Aqua-scaping

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

For a 50g, I'd use about 40 pounds max!

Thats not very much Brad.

Originally Posted by jason604

Holy crap 120lbs for a 50g? That's insane lol. Is there even space to put ur hand in the tank?

I bet I could scape with that much, {which Im not} and still have lots of room. I will tell you fish like wrasses, dwarf angels, blennies and so on would love it.


So does this mean Im having a rock sale....

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Doug

Thats not very much Brad.

The advantage to "lite" rock work is lots of flow to remove detritus and keep the water cleaner. And once the coral grows in, the tank gets pretty full. I would actually use 25-30 pounds in a 50g, but I gave you an extra 10 to play with 'cause I know you're old school

As a reference, I have about 100 pounds in my 180 and the fish are running out of swimming room.

[kien]

If you have smaller fish then giving them a nook or cranny to hide/sleep in will definitely be appreciated, but you don't need to build mount everest to achieve this. Even one porous boulder can house lots of small fish.

For my tangs, they are ok under an overhang, although I do have an open(ish) cave area that they retreat to as well.

Also, an open aquascape doesn't necessarily mean sparse. You can have a decent a mount of rock in there with nooks and crannies and even caves, while still maintaining an open aquascape with lots of negative space.

[kien]

I guess it also depends how you define sparse.

I wouldn't consider my aquascape sparse in rocks. Here's my middle structure that actually has a fair amount of rocks with lots of places in it for small-medium sized fish to hide. The structure itself is made of pretty large porous rock, while its overall footprint is light.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by kien

The structure itself is made of pretty large porous rock[/IMG]

just how porous is epoxy?

[Doug]

Originally Posted by kien

If you have smaller fish then giving them a nook or cranny to hide/sleep in will definitely be appreciated, but you don't need to build mount everest to achieve this. Even one porous boulder can house lots of small fish.

For my tangs, they are ok under an overhang, although I do have an open(ish) cave area that they retreat to as well.

Also, an open aquascape doesn't necessarily mean sparse. You can have a decent a mount of rock in there with nooks and crannies and even caves, while still maintaining an open aquascape with lots of negative space.

Some look like a bean pole sitting in the middle of a playground though. Now thats sparse.

Ok Im going to look yours over again

[kien]

Originally Posted by Doug

Some look like a bean pole sitting in the middle of a playground though. Now thats sparse.

True. I have seen people take it to the extreme. I guess it's up to you to decide where to draw the line. It's one part aesthetics and one part functionality.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by kien

True. I have seen people take it to the extreme. I guess it's up to you to decide where to draw the line. It's one part aesthetics and one part functionality.

Yours looks very nice. I would have a bit more on the right side in mine but overall, looks good.

Plus I wont have any tangs, just smaller fish.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by kien

If you have smaller fish then giving them a nook or cranny to hide/sleep in will definitely be appreciated, but you don't need to build mount everest to achieve this. Even one porous boulder can house lots of small fish.

For my tangs, they are ok under an overhang, although I do have an open(ish) cave area that they retreat to as well.

Also, an open aquascape doesn't necessarily mean sparse. You can have a decent a mount of rock in there with nooks and crannies and even caves, while still maintaining an open aquascape with lots of negative space.

+ 1! I aquascaped my tank so that when I was done on day one, there was as much negative space as I wanted, I barely accounted for corals. Now that things are growing in I would like nothing more than to remove about 1/3 of my rock, but at this point there's too much coral too well encrusted and interwoven to do that safely. I feel like you can always add more rock later, but removing it once the system grows in is a much larger kind of surgery

[Aquattro]

Doug, as an example, look at the 2011 full tank shots thread. You can see where i started with 1/2lb per gallon. Then find one of my more recent pics and you can see that all that space is now gone.
Try to envision what the corals will take up in a year or two.