Aquascaping

[Paul B]

I see a lot of Noob Threads asking to comment on their aquascape. That is a good idea but the scape is your preference. But I see in most of them too much rock, especially with flat surfaces sitting on the bottom. I know this is the easiest way to stack rock and it probably looks nicer, but it is not the way to go. IMO the contact areas should be as minimum as possible, maybe using the pointiest parts of the rock to contact the bottom so as not to restrict flow. It doesn't look like much but those stagnant areas add up and do nothing for tank health and maybe be detrimental as we want circulation in every area as much as possible.
My entire reef is sitting on DIY structures like this. You don't see these things in my tank because they are covered in rock and coral with just some of the "feet" visible.





It's hard to see in the picture but there is very little rock touching the gravel and water can circulate around, through and under the structure.