ideal SPS / acropora rockwork

[Daniel Waters]

I'm considering moving to an SPS dominated tank. I am cosidering redoing my rockwork, and I saw this video of a minimalist branching rock work creation that caught my interest (fast forward to 5:10 mark for completed structure).



My questions concerning this structure are:

(1) Is there a general rule of thumb on how much spacing to provide between various SPS colonies? I realize some colonies tend to grow more horizontal, and some grow more vertically, but I'm more concerned about horizontal distance from one acro frag base to the beginning of a base of another acro frag for instance. Obviously, the larger the spacing, the larger a colony can grow, but that means less colonies I could place in the tank.

(2) The discs / platforms to grow the acro colonies on...is there an ideal size that will allow the acro to grow a large enough support base before branching out from the rock work? For example, would a 3" diameter disc be more ideal than a 2" diameter disc? My thought was the coral would build a colony on the disc and then expand out into the open spaces, but perhaps only certain acros will do this or ?

(3) I'd also appreciate any other general advice in the rock work design shown on the video of why this would be a good or bad idea.

 

[bk_market]

I actually like my acro to grow tightly together. I think it looks more natural that way. I have seen some other people with rock structure that made out of cement but I am just not a fan. Maybe when all the frags become colonies and fill the tank then it would look awesome but that would take a while.

As for the discs, all of my sps encrust at the base as they grow. I use 2" disc one that I glue to my rockwork but 3" wouldnt hurt. They would be blending into the rock anyway due to coraline algea growing.