Does this aquascape look acceptable?

[Saith]

I bought 90lbs of MarcoRocks shelf rock and 5 MarcoRocks foundation rocks. This was back in March 2020.

My tank just arrived on Jan 7 (yep, almost 2 years later) and I still hadn't done the aquascape. As much as I like the idea of aquascaping, I'm not very creative so I was more worried I wouldn't be able to build a good one. At some point I ordered 60lbs of regular MarcoRock reef saver rocks in case I needed to fall back on a pile of rocks.

I started off without using the foundation rocks. They don't really match the shelf rock pieces, (1 of them wasn't flat on the bottom) and some of the shelf pieces were pretty flat on one side. My first attempt ended with a 6 inch tall wall of shelf rock. That wasn't going to do for a tank that has a 22" height to the overflow weir.

The next weekend my goal was to go higher and make an arch. I got up to 18" with an arch (passthrough is probably more accurate) and an overhang. I was happy with it at first, but after a couple days it just looked like two stacks of rocks and there was still so much open space.

This weekend my goal was to get it at least 16" and have more than one passthrough and overhang. I realized if I want to spread out the rock for multiple passthroughs and still hit 16" I was going to need the foundation rocks. The angle grinder with a concrete grinding wheel quickly flattened out the uneven foundation rock. After 6 hours, here is what I ended up with. It is a little over 18" at the tallest point and I think I have enough overhangs for mounting plenty of corals.

This second picture is to try and show the depth or offset of the stacked pieces, but it's still hard to see.

After putting over a few weekends into aquascaping, I'm becoming exhausted with it. I think it is about as good as I'm going to get it and was thinking about gluing/epoxying it tomorrow.

Figured I would post it here and ask to hear opinions and constructive feedback first.

Thanks in advance.

 

[blaxsun]

Looks good. The only suggestion I would make is to leave at least 2-3" around the outside edge so you can get a scraper down to the bottom of the glass on all sides.

 

[shwareefer]

I like both. The first one looks more like what you would see in the ocean with coral heads erupting out of the sea floor (what everyone calls 'islands' now). The second looks like what everyone else is trying to do - gravity defying overhangs. At least there's no arch. As you said there's lots of coral placement spots. I think you did a great job on both of them.

 

[Saith]

Looks good. The only suggestion I would make is to leave at least 2-3" around the outside edge so you can get a scraper down to the bottom of the glass on all sides.

Thanks for pointing that out blaxsun. The inside edge of the blue tape was the outer limit for my aquascape footprint, which should be 2" from the glass.

Funny, it never occurred to me to leave more than 2". I was thinking that would be fine for cleaning the glass. But thinking about it now, it might be hard to pick something up off the bottom if I ever need to. I probably could manage using two finger on an open hand. But 3" would probably give me just enough room to get my hand down and allow use of my thumb.

I'll scoot both forward an inch for back clearance and move them more towards the center to get 3" of clearance. The extra room should make it easier to get down there when needed whether with my hand or tongs.

And this reminded me that I need to check my taped footprint to and actual measurement of the inside of the tank. When laying out the tape I did the math in my head, so I could have easily miscalculated something.

 

[Saith]

It is interesting to see the results and to read what you were thinking about as you built the scape. I have slowly been collecting rock as well but have not yet started to build anything . I wonder if it’s easier or more difficult if one has an idea of what the finished scape should look like while you are building it? Even if you go in another direction. Leaving it for some time and seeing if you still like it a week later, does seem like a good idea.

Have you noticed that in many before and after (bare scape vs two years later) that often it is difficult to even imagine what the rock formation would look like on it’s own? You do have lots of hiding places for fish and coral placement can certainly alter the overall shape. I like it.

I think it would have been a little easier if I knew what I wanted it to look like. I'm not really able to envision things in my head. I spent plenty of time looking at aquascape pictures online. There aren't quite as many shelf rock aquascapes, but enough to get an idea of what is possible.

