Should there be certain spacing of Live rock in tank to better bioilogical filtration

[John Hartford]

I was wondering if there should be an open space from the back of the tank to the live rock, that way the water could flow from the front of the aquarium, through the rock and back out. Or should one just simply not worry about the space and concentrate on the asthetics of tank in dealing with the live rock?

 

[artful-dodger]

You want to have water circulating everywhere...dead spots will accumulate detritus. How you balance (so to speak) your rock work with your water movement is up to you. Some people use powerheads behind the rock (tough to service or replace), some use PVC spraybars (a challenge to clean) and some use a closed loop with lots of nozzles pointing everywhere.

It is tough to accomplish this water movement objective in any tank, but it is particularly challenging in an 18" (front to back) tank such as the 125.