My rockwork...what to do

Wharf

Peacock Bass
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I have haps so they are more open water fish. I have some rockwork so the tank isn't too bland. I would love to have gotten a custom background; however, I did not know how it would work with my overflows and out let nozzles. If I had one I probably would have very few rocks on the substrate.

Well this brings me to the question....these are actually fairly big rocks...I think there are 8 total. Should I remove some? Should I just simply ignore it and just change it every several months if I add new fish?

Any suggestions?

My tank is acrylic so I don't really want to stack them up on the sides or do the two pile thing. I got these rocks because they were lighter and I have dark substrate.
 
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punman

Plecostomus
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Feb 22, 2016
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I do not have a problem with what you have done, but you could try clumping them together in two or three groups without stacking them high and see how that looks. Either way is fine.
 

Wharf

Peacock Bass
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I don't think I can get much larger rocks than these through the top of the tank...being acrylic. If it was an open top I probably could. I might stack a few on left and then just put a smaller rock or two on the other end...maybe that'll work.
 
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RD.

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I got all my rocks over the years from landscape places, so I was able to dig around and cherry pick exactly what I wanted. Sometimes one can find larger boulders that are flat based, and more vertical, than round. Not sure how much space you have for access at the top of your acrylic, but the rock on the far left (approx. 25 pounds) would probably fit. Some of the others maybe not.

As an example, a 125 shortly after I set it up years ago.

upload_2019-1-8_18-56-14.png
 

Lilyann

Dovii
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I got all my rocks over the years from landscape places, so I was able to dig around and cherry pick exactly what I wanted. Sometimes one can find larger boulders that are flat based, and more vertical, than round. Not sure how much space you have for access at the top of your acrylic, but the rock on the far left (approx. 25 pounds) would probably fit. Some of the others maybe not.

As an example, a 125 shortly after I set it up years ago.

View attachment 1353160
Nice scape- but the tank itself is very nice- like the color and grain of wood.
 

BIG-G

Goliath Tigerfish
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You could take a few of the larger rocks and group them like suggested, if have any small pebbles toss them around the grouping to make them look more natural.
Just big stones in a group will look intentional but when you add some small random sizes it’s usually more pleasing visually.
 

RD.

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Nice scape- but the tank itself is very nice- like the color and grain of wood.
Thank you. It looked a lot more natural after a couple of years of maturing with algae growth etc. The stand and canopy was custom made by a local craftsman.
 

Barleysoda

Jack Dempsey
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Dec 9, 2013
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I would get a background if even one of the flatter backgrounds that don't stick out that much. Fish are big so you wouldn't need to silicone the edges with the flatter ones, just drop it in. You could cut it to clear the the over flow and outlets. The reason I would do this is because the blue background of your tank is not doing your mostly blue haps any Justice. The fish just blend into that background too much. I would only have a blue background tank with red fish like some discus or flowerhorn. With haps I would go with a black background tank or a drop in rock background so those fish pop and stand out. After that it don't really matter so much how you set up the ground rocks. There's gotta be a way you can get a background in there without having to drain the tank and temporary house the fish and I think you can do it with the lower profile rock backgrounds.
 

Wharf

Peacock Bass
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I would of rather gone with a black background unless I was keeping Tropheus...I always think they look much better on blue anyways.

I got this uniquarium for over half off the retail price so at that point didn't care if it was blue. I was considering one of those custom backgrounds from universal rocks...it was just going to be a pain with livestock and cutting it for overflows/outlets...fitting it through the top etc. The haps are gone anyway...but the fronts would def look better on dark black or brown/gray.

This is what I did with the rocks so far: I was going to take the L rock on the R side pile and just lean the top rock over to the L. but since I have Fronts making a good size cave probably is better for them.

I usually do go with different sized river rock...but I got some light stone from the Landscape place this time because I had the black substrate...this stuff seems much heavier than river rock though lol.

 
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