After 6 months, I hate my scape

[reef’r]

Put together this build with all live rock so I have a mixture of Aussie branch, and some other rock from an LFS. Originally I had the idea of doing two separate structures with swim through between them. I also thought I’d be able to stack up the branch a little better than I did. Anyways I’m tired of the scape, it’s just a strip of rock through the center of the tank with no real depth and coral placement is essentially nowhere except top of rocks. I’m really considering building egg crate racks, placing corals on tiles and pushing rocks to the back of the tank or putting them in the sump. Any other ideas?

 

[reef’r]

And when I say placing coral on egg crate I mean just keeping the rock for the microbiome and essentially just turning the tank into a more Frag/grow out style instead of a “display”

 

[56longroof]

I started mine out as 2 separate "islands". Now you can't tell from all the coral growth. I'd add more rock to build up a better base for more coral.

 

[X-37B]

Your scape looks good. Have patience. One of the hardest parts of reefing is looking forward with what you have and what you want it to look like when grown in.
The thing with scapes is after a couple years you wont see the rock strucure. It will be covered in coral.
My new 112 is a growout system.
35lbs of live rock sitting on 1.5" racks. This allows flow under the rockwork and frags. I did this in my old 80g growout also.
If you want a growout system take a look at my 112. I also did a nano the same way a few years ago and it worked well.

 

[rayadog]

I bet the fish agree . Bare bottom makes the contrast bite so much harder too. I think making a back rock wall/pile or also adding more rock are good moves. Can always add the crates still later.

 

[X-37B]

I started mine out as 2 separate "islands". Now you can't tell from all the coral growth. I'd add more rock to build up a better base for more coral.

Nice! Where did the rock go, lol.

 

[56longroof]

Nice! Where did the rock go, lol.

I know! Im planning on a 72" 280 gallon as an upgrade so I can spread everything out again.

 

[BryanM]

I agree, patience is hard, corals grow slow.

You can also learn the art of more superglue, wiggling/moving it around in a spot that doesn't actually look like you can/should glue something to it, but it works....making placing corals a lot easier.

 

[X-37B]

I know! Im planning on a 72" 280 gallon as an upgrade so I can spread everything out again.

I know the feeling. My 150 is 2 and the rocks are dissapearing faster every day, lol.

 

[reef’r]

I bet the fish agree . Bare bottom makes the contrast bite so much harder too. I think making a back rock wall/pile or also adding more rock are good moves. Can always add the crates still later.

Haha believe it or not every fish has a sleeping spot. Looks like a ghost town in there at night

 

[reef’r]

Your scape looks good. Have patience. One of the hardest parts of reefing is looking forward with what you have and what you want it to look like when grown in.
The thing with scapes is after a couple years you wont see the rock strucure. It will be covered in coral.
My new 112 is a growout system.
35lbs of live rock sitting on 1.5" racks. This allows flow under the rockwork and frags. I did this in my old 80g growout also.
If you want a growout system take a look at my 112. I also did a nano the same way a few years ago and it worked well.

I know! Im planning on a 72" 280 gallon as an upgrade so I can spread everything out again.

I agree, patience is hard, corals grow slow.

You can also learn the art of more superglue, wiggling/moving it around in a spot that doesn't actually look like you can/should glue something to it, but it works....making placing corals a lot easier.

Patience is definitely the kicker of this hobby lol yeah my original plan for this tank was more of a flat style scape with acro colonies kind of shallow lagoon style. Real similar to your 150 @X-37B. I have several rocks from my old tank laying around they sat outside for a few weeks but I was thinking about getting a cycle going with them in a brute and in a few weeks or so going ahead and adding them into the back to give the tank some more depth. What would you guys suggest for treating that rock? Last thing I want is a hair algae bomb going off in my display

 

[X-37B]

Patience is definitely the kicker of this hobby lol yeah my original plan for this tank was more of a flat style scape with acro colonies kind of shallow lagoon style. Real similar to your 150 @X-37B. I have several rocks from my old tank laying around they sat outside for a few weeks but I was thinking about getting a cycle going with them in a brute and in a few weeks or so going ahead and adding them into the back to give the tank some more depth. What would you guys suggest for treating that rock? Last thing I want is a hair algae bomb going off in my display

They will get ugly algae growth just keep it in check. You may need to remove it and scrub it a
few times before it settles.
I would opt for some premium live rock . Drop it in and uglies will be minimal.
Cleaning the old rock with bleach is all I have ever done and it works well.

 

[56longroof]

Oddly enough I never had a hair algea problem. I did get a bryopsis outbreak but it was pretty easy to deal with.

 

[56longroof]

I know the feeling. My 150 is 2 and the rocks are dissapearing faster every day, lol.

Thats what size this tank is. When I bought it I was convinced a 150 would be all I ever needed.

 

[Reef Wizard Steven]

Put together this build with all live rock so I have a mixture of Aussie branch, and some other rock from an LFS. Originally I had the idea of doing two separate structures with swim through between them. I also thought I’d be able to stack up the branch a little better than I did. Anyways I’m tired of the scape, it’s just a strip of rock through the center of the tank with no real depth and coral placement is essentially nowhere except top of rocks. I’m really considering building egg crate racks, placing corals on tiles and pushing rocks to the back of the tank or putting them in the sump. Any other ideas?

There are a lot of obviously good things going on with your scape because your corals appear to be very healthy. One thing to consider is your most often viewed angle. If you are viewing the tank from the front mostly, you are missing some of the corals you have staged in the back, like the big red monti. It kinda just peeks out at you. Your scape will become more appealing if you incorporate your corals better, vs just hodgepodge. However, your fish might actually have less territory disputes by having sections in the back that are somewhat separated from the different areas of your tank.

you might be able to add some interest by adding some magnet rocks to the back wall which create new areas to put some corals. You will also likely just need to wait for things to grow in a bit more, so you can play with how each coral colony affects the appearance of the scape. until things grow in more, you are really just dealing with rocks. Most of the interest in the scape will come when the corals grow into it and create more relationships between the negative space and coral growth patterns in your system.

Since you are stocked well on fish, I would caution removing too much, because your fish are definitely going to get stressed due to territorial changes, and less niches to pick out for each fish.