I am ready for a little constructive criticism. I got the 4 bonded towers in the tank and they don't quite go together as planned. I put some of the loose rock around to try to replicate the cove look, but the overflow is stopping me from making that deep section. Any ideas would be appreciated. I tried to keep the towers together but that made the cove narrow from side to side
Need help with your aquascape?
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sawdonkey
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I am ready for a little constructive criticism. I got the 4 bonded towers in the tank and they don't quite go together as planned. I put some of the loose rock around to try to replicate the cove look, but the overflow is stopping me from making that deep section. Any ideas would be appreciated. I tried to keep the towers together but that made the cove narrow from side to side
You’ve kinda lost your structure from the planned layout. I try to put larger rocks on the bottom to form the general structure and then I put smaller rocks on top to refine the shape. Then, I use pieces of rubble to fill the gaps so it looks like a structure, rather than a pile of rocks. I use a lot of epoxy (with super glue to form the bond) to hold my structure together. I even do all of this underwater. It’s time consuming and frustrating, but worth it.
Currently, you have that pile of rocks look. On top of that, it looks a little unstable. Rockslides are tough to deal with once you get corals growing. Lock it in now.
Yeah, I realize the original plan is out the window, but based on earlier suggestions, I turned the middle section into two separate towers in order to achieve some height. There are probably 20 unattached rocks amongst the 4 towers, but none are higher than 4" off the bottom. The 4 towers are actually very solid, but I realize it's less cove and more tower. The problem is the back overflow pushed everything forward, and the two towers took up a significant amount of rock trying to get some height. I hope this picture explains the other two towers. The second picture is the original two towers. There are fiberglass rods throughout and the one you can see in the first picture was just to hold it while the glue and putty solidified. Thanks
Gino
Active Member
Hello Ardeus hope everything is going well for you. I been following this tread for a while now. It's been very helpful and interesting. I have a 90 gal tank with a two island concept and an isolated piece of rock in the middle of the island to grow a garden of Xenias so they can't spread all over the tank. I been redoing the scape several times, I still feel like isn't that good, my wife likes how it looks now but something isn't there yet. I want caves and crevices, as much as I can for the fishes to swim in and out plus as much as open swimming space posible. My tank dimensions are 48"x 18"x 25"h. I will like if possible your opinion on it and some ideas for improvement.
Front view
Left view
Right view
As you can see all of the rocks rest on the back glass. I don't know if it will be a good idea to separate from the back the rocks at least 1 or 2 inches for more water flow and swimming space. My concern is if it will look to cramped on front. What's your thoughts about it?
The next pictures are from the islands.
Right view
Top view
Center Rock/Xenias Garden
Left view
Top view
Any suggestions for improvement are welcome. My plan is to make it a Mix Reef.
Front view
Left view
Right view
As you can see all of the rocks rest on the back glass. I don't know if it will be a good idea to separate from the back the rocks at least 1 or 2 inches for more water flow and swimming space. My concern is if it will look to cramped on front. What's your thoughts about it?
The next pictures are from the islands.
Right view
Top view
Center Rock/Xenias Garden
Left view
Top view
Any suggestions for improvement are welcome. My plan is to make it a Mix Reef.
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trustmeimalawyer
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Just finished the scape on my 80 shallow. Not exactly how I wanted it to turn out but I got impatient. The right structure is a single rock and the left has been cemented together with emarco 400. Thanks for the input!
This crazy person has decided to buy the house RIGHT next door, so now I have to tear it down and move it (finding someone to help with that is another story entirely.) Figured it was the perfect time to get a critique of my current scape and make some improvements.
Clutter around the front is me moving smaller rocks out to get flow around them while treating a red cyno attack (skimmer was down for a month ). Goal is a mixed reef tank with room for my tangs and good caves from my gobies (watchman & pistol at one end, engineer at the other.)
I would love a RBTA, but not sure where to put it. I have a rock flower that kinda picked some premium real estate, but she hasn’t moved since.
Hey guys,
New to having a peninsula. Here’s my 90ish gallon (40x24x23)
Here was attempt #1
To me it just felt like too much rock in the back of the tank and My euphyllia were getting blown around by the flow by being on the sides.
This is attempt #2 at a scape with transferring corals/rock from my 50g. I need advice with how to complete this or if it’s even a good start. The goal is two-three structures. The back structure will be SPS with the Radion toward the back half of the tank (T5s run the length with aquatic life hybrid fixture) this area will also get more direct flow with an MP40 on each side and a Jebao (gyre knockoff) in the center. I would then put euphyllia toward the center to keep them out of the high flow areas.
Then softies and zoas mixed in or toward the front if possible.
I need advice on the rock structures and if I should attempt to move to three smaller structures. Hoping to keep one plate rock for sps that can hopefully grow out and add more height to the back rocks.
Thanks for any feedback or pictures of tanks for inspiration!
New to having a peninsula. Here’s my 90ish gallon (40x24x23)
Here was attempt #1
To me it just felt like too much rock in the back of the tank and My euphyllia were getting blown around by the flow by being on the sides.
This is attempt #2 at a scape with transferring corals/rock from my 50g. I need advice with how to complete this or if it’s even a good start. The goal is two-three structures. The back structure will be SPS with the Radion toward the back half of the tank (T5s run the length with aquatic life hybrid fixture) this area will also get more direct flow with an MP40 on each side and a Jebao (gyre knockoff) in the center. I would then put euphyllia toward the center to keep them out of the high flow areas.
Then softies and zoas mixed in or toward the front if possible.
I need advice on the rock structures and if I should attempt to move to three smaller structures. Hoping to keep one plate rock for sps that can hopefully grow out and add more height to the back rocks.
Thanks for any feedback or pictures of tanks for inspiration!
IgnatiusRath
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Here’s what I came up with. Still need to re home some corals since they don’t work with the scape now. And not everything is opened up since it was recently moved.
Still appreciate any feedback, thanks!
I like the look in the first picture a lot. Corals on the sand bed are a little close to the glass though. And the two corals in the front corners look out of place to me, although I'm not sure where else they could go.
You have some really nice corals, but it almost feels like you need a frag tank for some of the ones that don't fit into the rocks.
Thanks for the feedback. Completely agree. Most stuff on the sandbed is going to be sold in the next couple of days. Only keeping the fungia and trachy on the sand and they will be moved away from the glass once space opens up. [emoji108][emoji2533]
IgnatiusRath
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Nice, I'd love to see updated pictures after the stuff on the sand is sold. I think your scape is right once it can breath a bit and have that open space.
Squeaky McMurdo
Active Member
These 2 rocks look artificial to me
Other than that, I would get rocks away from the side glasses and try a 2 island setup.
Ok, I got my bigger tank set up. Took your advice and ditched those two rocks.
Reef Able
Active Member
Wow this thread is such a great help for anyone who wants to aquascape their tank...i randomly stumbled upon this thread and was amazed how Ardeus has been helping everyone...It was my inspiration to change my rock work. Here is my before and after picture. What do you guys think?
leroy_jenkinz
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so im pretty satisfied with the rock on the right as i want a swim through arch but i feel like my rocks on the left look just all garbled up. Most of my pieces are pretty large and i tried not to break any up, maybe i need to?
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NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
I am moving in 30 days and want to redo the aquascape once I do. I’m looking to hopefully make better use of the space I have. Tank is a fluval m90. Thanks in advance for the advice!
It is very straight and horizontal on top. A simple thing to do would be to remove some rock. Perhaps pull this
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