shallow tank SPS aquascape

StrategicReef · #1 01/09/2008, 02:30 PM

My tank is 20" high but with the bottom and overflow how it is actually only 16" when operational.

I read that NOT putting more rock than half the height of the tank (technically water level) is the way to go it gives the SPS some room to grow.

for example, I can stand up a large show size rock at 12" that looks great, or I can lay it flat down and keep it 8" and it is not very interesting at all. That with the 12" high rock leaves about 4" of space of SPS at the highest area.

At this point should I just put the rock very low and flat and just put the acros from front to back. As the acros grow to 10" am I not even going to care about the rock work anymore?

If your tank is shallow can you show some pictures of the rockwork.

Kinetic · #2 01/09/2008, 04:19 PM

Well, I'm sure you've seen my scape in the 120:

most of it is pretty low, only one "rock high", and at one point stacked. Eventually your tank will hopefully be dominated by corals, so it won't matter too much in the future.

Checkout Leanardo's Formosa tank. He has like 1 piece of rock in there.

I'd say keep it low, and allow your SPS to grow out as naturally as possible without constant grooming.

StrategicReef · #3 01/09/2008, 04:28 PM

Can you measure later and tell me how high is that peak point you have there? Since I can't clearly see overflow I cannot gauge how high it is.

Gotta love the macro rocks they seem to stack quite stable without any thelp.

s3aL · #4 01/09/2008, 04:34 PM

My rockwork is pretty shallow also. Gives room for growth.

I have around 8-9" for growth.

Kinetic · #5 01/09/2008, 04:34 PM

actually most of that rock is ReeferRocks, only one piece on the right side that's brown is MarcoRock. I didn't like my marco as much as the reeferrock in the end, so I sold all my marco except that one piece.

Here's some more pictures that might give you an idea:

you can see more pix on my build thread:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=4