Rock Placement

I have a 55 gal tank with about 70lbs of live rock. I was wondering do most people put it in the middle of the tank with equal distance front to back or do some put it all the way to the back of the glass?

 

It is alllllll dependent on the placement of your tank. People have done that, and I have seen examples of such. It is not out of line. Most people put it to the back though. I arranged mine in an inverted "U' to the left, then continued to the right trying to make cave like structures along the way. Just fiddle around with it.....It's artwork dude. Dime to a dollar you will hate the first couple of attempts, then you will hit on one you like. Then build on it from there.

 

the ones that put it in the middle are tanks where you can see both sides...if its not where you see both sides i would go for the back....caves seem to be important also....

 

One thing to keep in mind is that if you have the rock too close to the glass you can't clean the glass where the rock is touching. No big deal if you are expecting to have the glass all covered in coralline eventually but just something to think about.

Having your rock right up against the glass can sometimes make for areas of low flow in between all of the rocks where detritus can settle as well which might make for more maintenance in the long term.

The things I kept in mind when I setup my rocks were, the flow pattern, trying to help make sure detritus doesn't settle in places that are hard to get to, providing enough swimming room for fish, and providing enough room for the growth of corals as well as having enough places to put corals as you stock your tank.

I went through 6-7 iterations of aquascaping at least so give it a shot and see how you like it, it's a work in progress for me.

 

We made the coves/caves in front so they were ideal to see from couch (that's where the some fish hang out and the cleaner shrimp hand upside down).I wouldn't want the fish hanging on the back side of tank if we can't view that area. We have rock towards the back and one side. This way we only have to scrape off coraline from front and one viewing side.

 

You can see mine are away from the glass in my tank thread. (there's a photo from above).It's all a personal preference. I wanted to be able to keep my glass clean and blue. If you plan on having a tank like most that is all reef I would put it against the back wall. Snails will take care of the cleaning back there.

 

I have a 55gal too and if yours is a standard size tank, the width makes it really hard to get a good aquascape. I had the rock in the middle at first, when I only had 55lbs, but when I bought more, now have 80lbs+ I decided to lean the rock against the back wall to have the most room in the front. Here's a picture of my tank.

 

I like this....

 

Thanks for all the great info. That is a great picture. Yup mine is against the wall I did put it in the middle because I thought the fish would want to swim all around the rock, but know I am having second thoughts. I also just finally got my extrem pro lights and tonight I cam home to brown stuff all over my glass and live rocks. Any ideas?

 

cleaner crew $$!