Knowing what I wanted it to look like might not have helped too much for me. I think that would be great if I was doing a NSA or sculpted aquascape where I was breaking the rock down and reassembling it to fit some vision. However, with the shelf rock I didn't want to break it into smaller pieces and I didn't want to spend anymore money on more pieces.

That is true, I never really look at an older reef tank and think about what the rock work looked like when it was new.

Thanks for sharing your opinion Dennon 2010. And best of luck when you get around to yours. I'm sure it'll turn out good.

 

[Saith]

I like both. The first one looks more like what you would see in the ocean with coral heads erupting out of the sea floor (what everyone calls 'islands' now). The second looks like what everyone else is trying to do - gravity defying overhangs. At least there's no arch. As you said there's lots of coral placement spots. I think you did a great job on both of them.

I was happy with rocks in the first one pictured above. After a few days I thought it looked kinda empty, realized any corals on the middle section would be on the same wall of rock without out much field of depth and the fish probably wouldn't swim through the passthrough.

The second picture has a lot more variation in areas to put corals; high vs low, side to side, and some front to back (not as much as I hoped for this one). And I hope the fish will be poking in and out of the passthroughs.

It does fit in the current trend of overhangs and platforms, but not as extreme as some I've seen. It's not a natural looking as I had hope it would be, but it looks better than the piles of rocks I had in my tank 15 year ago, haha. Hopefully it'll be a mature reef tank where the rock work is an afterthought before the style is outdated.

I kinda feel there was no way to avoid the overhangs. It either end up as a pyramid or I combine both pieces together make them passthroughs. But then it would be one massive piece that is too heavy for me to move myself. I'm not so sure I'll be able to get it in the tank as it is.

Thanks for your comment shwareefer.

 

[blaxsun]

Thanks for pointing that out blaxsun. The inside edge of the blue tape was the outer limit for my aquascape footprint, which should be 2" from the glass.

Funny, it never occurred to me to leave more than 2". I was thinking that would be fine for cleaning the glass. But thinking about it now, it might be hard to pick something up off the bottom if I ever need to. I probably could manage using two finger on an open hand. But 3" would probably give me just enough room to get my hand down and allow use of my thumb.

I'll scoot both forward an inch for back clearance and move them more towards the center to get 3" of clearance. The extra room should make it easier to get down there when needed whether with my hand or tongs.

And this reminded me that I need to check my taped footprint to and actual measurement of the inside of the tank. When laying out the tape I did the math in my head, so I could have easily miscalculated something.

I often find that wherever the most difficult spot in the tank to retrieve something is - sure enough, some critter will knock something there. Here's a quick shot of the reefscape I went with on my RedSea 750XXL. As it's also primarily marco shelf rock I thought it could give you some ideas.

This is very low profile by design as I'm trying to encourage the fish to stick around the bottom 2/3;s of the tank. It comprises three very large shelf rocks (left, right and center), and then there's a scattering of shelf and regular rock. Emphasis has been on lots of caves, nooks and hiding spots for fish.

 

[shwareefer]

It's not a natural looking as I had hope it would be, but it looks better than the piles of rocks I had in my tank 15 year ago, haha

It's better than any of mine too, lol.

 

[Saith]

I often find that wherever the most difficult spot in the tank to retrieve something is - sure enough, some critter will knock something there. Here's a quick shot of the reefscape I went with on my RedSea 750XXL. As it's also primarily marco shelf rock I thought it could give you some ideas.

This is very low profile by design as I'm trying to encourage the fish to stick around the bottom 2/3;s of the tank. It comprises three very large shelf rocks (left, right and center), and then there's a scattering of shelf and regular rock. Emphasis has been on lots of caves, nooks and hiding spots for fish.

Your tank looks awesome! I'm realizing I was only looking at new bare aquascapes, I probably should have been looking at mature tanks as well to get ideas.

That seems like a good style now. Some fish would hang out higher above the rock work swimming around and then other fish would have plenty of hiding spots around the bottom. And it's probably not as necessary to epoxy the rocks. Well, less risk of rocks falling.

