My First (Real) Attempt at Aquascaping

IndyReef78

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So we’ve had our 120 gallon up and running for around a year and a quarter and initially we just used ceramic rocks as the main structures mixed with small live rocks. I got tired of that look and decided to try my hand at aquascaping with Marco rocks and cement.

I will say that it is not nearly as easy as some make it sound to work with the rock and cement, especially since I was working with all the medium and large round rocks and only a couple of the flat ones. I had to break them and chisel and cement and hammer my heart out, but I think the finished product turned out pretty well. Any thoughts?

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IndyReef78

IndyReef78

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Right now, it’s too cluttered on the sand and in the front in general for my tastes, but as we acclimate coral frags, that’s where we’ve been putting them, so it’s still very much a work in progress. Now I just need these tiny coral frags to grow!!
 

Waters

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Right now, it’s too cluttered on the sand and in the front in general for my tastes, but as we acclimate coral frags, that’s where we’ve been putting them, so it’s still very much a work in progress. Now I just need these tiny coral frags to grow!!
I was going to post the same thing lol. I love the aquascape....I would just clean up all the sand in front of the rocks. Have you thought about getting a small acrylic magnetic frag rack to tuck back in the corner? That way you can raise them closer to the light as they acclimate.
 
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IndyReef78

IndyReef78

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I was going to post the same thing lol. I love the aquascape....I would just clean up all the sand in front of the rocks. Have you thought about getting a small acrylic magnetic frag rack to tuck back in the corner? That way you can raise them closer to the light as they acclimate.
That’s actually exactly what we are planning to do. Do you know where we can find those? I remember seeing them somewhere, but now I don’t know where!
 

Waters

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Mhart032

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I like it, it follows the rule of thirds, , i do agree the sand bed is cluttered a bit. but once everything starts to grow out it will look very nice.
 

Spdjnky

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I like it I am just in the beginning of re-doing my tank so it was interesting to see how you've done this do you have a plan as far as coral placement goes.
 

Spdjnky

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Thought I asked but I didn't see it so I must not have. I see you have a couple angel fish in there how are they doing with the Corals no nipping?
 
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IndyReef78

IndyReef78

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I don’t have a good plan yet for coral placement as we’re currently having a bit of a nitrate issue, but I am hoping to eventually have a nice mix of all types of corals.
 
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IndyReef78

IndyReef78

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Thought I asked but I didn't see it so I must not have. I see you have a couple angel fish in there how are they doing with the Corals no nipping?
We have one juvenile emperor angel in the tank as of now. He was beautifully behaved until I brought in a purple pocillapora coral frag. He mowed that down, but we were also cutting back on our feedings to try to control the nitrate issues we were having, so that may have contributed. I’m watching him closely and we’ll have to see if he continues to misbehave. If he does, I guess we may need a bigger fish only tank!
 
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IndyReef78

IndyReef78

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He
Looks great. What are your plans for the table-tops?

Don't squish the fish :)

I’m not sure yet what will go on the table tops. We are holding off on things like a cropper corals until the water chemistry gets nice and stable, so maybe something like that eventually?

And I think eventually we will upgrade to a larger tank as things grow.
 

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