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Building A Reef
With Rocks
I
don't advise gluing or binding your rocks in any way…because part of the
fun of this hobby (& is sometimes a necessity) is change. The only
time I glue anything is if I I have a coral with a small rock that’s too
light to stay in place where I want it. In that case I just glue the
coral rock to a larger rock. Otherwise the rock structure should be
built with places to set corals corals in mind (think of making steps)
not so much swim through places. A mistake some make is to end up with
cliffs/sheer flat rock fronts with no place to set new corals.
Just building the reef structure will itself create many holes & swim
throughs for the fish. Focus on creating platforms for coral
placement.
To start, select
some larger rocks & counter sink them by twisting & pushing down into
the sand a bit (do not bury them – no need). Spread them out to the
approximate dimension of the rock structure you want to make. Leave at
least 2 inches behind the rocks to the back glass for critical water
flow & 3-4 inches on each end so your hand with a scraper in it can
easily scrape the glass and again, for water flow. Leave a gap between
rocks then straddle the rocks with top rocks. Play with the rocks like
linking logs, turning them until they kind of lock into place with the
surrounding rocks. Step the rocks low in the front to higher in the
back. You can lean the very top rocks on the back glass…as long as you
maintain a water channel behind your rocks for water to flow.
You
can be creative in aesthetics - making 2 mounds of rock structure with a
connecting shelf rock or just leave open – or 3 mounds or straight wall
of rock across. Look closely at the pictures of my tanks on this web
site & you can get some ideas on how to build a stable yet aesthetically
pleasing & functional reef structure.
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