Need help with your aquascape?

[Leta]

So I took your advice and this is what we did

 

[Ardeus]

It looks much better than my model, I can't wait to see it covered with coral!

 

[Leta]

It looks much better than my model, I can't wait to see it covered with coral!

Thank you for your help! Wouldn't have managed it without your amazing advice

 

[Ardeus]

I am guessing that with the fish you have you will be using mostly soft corals. Group them by similarity instead of scattering them.

Here's some inspiration.

 

[MSB123]

I would love some help with my scape- I haven't been paying much attention and it has gotten a bit messy. Thanks!
(My tang is a bit of an attention hog)

 

[Ardeus]

First of all I suggest getting rock away from the front glass.

The easiest way would be a two islands layout, one big and one small.

Can you get the sarcophytons together in a single structure? 2 right next to each other and the other slightly appart.

 

[jscholtz014]

Heres mine... Not looking great at the moment ;Facepalm

 

[Ardeus]

You have different rock types in there. You can try grouping them by types so that they don't clash that much against each other.

You can try just 2 groups.

 

[lapin]

Heres mine... Not looking great at the moment

What you have here is 3 short mountains. All are the same height. They are different shapes which is good. If you can afford more rock you could make it look great. Take the middle mountain and make it shorter. Add rock to the right side mountain so it goes up to about 3/4 the height of your tank. Add some rock in between the middle and right side. You are looking to slope the middle towards the right side so your eye will follow it up the hill. There are other options if this wont work.

 

[TRACEY R LEONARD]

Will you be considering coral placement & grow out as well? That's been my struggle. I can always come up with a good looking rock layout that avoids the 'stacks' or 'piles' pitfalls, but thinking through the future of some larger corals is tough. Especially when future decisions about corals may be a complete unknown.
Argh, and I hate the photo reflections! Probably not the best time of day for photos:

BEAUTIFUL

 

[Jrcjr5]

Ardeus - This is my first time posting, but I have been following your thread with both great interest and admiration. I am new (or at least upgrading from a 55 gal FOWLR) to reef keeping and have went with an unusual 260 gal corner pentagon shape. I would welcome your thoughts on aquascape design as I plan for this to be a mixed reef setup with mostly tangs, wrasses, etc. I really like the depth, dimension and movement you have created in your tank and would like to mimic the “valley” you created as it seems to fit my tank dimensions. The tank is 44” in both directions from the back corner, 24” deep overflow to center glass front and 30” high.

Very grateful to you for your willingness to share your expertise with us on this board.

 

[TheDashCave]

I like it. I would just open up that valley a little bit more.

Thanks! I was thinking the same thing. More???

 

[Ardeus]

Ardeus - This is my first time posting, but I have been following your thread with both great interest and admiration. I am new (or at least upgrading from a 55 gal FOWLR) to reef keeping and have went with an unusual 260 gal corner pentagon shape. I would welcome your thoughts on aquascape design as I plan for this to be a mixed reef setup with mostly tangs, wrasses, etc. I really like the depth, dimension and movement you have created in your tank and would like to mimic the “valley” you created as it seems to fit my tank dimensions. The tank is 44” in both directions from the back corner, 24” deep overflow to center glass front and 30” high.

Very grateful to you for your willingness to share your expertise with us on this board.

Have you seen the videos I made with suggestions for different tanks? Many of them can be applied to your tank.

My tank has a hollow mountain at the back with the anemones, an area for corals and a pillar for a magnifica.

The challenge in your tank is that the sides are very narrow, so when you put rock in those areas, you shouldn't go high.

The advantage of your tank is the depth and one of the best way to enhance the depth perception is with a tall version of the sleeping dragon.

 

[Ardeus]

Thanks! I was thinking the same thing. More???

It's looking good. I would just open up the space between the 2 structures a bit more.

 

[Jrcjr5]

Have you seen the videos I made with suggestions for different tanks? Many of them can be applied to your tank.

My tank has a hollow mountain at the back with the anemones, an area for corals and a pillar for a magnifica.

The challenge in your tank is that the sides are very narrow, so when you put rock in those areas, you shouldn't go high.

The advantage of your tank is the depth and one of the best way to enhance the depth perception is with a tall version of the sleeping dragon.

Yes, I posted my pics and then subsequently came across your other videos. I like the “off-center” canyon and recognize I’ll need to go very small towards the sides. I will try some sleeping dragon renditions and post for the board. Again, many “tanks” to you for your contributions to the hobby and this board!

 

[Fudsey]

@Ardeus I have started this Waterbox with some old live rock that is now dead. This is what I have for the right side. I have more live rock that is in my holding tank waiting for this to be wet. I would love some ideas on what to do on the left with the cove on the right. I will also be adding a GSP rock in the middle of the cove opening as well as another piece to the end of the front of the cove. I'm including a pic of my previous tank so you can see the rock I have and the piece that is going to go on the cove(circled). The cove is 3 pieces and very sturdy.

 

[Ardeus]

Piling rocks is a tricky thing because we tend to do the opposite of what we usually can see in any natural landscapes, above and below water.

When we pile rock, most of us put the larger rocks on the bottom and the smaller ones on top, mostly because of stability.

In nature we usually don't see that, the smaller rocks fall and scatter around the larger ones.

If we try the opposite, it looks weird too.

So our best chance is to hide the fact that we're using lots of rocks by making the rocks fit the best possible way, creating seamless structures.

You achieved that on the bottom part, but the 2 smaller rocks on top still look like they are not fitting the structure.

 

[PoeticInjustice]

Hi Ardeus, thanks for doing this. You're a great help for artistically-challenged people like me lol
I've read through the thread and have an idea on how to tackle my tank's aquascape...
Here's where my tank currently stand.

I plan on keeping the large rock on the left as an island and create a bay on the right... or create a bay on the left with the large rock and create an anemone island on the right. What do you think?

 

[Ardeus]

You did a great job in integrating the rocks, it's very difficult to distinguish each rock.

An anemone island is a must, because otherwise they will take over the whole tank.

You still need to solve 2 problems:

- The height of the anemone island is the same of the other structure;

- There's no sense of depth.

That being said, the shapes you built are interesting.

 

[TRACEY R LEONARD]

I am new at this and could use some help it this to much rock?