Anyone have any pointers/feedback for this aquascape?

JNalley

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Hey all, just finished setting up my daughter's tank last night and was wondering if anyone had any feedback regarding the aquascaping. I almost feel like there is too much rock, so there are 3 pieces I'm considering removing, but thought I'd get feedback first...

20211024_072603_HDR.jpg 20211024_071058_HDR.jpg 20211024_071050_HDR.jpg
 

fachatga

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It does seem a little high. The par up there might be very high plus getting flow above the.m corals mught be hard plus they will come out of the water when you do a water change. Also any corals at the top don’t have any room to grow upwards. I would I only suggest making it lower.
 

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I would remove some. Also you might want to take a hammer to one of the round ones. They look like they are just piled one on top of another. It may look different in person. Just make sure that the powerheads will make flow in and around the rocks. Your daughter is the one who has to be happy with it.
 

fachatga

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She can't articulate whether she's happy with it or not, she's 2 :-D I'm sure she'd rather Minnie Mouse be in her tank, lol.
Lol. I pictured older. Like the tank was for her to take care of. The best part about the little ones is they love anything. That’s great to make her a tank to have her involved. My kids love watching and feeding the tanks.
 

fachatga

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Second note. I was looking at the side view. The bottom rocks do look a bit shaded from the rocks above so corals at the bottom probably won’t get much light. I assume this will have corals in it? If it’s just foe fish that’s another conversation. And please take this as just constructive criticism. It’s hard sometimes to criticize with text to make sure the tone is correct.
 

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I also think the rock is a) too high and b) maybe too bulky and c) maybe too much. I put too much rock in my tank or stacked it "wrong" IMO (first tank noob). What I would do next time... I like the caves for fish, but also the sand for empty space and maybe corals, statues, and other fun stuff (think coco worm, electric clam, zoa rock. large hammer etc). So, I would do less rock overall, create some caves with thoughts to ledges, and leave 50% of the sand with no rock. (for my next tank)
 
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Gtinnel

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As already mentioned I would definitely remove the big rock that is almost touching the surface. I also don't personally like the look of the 3 big rocks stacked on top of each other vertically on the left side.

My kids love watching and feeding the tanks.
My kids hate my tank and constantly tell me things like "shut up we don't care about your fish tank". Oh how great it is to have teenagers.
 

Reefahholic

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Pull about 1/2 out. :) Personally I’d break the rocks up with a hammer and chisel and build a better structure. It’s really difficult working with large rocks.
 
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JNalley

JNalley

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Second note. I was looking at the side view. The bottom rocks do look a bit shaded from the rocks above so corals at the bottom probably won’t get much light. I assume this will have corals in it? If it’s just foe fish that’s another conversation. And please take this as just constructive criticism. It’s hard sometimes to criticize with text to make sure the tone is correct.
Yeah, softies and LPS... don't have enough light or flow really for SPS.

Also, it's cool, I asked for feedback, which you're providing, I try and read without tone because of the same thing.

I also think the rock is a) too high and b) maybe too bulky and c) maybe too much. I put too much rock in my tank or stacked it "wrong" IMO (first tank noob). What I would do next time... I like the caves for fish, but also the sand for empty space and maybe corals, statues, and other fun stuff (think coco worm, electric clam, zoa rock. large hammer etc). So, I would do less rock overall, create some caves with thoughts to ledges, and leave 50% of the sand with no rock.
Yeh, I personally think there's too much in there, and I like one of the other suggestions of taking hammer to the larger/rounded rocks, so I may remove some, and destroy some to make smaller pieces that can be placed better.
 

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Think about it this way.

If that was your bedroom or living room, would you want to be in that space? Probably not. That's the easiest way to "think about" aquascaping/building your habitat.

Fish need places to feel safe and make their homes (depending on species). Remembering flow around the tank to help reduce dead spots for bacteria and algae plus, you want room for your inhabitants. And someone else made a great point; stability. Grab some base pieces or cut some of your rock to give your rocks something stable to rest on. Just like the foundations of our homes.

