Hi folks.
This is Keith from reef bum,
and I am once again,
collaborating with Marine Depot on an educational video about reef
keeping
In this video,
I'm going to continue to talk about SPS and some tips on how to best Aqua scape
a tank for these types of corals.
When I started out in this hobby many years ago,
I have to admit I was clueless when it came to properly,
Apple escaping and SPS dominant reef tank,
the wall rocket put together with my first reef,
a 90 gallon aquarium seemed like a good idea at the time,
but the stack that unstable structure led me to fiddle with it numerous times,
trying my patience and upsetting the delicate balance of my reef.
At times it looked like a poorly constructed wall.
Back then the popular belief was to use two pounds of live rock for every gallon
of water.
I'd hear to this philosophy with my next reef,
a 120 gallon tank and used about 250 pounds of rock.
My aquas gaping talents definitely improved.
So I did a better job placing the rock and a much more stable and natural
looking restructure.
What's my approach with Aqua scaping.
Well,
for a section of reef,
I like to lay some relatively flat pieces of rock on the bottom of the tank as a
base.
It is always best to find pieces with some curvature and had this part pointing
up,
which provides some space underneath for flow.
I then look to add rocks on top of the base rocks that can naturally lock
together.
Mortar,
potty,
and superglue can be used to help stabilize the structure.
You can even drill holes in the rock and use acrylic rods to create some
interesting app escapes.
Although this is something you would do primarily with dry rock.
Nonetheless,
I can't stress how important it is to make sure the structure is rock solid.
Put the time in the beginning to get it right and resist that temptation to
tinker.
Okay.
Getting back to my 120 gallon tank,
the structure I created worked great for a couple of years,
but it became very apparent that I had failed to consider a couple of important
things.
One was to allow room for my SPS corals to grow.
When the rock was placed,
I was very satisfied that the tank looked full,
despite it not having corals.
I was trying to accelerate things by seeking some instant gratification,
which is something reef keepers should try to avoid.
Patience is a virtue in this hobby.
Anyway,
the SPS in this tank grew rather quickly and over time,
they started to grow together and choke the tank.
I realized I should have used much less rock to allow room for the corals to
fill out the tank.
Another negative byproduct of having a lot of rock in this tank was the impact
it had on circulation.
Strong flow is vital for a reef tank and the large foundational rock
created dead spots and detritus traps that aided the buildup of and
phosphates nuisance algae sprung up.
And I was constantly fighting it to keep it at Bay.
It ultimately led me to break down that tank and take a hiatus from the hobby.
I finally got it with my next three,
a 225 gallon tank.
I used approximately 100 pounds of live rock and created two islands that would
have plenty of room for the corals to grow,
to maximize flow in the back.
I created a large channel between the rock islands and the back panel of the
tank.
I placed to recirculating pumps in both back corners and had them facing one
another,
which created a nice surge and helped minimize the amount of detritus that
settled in the back.
This helped to keep nitrates and phosphates in check the space between the rock
and the back wall also gave me easier access to the back panel to keep it clean
and allow the corals to pop against a black piece of acrylic silicone into the
back of glass.
I created a similar scape for my current 187 gallon tank.
Again,
I was careful not to use too much rock,
so the SPS would have room to grow.
Another important point to consider is a distance crawls are placed from one
another.
You must account for the growth rate of SPS corals and plan accordingly,
a fast growing coral,
such as a branching Montipora should be given a very wide berth versus other
corals,
even medium to slow growing corals,
such as Millipore's or tenuous should be given some space,
placing them an inch or two apart is just asking for trouble down the line since
they will not get the flow they need.
Once they mature,
you may also lose some corals.
If they touch one another,
the stronger of the two will win out during this coral warfare.
So in a nutshell,
have a vision for what your tank will look like in a year or two and account for
the necessary open space you will need in the beginning for both the amount of
rock you use and your placement of corals in my experience less
is better on many fronts when it comes to creating effective and appealing Aqua
scapes.
And don't forget to create a stable structure when setting up the scape.
Well,
folks that will do it for this video.
If you'd like to please give it a thumbs up and hit that subscribe button,
I will put links to Marine Depot and reef boom in the video description below
many.
Thanks for watching.
See you next time.