Rock Walls... Pros and Cons

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boosted_347

Member
Wanting to get opinions on rock walls. I have seen one which I liked and it appeared to give an appearance of depth towards the back of the tank. Has anyone had experience in making a rock wall? I guess I'm looking for any drawbacks on having a rock wall. Thanks!
 
The only problem with rock walls IMO is that it cuts down on the circulation in the tank. It's a wall for Christ's sake. As long as you have plenty of open space in between the rocks as they're stacked you shouldn't have any problems. That same appearance of depth your looking for can still be created.

Btw, the fish/invertebrates will appreciate all the open spaces, caves, etc too.
 
Last edited:
AlSimmons said:
The only problem with rock walls IMO is that it cuts down on the circulation in the tank. It's a wall for Christ's sake. As long as you have plenty of open space in between the rocks as they're stacked you shouldn't have any problems. That same appearance of depth your looking for can still be created.

Btw, the fish/invertebrates will appreciate all the open spaces, caves, etc too.
Click to expand...

He maybe talking about a 3D rock wall which is different.
 
boosted_347 said:
Wanting to get opinions on rock walls. I have seen one which I liked and it appeared to give an appearance of depth towards the back of the tank. Has anyone had experience in making a rock wall? I guess I'm looking for any drawbacks on having a rock wall. Thanks!
Click to expand...

If you're talking about a 3D rock wall then it will be fine but if you're talking about piling rocks forget it for the reasons stated above.
 
Is this your place?

<a href="https://ibb.co/ir0aAv"><img src="https://preview.ibb.co/cSv8Vv/Photo_Mar_23_13_07_53.jpg" alt="Photo_Mar_23_13_07_53" border="0"></a><br /><a target='_blank' href='https://imgbb.com/'>image hosting website free</a><br />
 
I'm pretty sure that's a 3D rock wall. That's a mix of rock, foam, and sand. It's bonded to the glass.
 
I use reflection to provide the illusion. A wedge tank does that, reflecting the rockwork. I've yet to see someone use mirror, but it might be worth a try.
 
No, just mirror the back wall. A wedge tank constantly reflects the sidewalls, when full, creating the illusion of infinite space---well, at least, that the reef goes beyond the glass. You'd need thin mirror, velcro strips, and a bit of caution re breakage and safety to use mirror on your outside backwall. And of course you'd need to keep that back wall clean, which might be too much of a challenge. It's probably an idea needing a lot more engineering, to make it easily removeable for cleaning.
 
it might drive some fish crazy though... By adding a mirror your basically adding a second fish to the tank and some species won't tolerate this. A tang and it's reflection would be a good example of this, only were dealing with a mirror image here. Hmm...
 
Usually, however, like fighting fish, (betta) they get to realizing it's not accessible. I've done it with a yellow watchman, deliberately to find out whether he would accept another. Not without a fight, was the verdict. But after a while, he wouldn't react to the mirror. I did not however take this as a 'it'd be ok' with a live fish.
 
Yeah, I still wouldn't go the mirror route. Whether the fish stops reacting to the mirror or not, it's just an added amount of stress that really doesn't need to be put on the animal IMO. A YWG isn't exactly the poster child for intolerance either.
 
I'd stack a YWG with a rival up against a tang in the same situation for hysterical outrage, off the scale, which is why I decided there was no possibility of adding another. The stress depends on whether or not the tank is configured to put the fish bang up against the image with no relief: that would not be kind. But as long as it's intermittent, and if there's enough room to go elsewhere, that's possibily going to defuse over time---depending on species, depending on tank size, etc.
 
back to OP,
enhance


I have made two rock walls. I'm kinda mixed on them. They only work well in narrow tanks when there is little in the foreground. So, for the pictured tank it worked well. But in my reef tank, where I had three mid-ground rock structures, it looked way too busy. In the future I wouldn't consider a wall unless it was >24" in width, a peninsula or a cube because I like to aquascape pillars and arches with my live rock.

I've also found that sand doesn't adhere well. Using my technique, pressing material into pond foam, only crushed coral stayed. Some use a follow-up process with superglue or something similar to keep sand on. At any rate, I think a full rock wall is better than staggered rock with sand in the interspaces.

You can look up techniques but I tried two simple methods. 1) Egg-crate as a lattice + foam, resting against the glass and 2) only foam. It's much easier to foam right on the glass plus you can get creative.
 
I didn't have any problems getting sand to stick. In fact the sand stuck better for me then the crushed coral did. I like what u did for your wall by the way.



 
When I see stuff like this i always thing of unwanted species like GSP aptasia and xenia getting a foothold there. Once you install something like this you need to be able to remove it so you can get them out of the tank if need be.
 
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