My first attempt was kind of like this, not as well done. I only have one video from early on to look at. I think it may have been the most natural looking of the 3 attempts. Lots of little nooks, crannies and hallways. It was only about 6" at the highest and I thought it left too much open space at the top of the tank. But looking at yours with fish that hang out above the rock, it works fine. I could put it on some of the foundation rock to boost it up a few inches.

I'm not sure I've got the patience to redo the scape again.

Thanks for sharing yours and explaining what you goals were.

 

[BillFish Coral Lover]

I think you did a great job! My main concern would be going so close to the top. 4" is not much space for corals to grow upward and you'll probably have them going up over the water line and either way I think that may interfere visually with that area when the corals are mature, but that depends on viewing angle and personal preference. Again, great job.
Actually, I'm going to be trying for something like it myself!

 

[kennedysherman]

The second one looks amazing!

 

[CayeCaulker]

I have been thinking a lot about aquascapes. looks nice.

The tank of the month had some pretty cool pillars.

 

[Weasel1960]

I think you did a great job. I agree with trying to squeeze out a little extra room around the edges for maintenance. Give it rest for a bit before gluing then come back to it. Picture your fish, inverts and corals in it, then make last minor adjustments if needed.

 

[kevinyee]

Looks great - my favorite is the shelf rock

 

[sawdonkey]

I’d encourage you to keep your rockwork very simple, but focus on the general shape you want to achieve. Glue it together, but do small tweaks as your coral grows in. Look how simple my structure is and how it grew in.

 

[Sean_B]

I really like the look of the shelf rock. my only concern would be the height.

I am planning on keeping acros on the upper levels of my aquascape so I've limited my rock work at 14-15" which will be 50% height of my overall tank height of 30".

I also like the look of a semi clear top portion of a reef tank

 

[Saith]

I think you did a great job! My main concern would be going so close to the top. 4" is not much space for corals to grow upward and you'll probably have them going up over the water line and either way I think that may interfere visually with that area when the corals are mature, but that depends on viewing angle and personal preference. Again, great job.
Actually, I'm going to be trying for something like it myself!

Thanks for the kind words.

You have a good point, 4" isn't much height for the corals. The cabinet in my picture is at about 21" and it looked like I have plenty of room for growth. So I went to measure it again, and I was a little off in my first post. This picture below shows the heights. The very tip is at 17.5". I'm thinking I might not glue down the top rock now. That would allow me to remove it and cut the overall height down to about 13.5".

 

[Saith]

The second one looks amazing!

thanks!

 

[VanDalsenReef]

It looks great. It's your system. Make it how you like it. You are the one that will be looking at it everyday.

 

[blaxsun]

Your tank looks awesome! I'm realizing I was only looking at new bare aquascapes, I probably should have been looking at mature tanks as well to get ideas.

That seems like a good style now. Some fish would hang out higher above the rock work swimming around and then other fish would have plenty of hiding spots around the bottom. And it's probably not as necessary to epoxy the rocks. Well, less risk of rocks falling.

My first attempt was kind of like this, not as well done. I only have one video from early on to look at. I think it may have been the most natural looking of the 3 attempts. Lots of little nooks, crannies and hallways. It was only about 6" at the highest and I thought it left too much open space at the top of the tank. But looking at yours with fish that hang out above the rock, it works fine. I could put it on some of the foundation rock to boost it up a few inches.

I'm not sure I've got the patience to redo the scape again.

Thanks for sharing yours and explaining what you goals were.

This was the culmination of 1.5 years worth of aquascaping with smaller tanks. When we upgraded to the larger system the existing rockscapes just got incorporates.

Once you get sand, equipment, fish and of course corals - your perspective changes again. I should also add that none of my rock is glued - it's all freestanding. Upside is I can rearrange on a whim. Downside is that certain fish also do same (I'm looking at you parrotfish!)

I also don't run a lid, so another reason the rock is down lower (less incentive to jump).

I still like your second setup. Once you get it in the tank you can easily add the odd rock here and there to create more caves, nooks and crannies.