Originally posted by FishorBust
I know this may be a dumb question but here it goes. I have a 20 gallon FOWLR as of right now, monday my power compact will be in and corals will go in. Right now i have about 8-10 lbs of live rock. I have it positioned in the middle of my tank running from one side of the tank to the other. I was wondering if i should stack it more back towards the back part of the glass or if it was ok there. I have a little cave hole at the bottom of one side of the rock. The coral beauty likes to go there when the lights go out. Should i not move it now? Any answeres would be appreciated. Thanks
Can anyone help me?
Personally I've found a tank easier to maintain (especially smaller tanks like we have *I have a 20 too*) if you dont stack the rocks against the back glass, but rather leave enough room back there to get a siphon hose in there to clean out the crud. You can of course also put a powerhead in the back of hte tank and have it spray the water from one side to the other behind the liverock to keep it relatively clean behind it.
I would suggest getting more liverock, like another 10 to 15lbs of it, to get your liverock up to about 1 to 1.5lbs per gallon of tank. I have a total of 35+- lbs of liverock in my 20 gallon tank.
In my tank the liverock is stacked as a wall against the back glass, but I have 3 powerheads , one in the middle of my rock wall pointing out, and one on either side inside the rock wall blowing out from the back so that the water doesnt get stagnant back there.
It's really asthetics that dictate how to place your liverock, other than what I mentioned above about stagnant water and cleaning back there.
Well depending on how long your tank has been established, moving it *could* cause a little mini cycle, but Im guessing it wont, or wont be hardly noticible. So I'd get it arranged how you like it now, then you dont have to do it later.
I've redone my liverock about 5 times in the past 6 months with my tank (yup, gotten a mini cycle each time from stirring things up a bit), but Im finally done for now, but have to move in Aug or Sept of this year, so it will under go another change Im sure.
Goodluck, just make sure it's stacked securely and wont topple over on some tank inhabitant.
