Need help with your aquascape?

[Antonio Harris]

How about this??

 

[Jack Ravensbergen]

Januari 2016
June 2018

 

[Ardeus]

The top of the structure seems to be just a couple of inches away from the water surface.

 

[Jack Ravensbergen]

The top of the structure seems to be just a couple of inches away from the water surface.

About 8" ....

 

[Ardeus]

How about this??

That bay is too regular. I would try to break it up into tiny islands. The main structure looks great.

 

[Ardeus]

Januari 2016
June 2018

The way the tank furniture matches the room is great and the tank really stands out in the room in the best of ways

 

[Jack Ravensbergen]

Thanks , that picture was of januari 2016 , these ones are made just now...

 

[Ardeus]

One aspect that often goes unnoticed is how the fish affect the perception of the aquascape by the mean of proportion. Freshwater aquascapers are very aware of this though.

I just saw this video and I thought that the aquascape will turn out interesting once the corals grow. Yet for me, the big fish break the illusion of space in this tank.

 

[andrewkw]

I have a couple of thoughts I'd like to run by everyone.

First here is a current fts

I have a lot of corals covering corals, both from growing over (don't like but deal with) and taller corals blocking others (don't mind sometimes). However recently the big green leather in the right center fell. It's on a rock wedged into the rock work. I tried a few times and can't get it back to where it was. Maybe it's just too heavy now. From the front I think this looks "okay". However what you can't see is it's actually pressing up against the front glass. My tank is narrow at 18" and this just makes it worse. So I could either frag it, get a ton of glue or move it. The only real options are below the gorgonian and above the palys near the center. This would effectively press it against the back glass. Less of an issue but the potential to still make the tank look narrow.

The second thing I am considering is putting some paly frags over the glass bottom. To the left of the yellow scopas where the pectinia coral is there is a lot of glass showing. Now this doesn't bother me, and some negative space is good + that is a good spot should I ever get some brain corals, clam ect. However I have a huge population of frags that have completely overgrown my frag tank.

Palys just overgrowing frag rack

That's all I'm currently considering but I welcome any other suggestions. Some great stuff in this thread!

 

[oneasianguy]

Going to try to rescape the whole tank this weekend (saturday). Going to need some scaping ideas.

 

[Ardeus]

I have a couple of thoughts I'd like to run by everyone.

First here is a current fts

I have a lot of corals covering corals, both from growing over (don't like but deal with) and taller corals blocking others (don't mind sometimes). However recently the big green leather in the right center fell. It's on a rock wedged into the rock work. I tried a few times and can't get it back to where it was. Maybe it's just too heavy now. From the front I think this looks "okay". However what you can't see is it's actually pressing up against the front glass. My tank is narrow at 18" and this just makes it worse. So I could either frag it, get a ton of glue or move it. The only real options are below the gorgonian and above the palys near the center. This would effectively press it against the back glass. Less of an issue but the potential to still make the tank look narrow.

The second thing I am considering is putting some paly frags over the glass bottom. To the left of the yellow scopas where the pectinia coral is there is a lot of glass showing. Now this doesn't bother me, and some negative space is good + that is a good spot should I ever get some brain corals, clam ect. However I have a huge population of frags that have completely overgrown my frag tank.

Palys just overgrowing frag rack

That's all I'm currently considering but I welcome any other suggestions. Some great stuff in this thread!

I like it, it needs a little clean up of open spaces.

I would not let palys cover the bottom glass, to keep it open.

Other than that my only suggestion is to get a tank a foot longer and 5 inches wider and keep the aquascape as it is

 

[Ardeus]

Going to try to rescape the whole tank this weekend (saturday). Going to need some scaping ideas.

Honestly, I wouldn't dare to do any dramatic rescaping in your tank without having a second tank to put excess rock.

 

[Fishninja]

 

[oneasianguy]

Honestly, I wouldn't dare to do any dramatic rescaping in your tank without having a second tank to put excess rock.

I can put the excess rock in my sump. Got a 30 gallon sump at the bottom of the tank.

 

[andrewkw]

Going to try to rescape the whole tank this weekend (saturday). Going to need some scaping ideas

If this were my tank my main priority would be to declutter the sand bed. Seems to be a lot of rubble and maybe shells or you just have a big snail party going on when you took the photo. I'm assuming that A L has some meaning to you but removing that and the frag racks would also go a long way imo.

 

[LBReefer]

How about this??

I think that looks terrific

 

[oneasianguy]

If this were my tank my main priority would be to declutter the sand bed. Seems to be a lot of rubble and maybe shells or you just have a big snail party going on when you took the photo. I'm assuming that A L has some meaning to you but removing that and the frag racks would also go a long way imo.

Yeah, that is what i plan to do. I left the rubbles for the rock flower anemeones and also my goby/pistol shrimp pair. As for the shells, they are for the hermit crabs to avoid killing my snails for their shells.

 

[andrewkw]

I like it, it needs a little clean up of open spaces.


I would not let palys cover the bottom glass, to keep it open.

Other than that my only suggestion is to get a tank a foot longer and 5 inches wider and keep the aquascape as it is

Thanks for taking the time to examine my aquascape. I was hesitant to put those palys back in and your thoughts confirmed my suspicion. I suppose I will just try a little harder to push the big green leather a little further back so it's not physically touching the front of the glass. As for the elegance you're not the first to recommend moving it. The thing is, it used to blow around a lot on the bare bottom but black sponge has since grown over the bottom and is holding it in place. This of course does not prevent me from moving it but makes it more of a hassle. I should pick up some epoxy which will also make mounting the leather easier.

The funny thing about the tank size.. This is a 112 gallon 60x18x24, it's my reluctant downgrade from a 180 gallon 72x24x24. The tank itself broke in transit during a long distance move and I just happened to keep my previous display tank. This is a good quality miracles tank but it's from 2006 and starting to show it's age. If only I could just plop a 180 over top of it Realistically I plan on running this tank for another 2 years then hopefully moving again at which time I will upgrade to a much wider tank. In the mean time I'll continue to tweak this one and probably throw some more ideas off you in the coming months. If anyone else wants to chime in please do. Usually these are the kind of ideas I'd run by other reefers when visiting since in person views are best for this kind of thing, but where I'm located now I've only had one other reefer over.

 

[Ardeus]

The 2 structures are roughly the same height, but the main issue is the lack of sand

 

[Ardeus]

I can put the excess rock in my sump. Got a 30 gallon sump at the bottom of the tank.

Do you have any idea of what kind of aquascape you want?