Aquascape Info

[dancin_trancy]

Hey Guys,
Just need some incite on the subject of aquascaping. I have a 20g tank that currently has only 15lbs of LR, Synthetic Corals and new zoo's and hammer coral. I'm hoping to phase out the fake stuff as I add more real corals. When I first set up my tank I basically built up through the middle of the tank...leaving all sides clear...and not going very high either.(I have attached some pics, not very recent, but shows what I'm referring to)

I did this because my thoughts were that due to the small size, I wanted to leave as much swimming space as possible for the few fish I was going to have.

I know I need more LR and I want to take all the faux corals out and revamp the look of the tank...giving it a more realistic appearance....is it better to leave as much open space as possible to allow space more for swimming....or should I build it up a considerable amount...would they be more comfortable with a "reef wall" appearance or more like a pile or rocks..I attached a few pics of other people's small tanks, ones that have a lot more rock, kinda what I'm talking about...is it a better environment for fish to go that route...hope I explained it clear enough...thanks for your input!

[gkw]

Personally, I like my rocks to go as high as 3/4 of the total height and with lots of "porus caves" for fishes to hide in and swimming through. I've seem the "reef wall" and it's nice if you have a lot of corals, but I am afraid of the nitrate build up because of the dead spots.

I will post some pics after my aragorete rocks are cured and in tank.

[rickzter]

Hey dancin', I would add more sand to your setup, SB seems kinda low.

[Michaelr5]

Originally Posted by rickzter

Hey dancin', I would add more sand to your setup, SB seems kinda low.

Only seems low to a DSB person (just kidding)
It really looks too high to a BareBottom person!

Mike

[amcarrig]

Actually, I kinda like the way your tank looks now! If you do feel the need to add more rock, save yourself some money and buy "dead" base rock. The live rock you've already got will seed the dead stuff and you won't be able to tell them apart after about 6 months. I also think that you have enough sand but that, again, is only my opinion

[dancin_trancy]

Thanks for all your replies....think Im okay with the sand level for now...but probably will need to add more eventually....

amcarrig-think part of the reason I want more live rock is because Im shooting for a tank with lots of beautiful purple coralline algae through out (as Im sure are most people)....but unfortunately, the coralline that is on the rock I currently have is slowly fading..maybe need to concentrate on getting that to grow before I go out and buy more rock....now that I have put a few live coral pieces in there, the fake stuff just looks kinda silly to me.....(didn't post a recent pic of tank with the live corals)

I also have some pieces of Tufa rock in with my LR.....kind of as a filler....but that stuff is SO porous...when I periodically use a turkey baster to blow dirt etc. off the rocks/corals...it looks like it is slowly eroding...small sand size pieces of it blow off...silly question but thats okay right? I don't need to worry about that do I? I think maybe I'll at least replace the tufa with live base rock to get that stuff out of there....

thanks again for everyones help!!!

[amcarrig]

I would definitely look into why your coralline seems to be dying off. Have you changed your lighting recently? What have you got for lighting? What are your calcium, alkalinity and magnesium levels at? If you keep these levels nice and high, you shouldn't have any trouble growing coralline and if coralline is growing, there's no need to add more live rock as it will cover dead base rock very quickly. If you really want the live rock, go for it but if your water levels aren't "right" any coralline that you get on the live rock will also fade away in time.

As for your porous rock, that's kinda what you want in a reef tank as porous rock has more surface area for bacteria to grow. It's perfectly normal to see a lot of sand and detritus blow out of the rock when you're cleaning it.

[dancin_trancy]

Thats exactly what I was thinking as far as the coralline goes....I recently changed from the standard flor. strip light that came with the tank when I decided to keep corals...now I have a Coralife Lunar Aqualight
(1x Actinic and 1x 10,000K, 2x 3/4W Blue LEDs)...and just recently began monitoring my alk and cal. levels due to the purchase of my corals...Im sure Ill see some improvement soon, and of course will wait till then to purchase more..thanks everyone for your help!

[Rungeg]

If you put bare rock into the tank algae of one kind or another will definately cover it. I would moniter your cal., maq, and alk. If these are in check then the coraline should take off. Not saying not to moniter the other parameters in the tank BTW.

[dancin_trancy]

But of course! Thanks!