Why does everyone...

[taku]

Why does everyone pack their displays with a lot of live rock, besides the obvious benefits of filtration... hear me out -- with all the hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars worth of filtration equipment in large tanks, does the amount of LR ultimately come down to visual preference?

I'm having a difficult time finding pictures of large open/island reef tanks which is unfortunate, because just about every one I've seen has been shockingly beautiful.

Does anyone have any links or pics to show off??

 

[AcroSteve]

cward's tank is pretty sweet like that.

 

[jslomo420]

I'm guilty of packing my tank full but I have a friend with a 120g and a "valley" in the middle with rock on the sides and the middle wide open sand it's pretty sweet. but ya can't beat LR for filtration!

 

[Ocicat]

Is there any reason you can't just put a lot of LR in the sump and minimize the amount in the display?

 

[rdnyva]

Thank you for this thread, hope it keeps going. My 125 will be delivered any day now and I'm already planning two rock piles on either end and a valley in the middle. Can't wait to see pics to see what others have done and get better ideas.

 

[JENnKerry]

Look at Micki's gallery of her 125. She has quite a bit of these valley's with lots of open swimming space.

 

[So Cal shaggy]

live rock not only helps provide filtration it also provides shelter for any fish or inverts you have and also give you surfaces to attach corals to

 

[know-it-all]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6826346#post6826346 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by So Cal shaggy
live rock not only helps provide filtration it also provides shelter for any fish or inverts you have and also give you surfaces to attach corals to

stole my words
most of the time, the rocks are structured for shelter/coral placement
with a bigger tank, you could get away with more open spaces
but in smaller tanks, the animals would fight for the spots

 

[smiller]

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_aquascaping.htm

 

[taku]

I completely agree about the filtration aspect, but I'm still curious why more tanks (which have the sump space to hold plenty of rock) pack their displays. Whatever happened to less is more...

While I agree having plenty of coral attaching space is important, and hiding places for fish, the last "island" style tank I saw had a more vertical rock island rather than horizontal coral island in the middle and the fish were all over it. It looked great.. I just thought there'd be more tanks like that..

The valley look is also really cool looking. Anymore links?

 

[taku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6825403#post6825403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AcroSteve
cward's tank is pretty sweet like that.

good call! I figured I'd post a pic from his gallery so others can see too. Thanks for the name!!!!!

 

[taku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6825559#post6825559 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JENnKerry
Look at Micki's gallery of her 125. She has quite a bit of these valley's with lots of open swimming space.

Also thank you for the username!!! Here's a pic of Micki's I couldn't find a better pic in the gallery but this one is exactly what I'm talking about....

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=109207&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

I'd still like to see a tank with the pile in the middle and open on both sides though, anyone know of any?

 

[clord]

Hey Taku you helped me over at CSI a long time ago thanks .

 

[HartfordWhalers]

thanks for the help

 

[taku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6827794#post6827794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clord
Hey Taku you helped me over at CSI a long time ago thanks .

I'm not sure what it was regarding but cool! What's your userID over there?

 

[mg426]

I Think mickis tank looks great. as long as the amount of Lr you have is keeping the readings happy I would geuss it comes down to personal preferance.

 

[shullat]

Re: Why does everyone...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6823135#post6823135 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by taku
Why does everyone pack their displays with a lot of live rock, besides the obvious benefits of filtration... hear me out -- with all the hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars worth of filtration equipment in large tanks, does the amount of LR ultimately come down to visual preference?

I'm having a difficult time finding pictures of large open/island reef tanks which is unfortunate, because just about every one I've seen has been shockingly beautiful.

Does anyone have any links or pics to show off??

As everyone else said there are obvious benefits to having lots of live rock but I also prefer the island/open look. It has been very difficult on my 55 to do really much with the aquascape but I tried to keep an open look. Looking at Oregonreef's tank in the past has also been inspiring for the aquascape of my 180 cube when it comes in.

 

[gfk]

taku taku taku what up

anyways... i think a lot of it has to do with the size of tanks, and peoples ideas on "what is supposed to be done"

i only have a nano, a 20 gallon at that, which is only 12 inches deep.

tanks without a lot of depth are hard to aquascape without having a lot of liverock b/c of lack of depth

i know when i get a wider tank i would love to have a couple of islands, or one big clump on one side and a small island on the other.

but again i think it comes down to what people "think theyre supposed to do"

 

[taku]

The CSi people come out at night! How are ya

I think you're right. I also would like to have an island or two in a nice wide tank, rather than a wall.

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

2 months into my 125 project. More LR for the sump coming soon, but the display is complete in that regard. LR is all on PVC stands as well as you can see in the pictures. Coraline just started coming in everywhere, so the PVC will disappear soon enough.