Aquascaping - what should i do?

So i have a 55 gallon tank which is only 12'' wide - yes, its hard to work with but tank was free. I have my rock setup so that it is leaning against the back wall and such, however, i really like the way the tank is setup. Anyways, there are two things that are bad about this situation.
1: I have plenty of flow in the tank but it doesnt seem to get behind the rocks and there seems to be some dead zones where detritus and such remains (ex.... POOOP)
2: I cannot clean the back glass where algae growth is and my clean-up crew doesnt seem to handle the load yet.

So should i just stick it out and not worry about the algae for now or should i rearrange my aquascape so that no rocks rouch any of the glass, even though the tank is fairly skinny?

opinions are great. Tank is fairly new however it has all my corals and fish from my biocube.

 

to fix number one buy more powerheads, dead spots are bad it will really take a couple of years in the hobby to see how much dirt they will accumulate.

for number two buy more snails.

as far as your suggestion about moving the rocks so they don't touch glass, i would say good luck, a 55 was what i started with and i think i do have some aquascaping skill. but i could never get the tank to look right and not touch the glass or inhibit my ability to clean it..

 

well this is my problem. More powerheads i dont think i need. I pump 2700 GPH through a Koralia 1, 3 and 4; and the return pump frmo my fluval filter. For number two, 100%, I will buy more snails. probably another 10-20 i will need.

and i hate that the 55 is so thin. uhhh it bugs me. Maybe i will juts remove some of the rock that i have. I really want to have nothing against the glass but still have it look nice.

Well see what i can do.

 

Hi, I would like a pic of yours.......I am posting to a pic of mine to give you an idea of what I've done with my 55 gal. of the same depth. I tried a blue background and the black, I liked the black better to give the illusion of depth. Also, if you'll notice, with the rock stacked high there only a couple of areas to show algae. I use a Magna-float for the all the walls, even the back but because there is only a couple of areas showing ij the back it is quite easy to keep up with. Granted, you need long arms! I don't have real long arms and I have to stretch a little but it works. You didn't say if you are talking about Green hair, diatom or Coraline. In time (with pure, phosphate free water) any GHA will disappear. I use a scraping razor I attached to a long stick to get any Coraline in the back in the areas showing. Here is my tank, I hope it helps you; http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj46/unclejed_bucket/55gal109.jpg

 

That is a sweet looking tank setup. Thanks for advice. The algae i have that i cant clean is some sort of green algae (looks like green dots on the glass), and some is GHA. No matter where i have rocks, i will get algae until i purchase an RO/DI unit which wont be very soon. I have powerful lighting for the 55 also: 6 48" T5 bulbs (3 actinic, 3 10,000K). Two actinics are on for 9 hours, then the 3daylights and other actinic are on for 7 hours between. Light gets everywhere which IMO is good, unless im fighting algae which is the case right now.

 

Hey, if you can afford say $40.00, buy a phosphate reactor and use Pura Phoslock in it. Took about 2-3 weeks after I got one to totally eradicate the GHA. Slow die off is the better way so the algae doesn't contaminate the water.

 

Well i was also looking to purchase some nitrate remover and place it in my fluval filter. Im not sure if thats as beneficial. WHats your ideas about this?

 

Make sure you have a powerhead situated in the rock pile on one end that is blowing behind the glass lengthwise. I have 2 MJ with mod blowing one direction out front then 1 MJ on the other end tucked into the rocks blowing behind them (towards the mods). This seems to create very good flow all through my 55.

 

hello to all, just starting out , love all the help i can get

 

That is fine, however it won't eradicate the phosphate. Come on! You pay $40.00 for a fish or coral....Get the reactor! (Too loud?)