180 Gallon Rockscape using Ecoscape Reef Rock- Need some Feedback

[Rocco's Reef]

I’ve been working on my rockscape for my M180 for a while now, I decided to go with Ecoscape because I liked how it looked and how porous it is.

I am not a very creative person, and quite frankly it stresses me out trying to come up with something that is visually appealing, good for coral placement and probably more important to me, fish habitat. I have to say, I bought a lot of this stuff and a lot of pieces are flat and I find it hard to build up with it, might just be my inexperience.

My goal is to have 3-4 tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin, and maybe a naso). I also am planning this to be a LPS dominant mixed reef.

I will post some pics but I also took a video, the reflections are very bad so please forgive me! Let me know what you think and what I can improve on.

 

[steveschuerger]

Looks good. Plenty of of swimming space for larger fish and plenty of areas for smaller fish to hide. Plenty of coral placements. You might want to leave a little more space in back to make for easier cleaning and provide some water flow in back though.

 

[Delly]

I’ve been working on my rockscape for my M180 for a while now, I decided to go with Ecoscape because I liked how it looked and how porous it is.

I am not a very creative person, and quite frankly it stresses me out trying to come up with something that is visually appealing, good for coral placement and probably more important to me, fish habitat. I have to say, I bought a lot of this stuff and a lot of pieces are flat and I find it hard to build up with it, might just be my inexperience.

My goal is to have 3-4 tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin, and maybe a naso). I also am planning this to be a LPS dominant mixed reef.

I will post some pics but I also took a video, the reflections are very bad so please forgive me! Let me know what you think and what I can improve on.

Looks really good Mate ! I always think having space between the reef is a great look in the future when things start to grow out.


Now question for you, why did you go this rock over live rock?

 

[Michael Hughes]

Great work! That's a beautiful scape. Tons of fish habitat and it'll look even better once your corals grow in.

 

[Rocco's Reef]

I’ve been working on my rockscape for my M180 for a while now, I decided to go with Ecoscape because I liked how it looked and how porous it is.

I am not a very creative person, and quite frankly it stresses me out trying to come up with something that is visually appealing, good for coral placement and probably more important to me, fish habitat. I have to say, I bought a lot of this stuff and a lot of pieces are flat and I find it hard to build up with it, might just be my inexperience.

My goal is to have 3-4 tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin, and maybe a naso). I also am planning this to be a LPS dominant mixed reef.

I will post some pics but I also took a video, the reflections are very bad so please forgive me! Let me know what you think and what I can improve on.

Looks really good Mate ! I always think having space between the reef is a great look in the future when things start to grow out.


Now question for you, why did you go this rock over live rock?

Thanks! I actually ordered some live rock that will be going in the sump and also 100lbs of TBS sand. I mainly didn’t want to deal with any of the pest hitchhikers with live rock.

 

[Delly]

Thanks! I actually ordered some live rock that will be going in the sump and also 100lbs of TBS sand. I mainly didn’t want to deal with any of the pest hitchhikers with live rock.

So I'm in the same boat, I don't have a tank yet it is on order. I was thinking is it possible to do 60lb of dry rock in the display tank and then like 20lb of live rock in the sump.

I also don;'t want to deal with the pests, I also don't love the fact that you can't model it the way you want.

Thanks for the info

Delly

 

[MegabiteOG]

The scape looks great as other have said. I really like the look and the function of it.

As for live rock, I actually love the surprises (good and bad) that comes on the ocean live rock.

 

[tzabor10]

Looks great. I wish I knew that vacuuming the sand is important when I set things up. Having a movable rock scape helps to keep things tidy. Can’t wait to see more of this

 

[tchat]

Just received my two boxes (A and D) for my 78 gal build. It almost seems that I could have gotten away with just one! Did you order a box for every 40 gal as well? Also what did you do as far as attaching them or did you only stack them? Thanks and well done!

 

[exnisstech]

The scape looks good and I think fish will appreciate it. I have started two tanks with dry rock displays and live rock in the sump and it went well. One is 2 yo the other 3. I never got much of an ugly phase on either. I did a dry rock only start once and will never do it again. It was a non stop battle with GHA that lasted over a year. I never thought I would be happy to have a seam fail on a tank but i celebrated when that one failed so I could tear the mess down and move on.

 

[Rocco's Reef]

Just received my two boxes (A and D) for my 78 gal build. It almost seems that I could have gotten away with just one! Did you order a box for every 40 gal as well? Also what did you do as far as attaching them or did you only stack them? Thanks and well done!

Thanks! I went pretty overboard, I ordered almost every type they had and two of the center pieces. I have used pieces from every box and had three full boxes left over. I guess if I ever get another tank or a bigger one I can use the rest. I did use super glue to fix most of them together and then went back and used the Nyos reef putty to reinforce it. I don't know if I would use the reef putty again, it was a pain to mix, however, the black doesn't look too bad. On a side note, I would definitely soak them in RODI or saltwater before you put them in the tank, I have them soaking in a 55 gallon trash can and the water is looking not so clear.

The scape looks good and I think fish will appreciate it. I have started two tanks with dry rock displays and live rock in the sump and it went well. One is 2 yo the other 3. I never got much of an ugly phase on either. I did a dry rock only start once and will never do it again. It was a non stop battle with GHA that lasted over a year. I never thought I would be happy to have a seam fail on a tank but i celebrated when that one failed so I could tear the mess down and move on.

Thank you, that is good to hear! I am almost debating on emailing TBS and seeing if I can add on another 20 lbs or so of base/rubble rock to get a little more of the good stuff, I think I originally ordered only 15lbs of base rock.

 

[exnisstech]

Thank you, that is good to hear! I am almost debating on emailing TBS and seeing if I can add on another 20 lbs or so of base/rubble rock to get a little more of the good stuff, I think I originally ordered only 15lbs of base rock.

I have a new start coming up and ordered 35lbs of Gulf live rock to start it off. Tank is 100g
I started my first saltwater tank a bit over 10 years ago with live rock harvested of the coast Puerto Rico for $3.50 lb air shipped wet. I think I caught the tail end of the good times. I've been keeping all rock wet over the years but figure a new tank deserves some people new live rock. And maybe some cool hitchhikers.