Less LR and my fish seem happier

[JustinReef]

I just thought it was interesting that when I moved about 3/4 of my LR to my new sump, the fish suddenly seem happier and way more active. I upgraded my 40G sump to a 75G on the weekend so I had room to put a lot of the LR in the sump. I did this because I like tanks with lots of open space. So there is literally half a tank with no LR and a bit on one side. I expected to see the fish hang out all day on the side with LR but they all stay on the open side all day. The puffers have been more active than ever which is really nice. My small fish only venture out into the open once in a while but the big guys are loving it!

Not too sure why Im sharing this except that I thought it was interesting that the fish got that much more active with the extra space...now that I write that, it sounds obvious. LOL

 

[Recty]

You have a full tank shot of it?

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

I couldn't find the smiley that says "this thread is worthless without pics!" but it would definitely fit great here! I agree though, less liverock in the display tank definitely makes fish happier, as long as each fish still has a home and safe place of their own territory. So where are the pics?

 

[JustinReef]

Yeah I knew pics were gonna be ask for

I can't find the cord to get the pics off of the camera but I have before and after pics. I will post them as soon as I can.

 

[JustinReef]

Oh and this thread really is useless...It still will be useless with pics but then at least it would be a little more interesting. For some unknown reason I was compelled to share this with everyone even though its useless.

 

[limitdown]

I realized this with my 50g reef awhile back, so when I set up my 200g FO, I went with zero Live Rock. Thus, FO and not FOWLR. My fish have so much room to swim around. They can swim slowly or go crazily fast.

This is a huge plus when you have tangs, angels and triggers that need a lot of swimming room.

 

[Recty]

I noticed my larger fish seemed happier with less LR. Although happier is a personification as I dont think fish actually feel happy. However, they seemed like they were doing better when I moved a lot of rock out of my old 75 gallon tank.

So with my new 210 I just did two rock bomas, one on each side of the tank with neither one being more than half as tall as the tank itself. Plenty of swimming room above and all around the rock work, the fish really seem to like it but there is still enough LR for them to hide in when they want to.

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13287435#post13287435 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinpsmith
Oh and this thread really is useless...It still will be useless with pics but then at least it would be a little more interesting. For some unknown reason I was compelled to share this with everyone even though its useless.

It definitely will not be useless! If you have before and after pics, I'd love to see them. Get a good comparison going. I am probably going to be setting up a 300g stock "lookdown" tank as my FO and trying to figure out how much liverock I want in there. I think as long as each fish has it's own territory, then the rest can be put in the sump.

 

[JustinReef]

Still working on the pics. Im going to go buy a new cord for the camera today.

Its interesting that you guys are finding the same thing. I guess it makes sense but I had never thought of it before.

 

[anbosu]

It probably depends on the type of fish that you have. I have an eel, a grouper, a lionfish, and a wrasse so having more caves and distinct territories is probably beneficial. I also have a lot of branch rock that I used to make caves, so there is a decent amount of space to swim, even with all of the rock in there.

That said, I did just remove a lot of smaller pieces of rock that had scattered around on the sand bed and it seemed to free up the tank a little bit, at least to my eye.

 

[mcbaes72]

This is interesting to read so far..."more room to swim" is exactly why I only put 50 lbs. LR in my main display. Similar to Recty's post, my rockwork is more towards both sides of the tank and not built too tall. So, there's room above it and in the middle. Also, I bought more fish than I expected, so it's a little busy. But there's plenty of swimming space for them as well as just enough hiding places (especially for the Hippo Tangs) at night.

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13289660#post13289660 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by anbosu
It probably depends on the type of fish that you have. I have an eel, a grouper, a lionfish, and a wrasse so having more caves and distinct territories is probably beneficial. I also have a lot of branch rock that I used to make caves, so there is a decent amount of space to swim, even with all of the rock in there.

That said, I did just remove a lot of smaller pieces of rock that had scattered around on the sand bed and it seemed to free up the tank a little bit, at least to my eye.

Sorry guys, no pics today I did not have time to go get a new cable for my camera. Hopefully tomorrow.

But I was thinking, maybe since a bunch of you seem to have done the same thing, why not post before and after pics if you have them already? I would love to see the difference.

I agree that it probably depends on the fish you are keeping. I currently have 3 puffers, trigger, rabbitfish, dwarf angel, dwarf lion, few damsels, cleaner wrasse, cardinal and a tang. If I still had an eel it may not be too happy in this tank now. The only fish that seem to stay in the rocks most of the time are the damsels, angel, and cardinal. They come out to eat or for a few laps of the tank but always go right back to the rockwork. The dwarf lion spends maybe half his time in the rocks and the rest cruising around. The others all spend 90% of their time out in the open with my dogface and burrfish almost always never near the rocks. It used to be that all the fish were always in the rocks because that was kind of the only choice they had

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13289750#post13289750 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcbaes72
This is interesting to read so far..."more room to swim" is exactly why I only put 50 lbs. LR in my main display. Similar to Recty's post, my rockwork is more towards both sides of the tank and not built too tall. So, there's room above it and in the middle. Also, I bought more fish than I expected, so it's a little busy. But there's plenty of swimming space for them as well as just enough hiding places (especially for the Hippo Tangs) at night.

If you have a pic and feel like posting it, go for it!

 

[mcbaes72]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13291253#post13291253 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinpsmith
If you have a pic and feel like posting it, go for it!

This is the only decent pic I have to show off for now (left side is cut off a bit. But at least it gives an idea how I set up the rockwork. This pic was first posted in another thread I started a few weeks ago...

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13291357#post13291357 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcbaes72
This is the only decent pic I have to show off for now (left side is cut off a bit. But at least it gives an idea how I set up the rockwork. This pic was first posted in another thread I started a few weeks ago...

Yeah that looks great. Thats exactly what I was talking about.

 

[mcbaes72]

Thanks Justin, I'm looking forward to your pics when you do post them. I wanna see your "happier and more active" fish.

 

[limitdown]

McBaes, thanks for sharing the pic.

I am an advocate of using less Live Rock. I think 1 pound per gallon is excessive and that 0.5lb/gallon makes more sense.

Personally I have ZERO live rock in the display and use ceramic rings exclusively for biofiltration (in the sump). My sulfur denitrator helps keep my nitrates at zero.

 

[mcbaes72]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13292368#post13292368 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by limitdown
McBaes, thanks for sharing the pic.

I am an advocate of using less Live Rock. I think 1 pound per gallon is excessive and that 0.5lb/gallon makes more sense.

Personally I have ZERO live rock in the display and use ceramic rings exclusively for biofiltration (in the sump). My sulfur denitrator helps keep my nitrates at zero.

Yeah, no problem...I didn't want a brick wall like in my old skimmerless tank that was running for six yrs (50 gal tank / 55 lbs LR).

Wow, you have no LR in the main tank? I've seen bare-bottom tanks before, but not any w/o LR. Got any pics to share? I'm curious to see what a 200 gal tank looks like.