How's my rock work look?

B

Bcrowe2012

New member
Does the rock work look ok? I wanted it to be more open but I got more rock than I anticipated and don't want to sit it to the side.

 
Is that a 40B? That skimmer is HUGE for that size of a tank. I think your rock work looks fine for what your working with. Unless you remove a couple pieces there's not a whole lot more openness you can get in there. I would suggest pulling the whole scape forward an inch or two so its not right up against the back glass. ( could be the angle of the pic but that's how it looks). As for the middle chamber of your sump, I think you have too much rock in there. Depending on your flow all that rock is going to allow a lot of crud to build up around it.Maybe sub a larger piece from the display and use some of the smaller pieces up top instead? Don't fret about losing a piece of rock. You can always "make it live" in the future. I have random pieces of rock that I've pulled from tanks in both the front and backyard.
 
Yea it's a 40b. I bought that skimmer a few years back, still in the package for 180. He sold skimmers and told me it would be over kill for a 40b but it would allow me room to upgrade later. I'll look into taking some of the rock out of the fuge area tomorrow.
 
Impossible to have too big of a skimmer ...throw half those rocks in your sump and go minimalistic in the display..and put the heater in the sump...looking good
 
It is actually possible to have too big of a skimmer. There are plenty of threads about it. The general consensus how I understood it, is an oversized one won't operate consistently. The amount of gunk needed for proper foam production on an oversized skimmer isn't enough and it won't skim properly. This of course has to do with bio load and everything else. Since the OP already has it, I would by all means use it, and adjust a couple months down the road depending on how it acts with the current setup.
 
stingeragent said:
It is actually possible to have too big of a skimmer. There are plenty of threads about it. The general consensus how I understood it, is an oversized one won't operate consistently. The amount of gunk needed for proper foam production on an oversized skimmer isn't enough and it won't skim properly. This of course has to do with bio load and everything else. Since the OP already has it, I would by all means use it, and adjust a couple months down the road depending on how it acts with the current setup.
Click to expand...

Don't believe everything you read in threads....I've never seen a skimmer too over sized...just allows you more feeding.
 
That is possible, but a lot of it I think depends on bio-load. I know if a skimmer doesn't have the gunk it needs to foam, it won't go into the cup effectively leaving the gunk still tumbling in the water column. On my 125 I am running a skimmer that is rated for a 200 gal tank. I am lightly stocked, so it rarely foams over into the cup. If I was running a skimmer rated at 125 it would probably foam over more frequently. It's not an exact science though so there really is no true answer. My skimmer may be underworked on my tank, but stick it on your 125 and it may be perfect. Too many factors be it your fish, water quality, etc that can impact the results. Really have to run it and see. If an oversized one pulls gunk consistently, it was obviously the right choice. If it just bubbles and never foams over, some adjustment is gonna be necessary.
 
I did some reading after you posted about the skimmer. All the things I read said that it has to do with bio load and the foam production. I also read that as long as you're not over double the reccomended tank size you're fine.
 
<a href="http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/Brian_Crowe/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsfpbzkac6.jpeg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa365/Brian_Crowe/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsfpbzkac6.jpeg" border="0" alt=" photo image_zpsfpbzkac6.jpeg"/></a>


Redid the rock work and got the light hung up. Added some pods and bristle worms today. How does it look?
 
I like the scape work. If you havnt, I would putty them together, would suck for one to fall and crack your tank
 
I probably should putty them together. I was going for a wall with plenty of space in the back. One day I'd like to do a larger cube where I can have a view from all 4 sides
 
I like the rockwork also, but the biggest factor is if you like it, you will be the one looking at it all the time. As long as there is areas for flow to get though so no dead spots and fish can hide youll be fine.
 
I liked the first one better personally but i am a fan of the arch as well as being able to clean 3 sides of glass... That being said its your opinion that matters and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the way you currently have it.
 
Looks good, but could be better.

How about removing some of the rocks and gluing them to one another in a nice shape.
You can use superglue, once coraline grows over it you won't notice the glue was even there.
 
try making focus points like the big rock on the left amd the big rock on the right. try and move them a little bit inwards and elevate them to stand out
 
RynoParsons said:
try making focus points like the big rock on the left amd the big rock on the right. try and move them a little bit inwards and elevate them to stand out
Click to expand...

I never thought of that! I will give it a try and see what I can do. I'm not great at rock scaping, never have been lol. My 75 I had 4 years ago was just one big rock wall. This time I'm trying to make it more open.
 
Ever think of elevating the rocks off the sandbed by using cut pvc pipe?that way you will allow flow underneath the rock work and there will be no dead spots for detritus to buildup
 
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