Tons of videos out there and pics . While your little one is only 2, she'll be as excited to see what other people have done. As a Dad of 2 boys, 19 & 16 now, I remember age 2. lol
 

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If that’s the fluval flex 32 I have the same tank. I’ve put a light fixture above it and made a mesh lid but I did my best to try to get the par on the light It came with. Hard since need the down. But I was getting in the 250 range about 6 inches below the water line. And I could have added some power as well. You probably can get away with sps at the top later on if you want. Of course wait til you have mature with the stability needed. But though I’d share my readings on that light it came worh if it’s the same tank. It’s a decent light.
 
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JNalley

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If that’s the fluval flex 32 I have the same tank. I’ve put a light fixture above it and made a mesh lid but I did my best to try to get the par on the light It came with. Hard since need the down. But I was getting in the 250 range about 6 inches below the water line. And I could have added some power as well. You probably can get away with sps at the top later on if you want. Of course wait til you have mature with the stability needed. But though I’d share my readings on that light it came worh if it’s the same tank. It’s a decent light.
It is. It's a great tank, and the light was the reason I went with it instead of the Evo 13.5G. So far it's not disappointing anywhere other than space. This is the smallest tank I've ever set up. Rock in a 200G and rock in a 32.5G are different monsters apparently :-D I'm pretty sure it's the size of the rock that's killing it, so I may hammer and chisel some. I removed 3 of the larger Carib Sea Life Rock pieces and rearranged some, just waiting on the dust cloud to settle to see how it looks. If it's still looking too "piled on" then I'm gonna break out the hammer and chisel and see what I can do...
 
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JNalley

JNalley

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@fachatga I am trying to create a pro light scenario on the Marine 3.0 light with this tank, but whenever I click save, it just brings me back to the screen that shows Preset - Color Pop or something like that, and won't save my scenario. Also, I cannot figure out how to change the Pro to any other presets, if I save as I can see there are 2 others, but I can't figure out how to change it... Since you have the same tank/light, I was wondering if you had any insight...
 

fachatga

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@fachatga I am trying to create a pro light scenario on the Marine 3.0 light with this tank, but whenever I click save, it just brings me back to the screen that shows Preset - Color Pop or something like that, and won't save my scenario. Also, I cannot figure out how to change the Pro to any other presets, if I save as I can see there are 2 others, but I can't figure out how to change it... Since you have the same tank/light, I was wondering if you had any insight...
Sorry can’t be of any help. I haven’t used the light for a while and I don’t remember details enough how it works. Somebody probably can help if you post a new thread on the topic. Plenty of people here use that tank with those lights.
 

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Hey all, just finished setting up my daughter's tank last night and was wondering if anyone had any feedback regarding the aquascaping. I almost feel like there is too much rock, so there are 3 pieces I'm considering removing, but thought I'd get feedback first...

20211024_072603_HDR.jpg 20211024_071058_HDR.jpg 20211024_071050_HDR.jpg
I think this is too much rock and the scape allows you not many place for corals.
too close to the edges so cleaning will be a pain
 

DeniseAndy

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As most said, a bit too much rock piled up. Need more room for flow and growth. Oh, I remember my babies at 2. Well, not really too much. I was in a zone by then with 3 little ones (set of twins at 2 and 5 year old). So much fun though.

What besides softies and lps are you hoping for? Also which types of corals as those two groups are huge in variety and need different things. I love the little tanks almost as much as my 210g. Sometimes more. So much easier to clean and do water changes. Have fun!
 
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JNalley

JNalley

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As most said, a bit too much rock piled up. Need more room for flow and growth. Oh, I remember my babies at 2. Well, not really too much. I was in a zone by then with 3 little ones (set of twins at 2 and 5 year old). So much fun though.

What besides softies and lps are you hoping for? Also which types of corals as those two groups are huge in variety and need different things. I love the little tanks almost as much as my 210g. Sometimes more. So much easier to clean and do water changes. Have fun!
Well, it's for her, so it's gotta be colorful.

For stocking I'm thinking

2x Clownfish
2x Blue Velvet Damsels
1x Royal Gramma

An Anemone for the Clowns

For corals

Star Polyps
Purple Blasto
Splatter War Coral
Giant Green Polyp Duncan

Might find a Softy tree too, but I'm relatively new to corals so still learning what needs to go where... Thinking like a Taro Tree...

Edit: Emerald Crab, a Shrimp of some kind, a Brittle star, and some snails for cleanup.
 
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