Help me tweak my scape.

[SeaJay]

Set up this 135 as a FOWLR about a year and a half ago with no idea what I was doing or getting into. What I ended up with was two big pile of rocks with a shipwreck in between. Now I’m upgrading all of my lighting, pumps, etc. to start reefing. So my LFS hooked me up with a couple of life rock coral trees and an arch that I liked, so I’ve put those in. I built the arch into a kind of cave, but after being shoulders deep for a while I step back and I realize it’s too symmetrical. Also, there’s nothing to tie it all together.

I moved rocks around until I just had to step back and take a break from it.

Any ideas that don’t involve starting over? I do think the trees are gonna look cool when they have corals all over them. I’m completely new to this, I’ve never kept corals, so any input would be appreciated.

The before.

And the current

Looks a little crazy right now with the colors since I used a combo of dry base rock, my existing rock and the new life rock. My Coraline is starting to take off though, so hopefully a uniform color will help some too. The wonky mismatched color is part of what’s making it look unnatural.

 

[Cell]

Can you get a straight ahead full tank shot, not angled?

 

[Cell]

You just need to lower one of the pillars on either side and maybe beef up the opposite side with the displaced rock.

 

[SeaJay]

Can you get a straight ahead full tank shot, not angled?

Yeah. The couch is in the way so it’s tricky, but I do realize now the angled shots don’t show how almost perfectly symmetrical it is.

The coral trees are from life rock, basically base rock assembled with cement. They have nice wide 12”-14” bases that are perfectly flat on the bottom. Shortening one will be no small task.

 

[Cell]

Have to vary that height somehow.

 

[Cell]

What about moving the pillars to the same side, the cave to the other side and lower the cave height a bit?

 

[SeaJay]

What about moving the pillars to the same side, the cave to the other side and lower the cave height a bit?

That might work. The cave would look cool to the side and kinda angled in a bit, but not sure how the two trees will look next to each other. Now I’ve made them so heavy moving them around is a nightmare. It’s a 72” tank. That cave is 24” wide. I really should have planned this out dry, but since I’m rescaping an active system, I pulled one pile of rocks and replaced it with a coral tree. Waited a few weeks, then replaced the other, then waited a couple weeks and did the center. I was trying not to cause any ammonia spikes or anything.

 

[SeaJay]

What if I got a couple pieces of shelf rock and bridged from the cave to the trees at different heights? You think that would break up the symmetry enough?

 

[Cell]

It would help a bit, but I think you might still see the symmetry more than you'd like. To have any effect, you will have to put one on the very top to change the overall height of at least one or two of the structures, and that's a tall flat shelf that would probably look better as an arch.

 

[Cell]

I'm thinking it may start looking too squared/boxy with multiple flat shelf rocks bridging the structures.

 

[SeaJay]

It would help a bit, but I think you might still see the symmetry more than you'd like. To have any effect, you will have to put one on the very top to change the overall height of at least one or two of the structures, and that's a tall flat shelf that would probably look better as an arch.

Good idea. Bridging one side with a small arch is doable.

I guess pulling that right side tree out and trimming that top shelf off wouldn’t be too terrible either. Then I could arch it over to the cave.

Definitely helps having a second set of eyes and experience. Thanks for the input, I already feel Like I have more options.

Keep ‘em coming.

 

[Daniel Waters]

Didn't read all the thread so apologies if this is redundant or too off topic...I personally love the way pillars look but I think you should do one large pillar on the left or right side, then another smaller (but still large) pillar beside it, and then your main rock space after that. This will keep it from looking so symmetrical. Secondly, you have a lot of individual pieces in between your various main rock pieces. Remove those or use them as pieces of your overall structures. You want the open space of just the sand bed to create a visual contrast / separation.

I have a scape I saved somewhere that I loved that might be a good reference. I'll try to find it and attach. Also, try to make your pillars less symmetrical looking. I attached an example.

