Newbie needs advice on laying out tank

[tinman383]

Hey guys,
I am totally new to the hobby and bought a used 90g tank. It came with the whole filtration system, but I need lights and probably some kind of chiller cuz my mom turns the air up to about 80 during the day time while everyone is at work. I have the tank cycling now and my friend gave me about 200lbs of fiji rock. My question is how do you go about laying out a really nice tank. Whenever I go into the lfs and see how awesome the tanks look, I now it is because of the positioning of the live rock and corals. Is there a certain way to position the live rock so it is more appealing? I want to make sure the foundation is as good as I can get it before I start adding corals. I know it has a lot to do with personal preference, but I am blown away by some of the tanks I see and know that there is no way that I could come up with anything like that off of the top of my head. Anyone have a certain way of "landscaping" that seems to work? I noticed some tanks have basically just a wall of live rock, while others have arches and caves. Is there a certain layout that is better for the fish? Any input would be appreciated.....

 

[schroder_reef]

Sorry, the only thing I know is that once you start buying corals and positioning them, its a pain in the butt to move your LR, so you want to make sure you like it the first time.... We have shelves of LR, I'm sure already knew to do that though so that your corals and such that need high light can be at the top and the less light for the bottom, any way you do it will be right for yourself. Good luck and I'm sure some of the experts will tell ya how they do it.
Ambie

 

[cosmosbasement]

Well-the only thing I can tell you or help you with is make it sturdy. That's all. The rest is up to you. That's what makes buying LR so much fun. The options are endless. Justkeep moving them around until you like what you see. But then again a week later you might want it another way. I just got done doing the left to middle part of my 55 gal reef and it has been up for over two years. I'm working on the right side now. Plus I buy a couple pounds every now and then and play with it. Possibilities are endless.
peace
doug

 

[flydan]

Hey,
First of all, welcome to the board!
Secondly, you have GREAT friends. 200lbs of Fiji! Nice; very nice.
My only recommendation is that you leave room behind the wall of rock for water circulation. (You don't want it leaning against the glass.) Also, make as many caves and openings between the rocks as you can. This serves two purposes. I gives your more shy critters places to hang out and it circulates the water better. Don't worry about your fish hiding in caves all the time. If they have a safe place to hide they actually come out into the open more often.
As stated earlier, make the foundation solid since some of the things you will be adding later may push it around some. HTH.
Take care,
Dan'l

 

[q]

Also look at as many tanks as possible and copy what you like. Give it as much of your own personality as you can.
[ August 28, 2001: Message edited by: Plato ]

 

[fat_ed]

Here are a few tricks:
1) A handful of short pieces of PVC can be inserted into the sandbed and used to lift the entire rock structure off of the sand, thereby promoting circulation.
2) You can superglue pieces of live rock together to each other or to PVC tocreate appealing structures. The glue and PVC will eventually be covered over with algae, so you won't notice them.
3) As a general (and obvious) rule, larger pieces on the bottom and smaller pieces on top. You can also use smaller pieces as columns to support flat shelves.
4) Think about coral placement and water flow in advance. Create coves and tunnels that will moderate water flow. Leave plenty of flat areas for coral placement.
Have fun!

 

[tinman383]

Thanks for the replys that I have gotten thus far. Most of the pieces that I have are large and flat so they will definitely have to be used for the bottom. Now I am debating on building the live rock up like I see in most of the lfs which is the wall look where it goes to the top of the tank and is pretty much flat on top and looks like a wall. That is the most common way I see. The other way would be to have a hill on each side of the tank with a valley in the middle. There is a guy around here that has done a bunch of tanks that have been in the movies. I saw a scrap book and off the top of my head I remember that he did the tanks that appeared in the Specialist and Bad Boys. I guess I am gonna take another look at the book and see what catches my eye. I heard he charges 45 an hour to come out and do "show quality tanks" whatever that means. I know I can do it myself, but I am still open to any ideas that would make a great looking tank.
Thanks....