Need advice on Aquascape.

[madweazl]

The only other thing I would add is to purposefully make it shorter than you want. If you like the look now, cut four to six inches in height and leave it so the corals fill in the rest. It may look awkward initially but as things grow, you'll get the look you were after when you originally visualized it.

 

[madweazl]

40 breeders have great dimensions! 18" width on a 36" long tank is perfect! Wish my 150g was 60x30 but I couldn't stomach the premium charged for the custom dimensions.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I agree. both structures start low and gradually rise up to the highest point near the back. Why did you have to tear down your rocks? I don't see a pic if you shared it.

My first attempt at an aquascape resulted in basically a massive Tonga shelf on one side and an ugly lump of rock on the right. I decided after a few weeks that I really hated it so pulled it out and went for this super elaborate display with the rock forming what could be best described as skeletal fingers curling in on one side. (I'll try to find a pic of it) Well this lasted for about 3 months before the glue started degrading and random parts falling off until one day the entire thing all but collapsed. Mostly from my own overzealous attempts at catching the daemon spawn yellow and black damsel.....


I don't have a good pic of the entire tank on my phone, so I'll take a pic of it tonight and post it up.

 

[Ashish Patel]

My honest opinion is you should remove any non-essential baserock, aka any place that is not going to hold coral then it should be only enough to support the top rock. I used the same rock and I knows its very difficult to work with I just broke it up and looked for pieces I liked. All my past tanks I had rock on the bottom and looking back it was just a pile of rock look. Smaller rock is easy to epoxy to the larger base structure and pretty easy to blend in with epoxy.

Ultimately, you need to love it so if you are satisfied leave it alone. If your not happy with it change it before adding corals and fish. btw you system looks great!

 

[Ashish Patel]

This rock is what i came up with 5 broken pieces of rubble. The fish love it since it has 3 entry points and causes much issues between my 3 tangs since only 1 can sleep in it. I would probably add more structures like this to reduce agression. its also has very nice areas for coral placement and only weights 6-7 LB dry.

 

[Eggpaul]

My honest opinion is you should remove any non-essential baserock, aka any place that is not going to hold coral then it should be only enough to support the top rock. I used the same rock and I knows its very difficult to work with I just broke it up and looked for pieces I liked. All my past tanks I had rock on the bottom and looking back it was just a pile of rock look. Smaller rock is easy to epoxy to the larger base structure and pretty easy to blend in with epoxy.

Ultimately, you need to love it so if you are satisfied leave it alone. If your not happy with it change it before adding corals and fish. btw you system looks great!

Thanks a lot! I put a lot of time into it. First major build and no plumbing leaks anywhere. I really like your aquascape! Unique. I might just shorten the left side today and try adding a bridge. I feel like there aren't enough spots for the fish to hide right now.

 

[Eggpaul]

This rock is what i came up with 5 broken pieces of rubble. The fish love it since it has 3 entry points and causes much issues between my 3 tangs since only 1 can sleep in it. I would probably add more structures like this to reduce agression. its also has very nice areas for coral placement and only weights 6-7 LB dry.

I want there to be a lot of areas for fish to sleep in . I'll see what I can do today.

 

[Eggpaul]

My honest opinion is you should remove any non-essential baserock, aka any place that is not going to hold coral then it should be only enough to support the top rock. I used the same rock and I knows its very difficult to work with I just broke it up and looked for pieces I liked. All my past tanks I had rock on the bottom and looking back it was just a pile of rock look. Smaller rock is easy to epoxy to the larger base structure and pretty easy to blend in with epoxy.

Ultimately, you need to love it so if you are satisfied leave it alone. If your not happy with it change it before adding corals and fish. btw you system looks great!

Moved a few rocks. My wife gave some suggestions. I like it much better like this. The other way was too symmetric. What do you think?

 

[Ashish Patel]

It took me a week of going back and worth before being ok with it. I would get at least 4 tubes of expoxy and some acrylic rods. If you don't have these things you'll have a difficult time or be more concerned with running out of something. Evaluate all the pieces you have and the pieces that are rounded or oval are usually the ones you should break, which will produce some nice angles and long pieces that are light. Find a piece that is heavy but not too heavy and use it and work your way around it. At the end you will have a lot of medium size pieces that will fit together very easily. Take pictures of it from the front top and visualize where you will add corals. a 6" rock could be made into a 12" long rock with just a small piece of dryrock suspending out from the reef. I would not include your LR with your new dryrock, instead just keep a few pieces close to the aquascape

 

[Ashish Patel]

Moved a few rocks. My wife gave some suggestions. I like it much better like this. The other way was too symmetric. What do you think?


Looks similar to BRS 160 lol.. I just don't trust that LR piece on the right side have you glued it?

 

[Eggpaul]

Haha, I did like their cave, just made a larger one. Are you talking about the one on top or lower one on right? They are not glued, but very stable. I can glue them though. I have a large bottle of glue from brs

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I agree. both structures start low and gradually rise up to the highest point near the back. Why did you have to tear down your rocks? I don't see a pic if you shared it.

Sorry for the delay, but here is my 40g as it is now. Most of the fish are hiding, which is rare for my angel and wrasse.

 

[Eggpaul]

Sorry for the delay, but here is my 40g as it is now. Most of the fish are hiding, which is rare for my angel and wrasse.

Nice!

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Nice!

Thank you sir. It's been a labor of love this tank.

 

[timnem70]

Sorry for the delay, but here is my 40g as it is now. Most of the fish are hiding, which is rare for my angel and wrasse.

Leave it. I did about the same as my 30 gallon. Mostly soft corals/ Zoas, Duncans, Acans that I had to take out and put in a cube as the other Leathers and RBTA and GBTA in the 30 got so large it overwhelmed them. Just always keep in mind that the purpose of the hobby is to keep and grow corals. Stuff gets big if you just leave it alone. That tank you've got looks great and in a couple years it'll be full. Best of luck.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Leave it. I did about the same as my 30 gallon. Mostly soft corals/ Zoas, Duncans, Acans that I had to take out and put in a cube as the other Leathers and RBTA and GBTA in the 30 got so large it overwhelmed them. Just always keep in mind that the purpose of the hobby is to keep and grow corals. Stuff gets big if you just leave it alone. That tank you've got looks great and in a couple years it'll be full. Best of luck.

Thank you for the compliment. I have a 75g that I am starting the build on in a couple weeks that Once it's done cycling everything in this one will be transferred over to it.