How high to aquascape in a 28 inch tall tank?

[Dave-T]

I've got a 72x28x28 tank. I'm wondering how high to have the rockwork. I'm planning on having a mixed reef, with SPS up high. I've seen people talk about having the scape come up 2/3 of the height of the tank, but doesn't that change in a taller tank? Isn't the issue to leave enough room for coral to not grow out of the water?

My LFS made up some rockwork for me, here it is, with one piece in the tank. I'm thinking it's too low, but I could be convinced otherwise...

 

[Dave-T]

 

[undermind]

Hi ya, not seeing a pic!

2/3 feels too high to me. If your corals grow out the way we all want them to, your focus is not on the rock work at that point, and the rockscape is fairly irrelevant. I'm a fan of fairly minimal rockwork.

 

[Dave-T]

Hi ya, not seeing a pic!

2/3 feels too high to me. If your corals grow out the way we all want them to, your focus is not on the rock work at that point, and the rockscape is fairly irrelevant. I'm a fan of fairly minimal rockwork.

Check again, I posted the pics. You beat me to it! So 2/3 would leave about 9 inches between the top of the rock and the surface of the water. Isn't that too much? Don't I want more like 6 inches?

 

[Thunder_reef]

Do what you think looks nice to your eyes, just know your corals will grow up.

 

[undermind]

So 2/3 would leave about 9 inches between the top of the rock and the surface of the water. Isn't that too much? Don't I want more like 6 inches?

Well first off, there are no rules! Right?

Looking at the pics, it looks like they made an NSA aquascape for you (negative space). That being the case, I think I might consider letting myself go a little taller than if it were a "wall of rocks".

Do you like what they created for you?

 

[Gedxin]

Personally a fan of the 2/3 suggestion. Go too high and you're at risk of a corals growing out of the water, and/or during water changes you will stress corals because the water will drain below their mounting points.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I like between halfway and 2/3 so that when acros grow out, they will be at the 2/3 sweet spot.

 

[Dave-T]

Well first off, there are no rules! Right?

Looking at the pics, it looks like they made an NSA aquascape for you (negative space). That being the case, I think I might consider letting myself go a little taller than if it were a "wall of rocks".

Do you like what they created for you?

We need to figure out how to fit it all in (the overflow chamber is kinda in the way), but overall I like it a lot. Just wondering if it should be a bit higher.

 

[Dave-T]

Personally a fan of the 2/3 suggestion. Go too high and you're at risk of a corals growing out of the water, and/or during water changes you will stress corals because the water will drain below their mounting points.

Well, the issue of the corals growing out of the water is a factor of the absolute distance to the surface, not the percentage of that to the tank height. Corals won't grow more if the water beneath them is deeper. In a 24" tank, 2/3 gives you 8 inches to the surface. In a 48" tank, that's 16 inches...

Regarding water changes, I'll be doing continuous water changes.

 

[undermind]

We need to figure out how to fit it all in (the overflow chamber is kinda in the way), but overall I like it a lot. Just wondering if it should be a bit higher.

I'm looking at the one rock formation in the tank in the background of the picture above. Is the rest of the rock that's currently out of the tank as tall as the piece in the tank?

That piece in the tank looks plenty tall to me. I would not want to go higher. Imagine a cantaloupe sized SPS colony on top of that rock. You'd be looking at a solid bottom-to-top wall. That kind of blows up the golden ratio concept. And I think the most beautiful reefs have a lot of open water space. It gives better movement with fish in there.

 

[Dave-T]

Ok thanks.

 

[Dave-T]

Bumping this thread for more advice. I am doing some modifications to the aquascape. Currently the highest point in the scape it’s about 13 inches from the surface of the water. I am wondering if I should go higher. Here is a new section I did, that will take up about half the wits of the tank. Should I add some height to it? Any more branches or caves?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

That looks high enough to look good. What you are missing in the scape right now is caves and coves for the fish to sleep and hide in.

 

[Dave-T]

That looks high enough to look good. What you are missing in the scape right now is caves and coves for the fish to sleep and hide in.

Really? I actually thought it was prett cavey.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Bumping this thread for more advice. I am doing some modifications to the aquascape. Currently the highest point in the scape it’s about 13 inches from the surface of the water. I am wondering if I should go higher. Here is a new section I did, that will take up about half the wits of the tank. Should I add some height to it? Any more branches or caves?

Well, like others have said do what you think looks nice.

if you are only 13” tall on a 28” tall tank, sounds like if you wanted to go rule of 2/3 you have some room to work with.

there are no rules though! Just a few things that keep us around the 2/3 mark, which is for low stress on coral during tank maintenance, along with giving your sticks room to grow into beautiful colonies!

I am attempting to go with a mixed reef between LPS and SPS and it is hard to dial in that lighting for bofem.

I tried making a few shadier areas down low to play with lower par. I have 3’ of overall elevation to play with though, so hitting 350 on top and 100 on bottom is possible.

IMO you should tinker until your happy! I think it’s worth spending the $30 on some 3/4” PVC pipe and fittings to make a glass to glass dimensioned cube of your tank you can put your rocks in to play with a nice fit, Here’s what I did to judge the height and maintenance clearance for scraping back and sides

 

[Tired]

I see hardly any caves. Those little holes in the rock don't work for most fish, and those big open spaces don't count- that's not a space for them to be concealed in. They need places to hide away from you, other fish, and nebulous dread of predators, and a lack of hiding places will stress them out.

 

[Auquanut]

That looks high enough to look good. What you are missing in the scape right now is caves and coves for the fish to sleep and hide in.

I'm going to go with @ZombieEngineer with this one. I'll also add my own $.02.

That scape looks awesome. I would absolutely keep it as is. But you may need more hidey holes for the fish while the corals grow in. The beauty of your scape is that you still have plenty of real-estate in the substrate to add little caves and swim-throughs.

And that's kind of where I'm going with this. While the structure looks awesome, you may find yourself limited to the types/amount of coral you can add. You'll have to leave room between corals in order to allow them to grow into those amazing colonies we all want. Adding a few smaller structures to that awesome scape might make the fish happier, while giving you more real-estate for corals. Kind of gives a sense of depth to the tank too.

Just a thought.

 

[EricR]

NSA ‘aint my thing so you can disregard this:

More rock surface scattered horizontally for ability to receive light from above might be something to consider.

 

[Dave-T]

I see hardly any caves. Those little holes in the rock don't work for most fish, and those big open spaces don't count- that's not a space for them to be concealed in. They need places to hide away from you, other fish, and nebulous dread of predators, and a lack of hiding places will stress them out.

I think maybe it’s hard to see in these few pictures, but there are some caves. But I’m not opposed to adding more. I’m finding that this aquascaping business is a lot easier than I expected. Do you have any examples of what you’re talking about?