Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I am trying to place my Live rock in my tank with where my placement of coral types will be placed, to a certin extent. I am sure they will be all over the place eventually. I will be wanting some Zoas and the differant kinds can be placed together, that is to says they can grow into each other without hurting each other? I am also going to be wanting some Ricordea, can these be placed together in the same way? I have read that these get 5 to 6 inches across and that they will hurt each other and need to be spaced accordingly. I am guessing that they can be together if they are of the same type, but what if they are diff. types? Last question, I know lighting will have an effect on how this question will be answered, so I will tell you what I have, or will have after I install them today. I have 3 MH, 250w 20K bulbs, low profile lights that will be housed in a canopy. I am guessing that after they are installed they will be about 9 to 10 inches off the surface of the water in my tank. What I want to know is, the surface of Live Rock that I am going to place my Tabling Acropora on needs to be how deep from the surface of the water in my tank? Thanks for your help.

Everything you mentioned sounds fine, with the exception of the ricordias. Mushrooms and ricordias usually pack a good amount of sting, they should be fine touching each other, but they will sting just about anything else.

You'll want to keep your Acropora well away from any of the other mentioned corals. Even seemingly benign zoanthids have a bad habit of encroaching on Acropora bases. Depending upon the intensity of the bulbs (yours, being 20Ks, probably won't be all that intense, though that doesn't hold true for all bulbs), etc., you'll probably need to place tabling species near the mid-upper to upper part of the tank with strong water motion. You'll also have to contend with the fact that tabling species also block quite a bit of light, so more light hungry species will get shaded badly. You may not be at such a disadvantage if all you intend to keep underneath are zoanthids and Ricordea.

For your rock structure, I suggest one as open as possible for maximum circulation. I also suggest elevated, relatively flattened structures (at least on top) to maximize the surface area exposed to light. This is also a more natural structure, similar to what would be seen on a back reef/reef flat.

The Acropra will go on the top layers and the others will go down from there, I wont have alot of corals, just a few nice ones.

Nice aquascaping there Pete