The one in this pic nect to the foxfaceWhich one?? Ive got 4
Oh! Thats Loki, he is a white eye moray. He is the biggest goofball and his eyes make him look even goofier! Great eel and this purple head and speckled body really has brightened since I got him as a baby! Here is a better picture of him
Totally fair, and thanks! I will say, these rocks are a honeycomb of small hiding places that work well for the many small fish I have, and there are some bigger tunnels and spaces built in too but once I went from two angels up to four larger fish with a fox face and tang, there definitely was conflict over enough sleeping spaces. So I think you are right on that front.
How big is you tank, and how many pounds of live rock?I played around with tidal gardens method of gluing rock on some of my scape and I was happy with how it turned out!
I used a medium gel super glue and fine aragonite sand out of the water. Made a very firm bond for me.
Here are some images of my aquascape add on. Think it turned out nice. I’m happy with it.
This is the only glued together structure in my reef. It essentially let me turn some smaller nano sized pieces into a two piece interlocking cave rock.
Here is when I added rock to my scape for more coral space.
Awesome looking scape!What type of rock are you working with? Manmade, Marco, Australian, FL Gulf boulders, dry rock that has been bacterial cycle completed?
I just started my new system 3 months ago ( the display). I started cycling my old dry rock collection at the beginning of April with several steps taken over 6 months.
As the tank was filling, I started adding the rock and sand in stages.
The first bit ( the basement) of rock to go in was a combo of flat cut Marco style rocks with manmade frag plug mounts inverted to use as footings. This raised the flats about an inch off of the glass. Next I added all of the sand in which was a combo of reef grade and Fiji Pink.
This lower level was to create a steady foundation for my main scape and to give a protected living area for some burrowing fish/prawn couples without the worry off toppling aquascaes.
Next came the main scape. This was created with old Haitian live rock that had been dry for years before the six month cycle. I did a blind scape as the water was cloudy from the sand being added. This rock is porous, leafy and easy to lock together in some cool shapes without glue.
Tank was a bit of an insta-cycle and added a few fish within a few days. And then let it do its thing without any additions for 2 months.
I’ve had the heavily glued/cemented scapes in my past three displays and won’t go that route again. It locks you in to a fixed setting and the pieces get extremely heavy both from water absorption and coral growth. All three times, the rocks had this cool bonsai look but that all disappears as the corals grow in. Hopefully…
I have been reefing for just over 25 years and have always found that strategic stacking fits my style a bit better. Of course you want to leave your scape as intact as possible, but to have the ability to shift things if needed helps a ton. Also moving whether it be tanks or into a new home, being able to pull individual rocks can be a bit safer for your corals.
This was the “blind” scape I ended up with. This is the next morning and still a little cloudy
This was a few days ago. A little rearranging was done about three weeks ago to give a bit more dimension. Also created a shelf behind the structure on the left. Just got added this week, hence why it’s so white. Used some Tunze magnets and it is free floating from the main island. Hope is to maybe inhabit a ritteri nem and keep it off of the main structures.
48x24x16” display. Approximately 80 gallons. I’m not sure the weight of the rock. I’ve had it in my yard for years. It’s very porous so I’d guess it’s less than it appears. Maybe 100lbs ? Really guessing. It’s been a long time since I weighed rock.
Finally got a few pics. The larger shells are hermit crabs or shells I added for them, definitely did not come from the sand.
That life sand is very tempting!
That looks amazing. That Aussie looks like the perfect ticket for NSA aquascaping. Nicely done!I redid one of my Australian live rock structures yesterday. I mostly relied on stacking and jig sawing but I also needed to use some expoxy and glue. This structure can be pulled apart into 10+ smaller pieces:
More top down view:
That looks really nice! Thanks for the pics logibear!
I previously had a Marko Rock aquascape that filled up more of the tank. Interestingly this scape seems to provide more hiding spaces despite consisting of less rock. The way I guage things I check out the tank late at jgith with the lights off. Now all the fish have some place to sleep / hide. Previously I had 2-3 chromis who hid in the corners of the tank at night. I presume they prefer the rockscape. I believe this is because of the structure of the rock pieces which are essentially dead SPS skeleton which provides a lot of nooks and crannies to hide between.
True the part that broke was not at the joints but in the middle.Some of the joints that can be made with superglue, epoxy or reef cement are stronger than the rock itself. If a joint fails that is human error and not the fault of the epoxy or reef cement
What glue did you use.
Totally normal to stress about this right before live goods.
