Legacy tanks: Is your aquascaping inspired from something in the past?

[Peace River]

Legacy tanks: Is your aquascaping inspired from something in the past?

Whether it is a rock structure, a person, or just something we saw in the past, many of us have created aquascapes based on something or someone in the past. Sometimes we try to honor a person and other times we try to duplicate a look, feel, or design when we are aquascaping. While many times we aquascape our tanks based on what we have, there are times that our tanks have interesting back stories about how the aquascaping was inspired and created. Please tell us about your experience with aquascaping and if you have ever used inspiration from the past to create the look of your tank.

Pro Tip: When looking for inspiration, scroll through the R2R Reef of the Month archives and scroll through the R2R build tank threads. There are sooo many pictures and you may even find other members that have the same tank as the one that you have, and you can find the right look for you.

Photo by @JayBro; R2R February 2022 Reef of the Month

We have featured multiple tanks in our Reef of the Month spotlights that have special inspiration. These tanks include @JayBro’s 400-gallon dream tank and @jdpiii3’s sunlit reef.


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com

"Our mission is to help save the reefs by providing the highest quality live reef foods for every aquarium - from small biocubes to mid-sized reef aquariums, to giant aquaculture facilities"

 

[Petcrazyson]

It took me a LONG time to decide my aquascape. I guess for me it’s never truly finished. Though I have found many inspirations from the ROTM tanks here, and the channel SeaFriendlyReef on YouTube, which is where I first saw the tank above ^. I have a lot of arches and caves from caribsea, so it was and is really hard to create something like the ones I have seen because they’ll either use real reef rock or dry rock or have suspensions on the rocks to hold them together. Thx to a tank from Swiss Frag Reefer, I was able to put together one side of the tank, while the other is just working with what I got. I think that my upgrade will use real reef rock, and using that will help me with some more inspiration with this side of the rock scape and the tanks.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I went through many different designs until I finally settled on something. Mostly because I wanted it to look unique but natural at the same time.

 

[i cant think]

I want a natural looking tank and the best way to do that is…
Throw the rocks in and just let them do the scaping!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think aquascaping in pet stores, public aquariums and online have inspired us to have similar in our homes

 

[HawkeyeDJ]

I have been reluctant to start a build thread primarily because of the many gorgeous tanks and aquascapes I see here on R2R. I feel like I'd be bringing macaroni art to the Louvre Museum.

 

[Reeftripper]

Having spent some months in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and after seeing the natural reef environments there I like the Natural look of a pile of rocks and a sand bed.

 

[Hhaynie]

I get inspiration from the freshwater world. they have it down, just look at the AGA contest or the IAPLC! Amano was a freshie after all...

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I have been reluctant to start a build thread primarily because of the many gorgeous tanks and aquascapes I see here on R2R. I feel like I'd be bringing macaroni art to the Louvre Museum.

You should start it!!! I would love to see it

 

[Reeftripper]

I have been reluctant to start a build thread primarily because of the many gorgeous tanks and aquascapes I see here on R2R. I feel like I'd be bringing macaroni art to the Louvre Museum.

Me Too.

 

[Lionfish 37]

I treated Aquascaping like playing TETRIS!

 

[Hhaynie]

I have been reluctant to start a build thread primarily because of the many gorgeous tanks and aquascapes I see here on R2R. I feel like I'd be bringing macaroni art to the Louvre Museum.

Start one! And macaroni is a gift to humanity, can't exactly eat a painting of fruit

 

[kian.aeineh]

I lived for a while in the coral islands of the Persian Gulf, Kish Qeshm Hengam and Hormuz. Before that, I had a saltwater aquarium, but I didn't have one there. I used to swim and dive in the sea every day. The water was so clear that I could see the bottom of the water up to five meters from the boat. It was very beautiful. I swear that I did not bring even a single snail to the land with me. I did it with your fish. I miss that time

 

[The_Paradox]

Confession: I really only came here to see if any replies started, “One time at band camp …”.

 

[Garf]

My aquascape design decision making process went thus;

a). The wife sais “I want it like this”

To be fair, she usually gets things like this right.

 

[Graemesreef]

After 20 years in the hobby I've come to the conclusion that the coral makes the scape not the rock. So for me just a couple well stacked pyramids with plenty of caves also leaving lots of room on all four sides and the middle for natural swim space. My goal has always been to not see any rock only coral.

 

[PhishMonger84]

I spent 5 yrs. as a mason, doing mostly landscape construction including stone walls and patios. Let the pieces speak to you and set them up in a natural way, for a tank i like to think how they could have gotten to where they are and pile on accordingly, i don't really like the setup where ppl cut the rocks and use rods to connect them, it feels unnatural.

But my goal is usually no dead spots, lots of hides, sight breaks, ease of cleaning and aesthetics. i would love to have a huge bin of coral rubble and build PVC tunnels, coat in silicon or super glue and roll them through the rubble. this would make some cool caves!

 

[Waters]

Freshwater planted scapes I look at hundreds of designs before setting a new tank up lol. My reef tanks I just start with base rocks and start breaking things up and building as I go. I don't really look at anything beforehand.

 

[vlangel]

I also got my inspiration from freshwater tanks, but not planted aquariums like you would think. I worked at a lfs for 12 years and a young fellow that I worked with had a real gift for scaping the freshwater tanks in the store. He would often use the rock as a retaining wall to hold back gravel to create a multi-level look. I always loved that look and began to wonder if it could be done in a reef tank with sand, especially since I am a fan of DSBs, (deep sand beds).

Anyway after my tank was bare bottom for a year and I was not happy with that, I decided to try and imitate what I saw at the lfs and it has actually worked out very well. My tank has 3 levels; a 1" sandbed, a 4-5" sandbed and a 7 plus inch sandbed. The base rock is on the bottom glass and much of it is covered in sand. It is by far the most authentic natural looking tank that I have done.

 

[PhishMonger84]

I also got my inspiration from freshwater tanks, but not planted aquariums like you would think. I worked at a lfs for 12 years and a young fellow that I worked with had a real gift for scaping the freshwater tanks in the store. He would often use the rock as a retaining wall to hold back gravel to create a multi-level look. I always loved that look and began to wonder if it could be done in a reef tank with sand, especially since I am a fan of DSBs, (deep sand beds).

Anyway after my tank was bare bottom for a year and I was not happy with that, I decided to try and imitate what I saw at the lfs and it has actually worked out very well. My tank has 3 levels; a 1" sandbed, a 4-5" sandbed and a 7 plus inch sandbed. The base rock is on the bottom glass and much of it is covered in sand. It is by far the most authentic natural looking tank that I have done.

i love the terracing! it's easier without water though (sadly). when i kept leopard geckos i did this and incorporated all kinds of caves and tunnels into the coco husk bedding and like terraced down to where i kept their water dish