you plan on remove later on because that will be a pain.

 

[DJF]

What are your thoughts on the stock list with this amount of room? Any comparability concerns should I not open up more space?

The clowns will hardly move once their settled; the goby & cardinal don’t need a lot either. That said, they’ll also take what you give them flow will be your biggest hurdle but it’s not now so I say enjoy- trust me when I say your rocks will evolve with you- my scape looks nothing like it did a couple years ago .

 

[Super Fly]

actually keeping the rock work (fish hiding place) instead of removal for more swimming space would be better for livestock harmony. The more hiding places for fish provides less stress/opportunity for them to bicker about who's home is who's. At night during lights out all fish are hiding in rockwork. IMO, your aquascape looks good and if anything perhaps move them around to create caves for fish.

 

[DE FISH]

If your going to remove some rock work I would just dose some beneficial bacteria for a few days after like microbacter 7 or something similar. Happy Reefing your tank is looking good.

 

[CMMorgan]

I would not touch the rock. It has some great crevice's and hiding places. Gosh, that is about half as much rock as I have in my tank. Rockwork is good for biological filtration and keeping aggression down. Everybody will stake out their own little spot in the tank. If you mess around with the scape too much, you are disturbing territory. Let the kids work it out.

 

[fox0521]

Thanks everyone!! I don’t think I’ll remove any rock, maybe just adjust it over time. I do really love my “3-island” scape, especially as coralline grows and starts to make everything look solid. Thanks for all the advice!! Now to decide what fish friend to add next! Chromis, wrasse, dwarf coral beauty angel, or royal gramma!

 

[Devaji]

my 2 cents....take it with a grain of salt

I think the scape looks pretty good I think the problem you are having in with the tank it self. those 55 are so narrow its so hard to scape them.
I would move it to a 40br and wow what a difference it will make yes you lose 15 gallon of tank volume but so much better looking IMHO tank will look a lot bigger and I think the fish will have move room to swim. if you do this you will have to shorten you scape tho.

nice little reef either way!

 

[fox0521]

And sometimes our tanks make decisions on our behalf! My jerk of a blue streak goby dug out so much sand from under my rock, the structure collapsed. My fault, really, because I didn’t do a great job of setting a stable scape. Ended up removing a couple pieces. Ended up moving some of the corals (toadstool, trumpet, zoas) to my 125 also. The only casualty was my Hollywood stunner chalice. Broke into quite a few pieces during the fall. Moved what I could easily salvage to the 125, hope to see it regrow! I don’t mind the new scape, more room for fish and corals as I see it!