Aquascape Question

[jpc763]

I have had my tank up for a couple of months now and I had an Aquascape question. When I set mine up, I stacked the rocks in the middle of the tank with room on all 4 sides for cleaning purposes.
I have been told that in order to encourage coralline growth, you should leave the back wall alone (don't clean it).
So whay not push the rocks back and have them closer to the back wall if you are not going to clean it anyway? Or am I missing something?
My tank is a 55 standard so it is 13" deep. It is not deep enough for me to get a sand bed large coral such as a brain. Not enough real estate!!!

 

[maxalmon]

Coraline growth is a combination of having the correct calcium and Alk levels along with good water and lighting. Coraline algae will grow wherever it wants and there's really no way to control where or where it won't grow. Just make sure your Ca is around 400-425

 

[jpc763]

Thanks for the response. My Ca is typically 420-480 and my dKH is 8 or 9.
My question is actually about aquascaping. Should I pile the rocks close to the back glass or not? Pro's and cons?

 

[earlybird]

I'm actually changing this weekend moving my rocks back away from the glass and more in the center. I thought I had enought flow back there but I've got a little more detritus than I'd like. You can have your rock against the back but if you do put a powerhead or several back there to make sure you have ample flow.

 

[swfishfan]

aquascapeing is all up to the aquarist own taste, some people stack all the rocks on one side and leave a big gap on the other to allow free floating fish to sit there and be seen better, others fill the middle of the tank and thats it... i personally like the stacking look, i like to stack it evenly across the tank and lay some on my back glass, but never on the front because i dont want to worry about the sight of the front of the glass being all cluttered.... as for flow, behind my rocks, i have never cared much about it because if you see the tank from the front of it the algea growing in the back will not bother my tanks beauty because it is behind my rocks... now when aquascaping all i worry about is that all my rocks are secure and not able to fall in case some of my diggers mess with them and now i have water on my carpet, so that all i really worry about and what it looks like to me