the other nite, i went by my local aquatic specialty store just to get some more pre-made saltwater to do a needed water change.......

got to looking at the latest shipment of corals they had just got in. i had been thinking about adding a new piece in the back on a large flat piece that i had placed as a "bridge" across to bottom rocks.

well, they had this piece that was pretty much the same size as the bare live rock i was looking to put something on & was covered in many colonies of nano polyps i also bought a large piece of brain coral & a beautiful red starfish

well, the large rock was an easy swap, but the way the tank was configured didn't really leave a suitable location for the brain coral, so i decided to take it all out & redo the live rock configuration & do it in a way that would allow me to get the corals properly placed in the tank.....the bubble coral was previously higher in the tank & they prefer to be low & the torch coral was near the middle & they prefer to be higher.

so i took all the rock out & started about placing the pieces better. previously, i had covered the entire floor of the tank w/ rock, but decided this time i wanted to leave some bare sand areas for asthetic reasons & also to allow room for me to run my hand & a sponge all the down to the sand level all the way around the glass to clean it when it became necessary

2 of the live rocks had large holes in the middle. previously, i had placed them with the holes horizontial like caved areas, but since i only have water volume in the tank for 2 fish (my pair of clowns) & they don't really get in caves, i decided the holes would be better suited as areas to sit the brain & torch corals in to aid in their stability in the tank.

one piece i had previously in the tank had a large mushroom "filter" already attached & i decided i liked it's previous placement & it was also to serve as one side that the large colony rock would "bridge" across. the larger of the 2 live rocks w/ hole became the right leg of the bridge & i placed the polyp colony rock across the 2 pieces & the torch coral in the hole in the right side piece. i had to break off a piece of scrap rock to place against the back of the tank to help support the torch coral.

the smaller of the live rocks w/ hole i laid on the bottom of the tank to the right side & placed the brain coral covering it. the piece of bubble coral i place in the front between the large left-side piece & the one on the right w/ the brain coral. kinda bridging across the middle of everything, i placed the pulsating xenia.

lastly, i replaced the stationary water outlet in the upper left of the tank w/ one that rotats so it creates random water currents throughout the tank.

the bubble coral got a little damaged in all the rearainging, but it is coming back pretty quickly. the polyp colony has started to open back up, but still has a way to go before it is at it's full splendor.

here are 2 HUGE pics that really show more detail

8mp of full tank view

8mp of nano polyps colonies

lastly, here is a short vid of everything.......


THOUHGTS??????

i really like the setup as it is, but am already thinking about getting the 24-gallon tank i have been wanting :rick:

below, the 1st pic is a little over a month ago, w/ just the 3 lonely pieces of live rock.....it's come a looooong way in such a short time
the rest are current pics.....

 

I was expecting pics of half naked chicks. Fail! h:

 

every thread can't be about the poon :angry:

wned: by not using the thread preview feature