Aquascaping

I'm about to move my 40 gal reef (Fri) to set it on a new stand. As long as
I'll have almost everything removed, I wonder if anyone has any good
guidelines on aquascaping. I know that all should "firm" so things don't
tumble (like they do now). I want to maximize the number of corals I can
place in the tank (it's sad when you run out of room). I know to leave nooks
and crannies for creature hiding places and water circulation and to leave
room to be able to clean the glass.

I have seen many tanks with a high center area and little on the sides, and
others with a level platform all across. Is there any advantage to either of
these setups? Which will allow more coral placements? Is sloping from the
rear to the front wise?

Any suggestions will be welcomed.

Steve

Is all up to you. The reason why the sides are left open is for better
access and glass cleaning. In the wild, reefs prefer shallow (up to 70 feet
uptimum) flat benthos waters but there is a wall that breaks down, this wall
may be a good array but light is not going to be an easy setup.
iy
"Steve" wrote in message
...
I'm about to move my 40 gal reef (Fri) to set it on a new stand. As long
as I'll have almost everything removed, I wonder if anyone has any good
guidelines on aquascaping. I know that all should "firm" so things don't
tumble (like they do now). I want to maximize the number of corals I can
place in the tank (it's sad when you run out of room). I know to leave
nooks and crannies for creature hiding places and water circulation and to
leave room to be able to clean the glass.

I have seen many tanks with a high center area and little on the sides,
and others with a level platform all across. Is there any advantage to
either of these setups? Which will allow more coral placements? Is sloping
from the rear to the front wise?

Any suggestions will be welcomed.

Steve

* Steve wrote, On 9/27/2006 7:18 PM:
I'm about to move my 40 gal reef (Fri) to set it on a new stand. As long as
I'll have almost everything removed, I wonder if anyone has any good
guidelines on aquascaping. I know that all should "firm" so things don't
tumble (like they do now). I want to maximize the number of corals I can
place in the tank (it's sad when you run out of room). I know to leave nooks
and crannies for creature hiding places and water circulation and to leave
room to be able to clean the glass.

I have seen many tanks with a high center area and little on the sides, and
others with a level platform all across. Is there any advantage to either of
these setups? Which will allow more coral placements? Is sloping from the
rear to the front wise?

Any suggestions will be welcomed.

Steve

In a different thread, one of the guys said to set the rock directly on the
glass bottom and add the sand around it for better stability. Haven't tried it,
but would make sense as critters wouldn't be able to burrow around, move the
sand and make the rocks tilt.

I have my rock against the back and high on the sides, with an open area across
the front and in the center. I leave enough room on the sides for a magnetic
algae cleaner. I don't worry about coral placement -- I just want it to look as
natural as possible, so I try to place the rock so it all blends.

I got a new piece of live rock the other day, about a 10-pounder. It looks like
a little reef in itself -- lots of little coral skeletons, outcroppings, caves,
coralline. It is SO COOL. Took me two days to re-landscape the tank. ;P

Cindy

Hi Steve: I have a DSB about 3-4 inches deep and I took the Live Rock and
just pushed it back and forth to get it as deep as I could and then built
ontop of that building towards the back and every thing has been sturdy.
Another suggestion is using Epoxy to glue the rocks together if you are sure
that that is the arrangement you want. Bill Marsh
"Steve" wrote in message
...
I'm about to move my 40 gal reef (Fri) to set it on a new stand. As long
as I'll have almost everything removed, I wonder if anyone has any good
guidelines on aquascaping. I know that all should "firm" so things don't
tumble (like they do now). I want to maximize the number of corals I can
place in the tank (it's sad when you run out of room). I know to leave
nooks and crannies for creature hiding places and water circulation and to
leave room to be able to clean the glass.

I have seen many tanks with a high center area and little on the sides,
and others with a level platform all across. Is there any advantage to
either of these setups? Which will allow more coral placements? Is sloping
from the rear to the front wise?

Any suggestions will be welcomed.

Steve

The plan I like to use is to have two diaginal sections of rock when looking
from the top. Then I aim one circulation pump to flow through this valley.
Also the higher you stack your rock on a slope from the front of the tank
the more room you will have for coral placement.

The question on stabilization, this is another thing where different people
use different methods. My person cjoice is to epoxy the rocks together.
However I had seen one great landscaped tank where the they used 6" diameter
PVC pipes on end to sit the rocks on.

Dennis



"Steve" wrote in message
...
I'm about to move my 40 gal reef (Fri) to set it on a new stand. As long
as I'll have almost everything removed, I wonder if anyone has any good
guidelines on aquascaping. I know that all should "firm" so things don't
tumble (like they do now). I want to maximize the number of corals I can
place in the tank (it's sad when you run out of room). I know to leave
nooks and crannies for creature hiding places and water circulation and to
leave room to be able to clean the glass.

I have seen many tanks with a high center area and little on the sides,
and others with a level platform all across. Is there any advantage to
either of these setups? Which will allow more coral placements? Is sloping
from the rear to the front wise?

Any suggestions will be welcomed.

Steve