 

[Cell]

If you can break them apart, I would take 2 rocks off the top of the right pillar. I wouldn't mind seeing the top rock switched with the 3rd one down too, but not necessary. Then take one of those excess rocks and put it on the left pillar sticking out to the left.

 

[SeaJay]

If you can break them apart, I would take 2 rocks off the top of the right pillar. I wouldn't mind seeing the top rock switched with the 3rd one down too, but not necessary. Then take one of those excess rocks and put it on the left pillar sticking out to the left.

I could cut it up and reconfigure it, but they’re basically cement pillars with rock impregnated into it. They’re pretty solid. Definitely can’t just be taken apart, but I agree, one of them needs to be different. I think I’ll start by taking the right tree out and cutting 1-2 shelves off the top. Then maybe attach those shelves to the side of the cave.

I do think you’re right though, if one tree was shorter than the other, they would look good together instead of being split up by the cave.

Really appreciate the input, this is a great learning experience.

I’m at a birthday party now, but hopefully I’ll have some time to tinker with it when I get home today.

I’ll post progress and probably be looking for opinions as I go.

 

[SeaJay]

If shorten the tree on the right and put it over by the other tree, would it look better on the inside or the outside of the taller one?

 

[SeaJay]

Ok, so I tried to take as much of the advice I got as possible and I can now say, you were pretty much all right about everything you said.

I shortened one tree, moved them together, took the arch out and reassembled the cave to be a couple inches shorter. I think you guys have greatly improved the overall look of my scape. Still some adjustments to be made, but I think I’m happy with the basic layout now.

What do you think, any obvious areas where this can still be improved?

Pardon the cloudiness, I just finished moving everything around. Poor foxface has been terrified. I keep taking away his hidy holes.
He’s been in the corner in full camouflage without rockwork to hide out in.

 

[SeaJay]

Also fit the tip of the coral tree that was removed right into the cove created by the cave. Wife says she’s not so sure about it, but agrees it’s a little to bare without it. What do you think?

 

[SeaJay]

I also used hydraulic cement to attach the rocks this time. That’s the only way I’ll ever do it again. No more epoxy. That cave probably weighs 70-80 pounds and you can pick it up by the top piece if you want.

 

[Daniel Waters]

Ok, so I tried to take as much of the advice I got as possible and I can now say, you were pretty much all right about everything you said.

I shortened one tree, moved them together, took the arch out and reassembled the cave to be a couple inches shorter. I think you guys have greatly improved the overall look of my scape. Still some adjustments to be made, but I think I’m happy with the basic layout now.

What do you think, any obvious areas where this can still be improved?

Pardon the cloudiness, I just finished moving everything around. Poor foxface has been terrified. I keep taking away his hidy holes.
He’s been in the corner in full camouflage without rockwork to hide out in.

Overall, I think it's a great improvement! Your pillars look really nice now they are positioned together and you have just the sand bed without all the individual pieces laying around. You get a nice contrast and very visually appealing.

The large piece on the left, which I guess you are calling your cave piece looks okay to me, but still seems like it needs something else...but I can't really get a good view of it with the cloudy tank water. The piece in the middle of the cave piece seems to detract away from the overall structure. I almost think it should be shifted all the way to the left and adjacent to the left curved part of the structure, and maybe build the left side up a bit taller than the right side of the cave piece (think of it like a gentle curve with a fatter base on the left, a swoosh if you will versus a M shape you have now). I think this will then create almost like a lagoon / beach look with the sand bed that gets broken up by the middle piece now....but I'm just throwing out ideas and nit picking.

 

[Daniel Waters]

Maybe as a future idea, but you would need more rock, you could build a nice wall of rock up the left overflow area and the whole left side of the tank....have it come down and connect to your cave piece...probably would need to shift the angle of the cave piece, but it would look like a reef wall that comes down to a flat area on the ocean floor and your cave piece then comes up like it is part of the rock wall.