how high does your rockwork go?

[treesprite]

How high in the tank is the top of people's rockwork?

 

What are the pros or cons of various heights?

[steveoutlaw]

Mine only goes to about the mid point of the tank. That way the corals have room to grow out and the fish still have plenty of room to do sprints back and forth. I also like the more open look rather than just a huge wall of rock.

[smallreef]

I have 2 peaks... Both reach near the top...for my anemones to move up if needed

[mling]

My goes to 3/4 since I want the high light coral to get closer to the LEDs. I don't have fancy LEDs so I believe they are not as strong.

 

I am setting up an aggressive tank and I was going to have LR to the top but was told that would not be a good idea since I am getting an eel. I'm told they like to climb out of the tank.

[jamal]

i would say it is a matter of taste and the kind of corals you intend to keep. if you have alot of sps corals then i would say a low height gives corals room to grow but with lps and softies you want higher rock work to fill in space on corals that will not grow to fill that space but aesthetics are still the main concern here

[LCDRDATA]

I have mine up to within ~ 4" of the water level. If I were doing it over again I would probably keep it a little lower or do a couple of "peaks" rather than the current "ridgeline," although there is some variation.

[treesprite]

I like it to be between 1/2 and 2/3rds. I have an issue because I want to keep my same rock arrangement but will have a taller tank. I have a very hard time with aquascaping, and what I have now I've been very happy with it. I guess I'm probably going to have to change it :(

[LCDRDATA]

I have a very hard time with aquascaping, and what I have now I've been very happy with it. I guess I'm probably going to have to change it :(

 

Given what you're saying here, why don't you keep what you have until you can actually see it in the new tank? You may decide the height is OK after all. If not, and aesthetics permitting, perhaps you could just add a couple "peaks" to the current arrangement and thus keep it mostly the same.

[Coral Hind]

I like keeping it low and allowing more room for fish to swim and for corals to grow. If your bio-load will increase because it is a larger tank with more livestock will you need to add more liverock for filtration? Are your lights going to be strong enough to reach corals that will now be deeper?

[surf&turf]

This is my ninty, I had the rockwork about 3/4, but have since lowered the left side down to about 1/2.

 

[ToddR]

My rockwork is about halfway up.I have two ridges, one 2/3 of the length of the tank, the other one third. Lots of room for the fish to swim.

[paul b]

Some of mine sticks out of the water.

Edited April 15, 2013 by paul b

[XxTech MoneyxX]

I have 2 peaks... Both reach near the top...for my anemones to move up if needed

 

When did you introduce your anemones to your tank? I just started mine and wanted to see how long I will need to wait..?

[YHSublime]

When did you introduce your anemones to your tank? I just started mine and wanted to see how long I will need to wait..?

 

The answer you're going to get from most people are 6 months to a year. Not to jack this thread....

[YHSublime]

And of the subject, I keep my rockwork about 5 inches below the water line. That gives me enough room to keep things down for low light, and enough room to keep things up for high light. I have a rimless, so I just accept the fact that my fish may jump, so far, so good. I played with my rock outside of the tank with a mock cardboard cutout of my tank size, let me get a feel for how I wanted it all to come together.

[treesprite]

Bulk-wise, I don't have a ton of rock in my DT, because I like open rockwork with several archways, which makes the tank bigger as far as the fish having a variety of places/routes to choose to swim. It gives me lots of real estate for corals without losing my volume. I keep liverock in my sump and refugium, which is all stuff that I don't want in my DT for various reasons.

 

My anemone in in a perfect place, with its base under an archway so it can choose whether or not to go toward the front of the tank or back, depending on how much light and flow it wants at the time - this means NO wandering! It works perfectly, and I don;t want this to change. If I raise the rockwork several inches in the 90 (not while still in the 75), the anemone will still be happy. If I don't, the anemone is going to relocate itself to a bad place.

[treesprite]

I need to find out how hard it is to DIY rock. Maybe I could make some Paul DIY PVC rock and lay a flat panel over top of the pieces.

[BowieReefer84]

I need to find out how hard it is to DIY rock. Maybe I could make some Paul DIY PVC rock and lay a flat panel over top of the pieces.

 

DO NOT CHAR PVC PIPE. FUMES=VERY DANGEROUS

[paul b]

DO NOT CHAR PVC PIPE. FUMES=VERY DANGEROUS

 

It will instantly sicken you. I heat the PVC pipes outside with the wind going away from me. But I have been

doing it for many years. Maybe thats why I have no hair.

But whatever you do, do it outside and a heat gun is much better than a torch.

[treesprite]

I have done PVC bending in the past, so I'm familiar with heat level for bending sand-filled pipes. But I am guessing that it will take a little more heat to sort of crunch the pipe up rather than making a simple curve using sand to prevent creases.

 

Perhaps if I made PVC "rock" for supports, I could use long pieces and only crunch up the length that I want to use as the fake rock supports. That way, I can make a frame and the base would be narrow enough that it could be covered with just an inch of sand. Then at the top, make a maze of crunched longish pieces on which I'd keep the very ends straight to connect them together. The mazing would make it so I wouldn't have to put any support panel where the archways in my rockwork are.

 

I'll have to take a picture of my rockwork so folks can see what I'm talking about with the archways.. Right now the glass is a mess, so taking it and posting it won't be until about 11pm tonight.

[paul b]

Some of my fake rock supports.

[paul b]

[treesprite]

Nice supports! I definitely didn't think to drill out holes to put pipe through to join vertical pieces

 

Some questions:

1. What substance is used to cover the pvc to make it look like rocks?

2. How thick is the acrylic needed?

3. What is the clear tubing?

[paul b]

Sakrete mortor mix cement is used to cover the PVC. It does not stick to PVC so string is tightly wrapped around the pipes so the cement sticks. There are about 5 coats of cement on there as you can only get a thin coat to stick at one time. I use either 1/2" or 3/4" PVC depending on how strong the thing needs to be. The clear tubing is acrylic but any rigid tubing can be used. Home Depot sells 3/8" tubing, it is used for connecting faucets under sinks and is very cheap. You can't see any of these supports in my tank as it grows coralline algae . My entire reef structure is supported on these supports and almost none of my real rock touches the substrait.

Edited April 16, 2013 by paul b