Share your BEST aquascape tips of 2022!

[revhtree]

The longer you reef the more tips and ideas you acquire! The same is true when it comes to Aquascaping your reef tank!

Today let's all put together a list of helpful tips and ideas that you've learned when it comes to aquascaping your reef tank!

I'll start with a very simple yet effective tip!

TIP: This only works for dry rock. When you use a mortar or putty type epoxy to hold your rock structure together they tend to be a color that doesn't blend well with the rest of the rock. Keep some extra loose sand near and when you join the rock pieces together add some of the loose sand to the wet epoxy that is left showing and it will help it blend in better.

image via @Reefahholic

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Don't put your rock up against your glass. Algae will grow like wildfire from that point, and you won't be able to scrape much of it off. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way.

 

[ZoWhat]

Extremely helpful if you design your scape so that most rock can be individually removed without causing an avalanche.

Individual rock removal is great for maintenance if unwanted things grow on individual rock

 

[Utubereefer]

 

[Jacked Reefer]

Whenever possible try not to use rock such as marco rock and life rock. Not that there is anything bad with them, they just do not have the surface area and do not look half as good as the old Fiji rock does. It is also fairly easy to find this old stuff if you look for tank breakdowns, ask around multiple LFS and watch Craigslist/fb marketplace. Chances are it will have been dried out and loose the biological appeal. But you still get much better looking rock than the artificial stuff now days

 

[shakacuz]

Out of room for frags on your scape? Me too! I started cutting strips of stax rock and super gluing frag plugs to the bottom so I can put them on single frag mounts on the back glass.

genius!

 

[afrokobe]

Don't use mortar. (waste of money and you have to cover with sand anyway) Use thick ca glue sparingly to get your rocks connected. Your joints should be connected using rock dust and thin ca glue. This creates the strongest connection.

this is all for dry rock aquascaping of course

 

[Klyle]

Worst thing you can do is build one giant scape. I have 3 medium size scapes in my 40g. Super easy to remove them individually if necessary.

 

[rmorris_14]

Don't put GSP on any part of your main aquascape(s).

 

[Tankkeepers]

Use loctite ultra gel enhanced control for glueing underwater my entire tank was glued underwater

Also if stung by a Bristol worm put a layer of super glue down let it dry and it'll rip the hairs out better then tape

 

[flashsmith]

Don't ever glue rocks. You'll regret it more than anything when you realize that although your rocks may look like something at an art gallery you have nowhere to mount coral and no way to remove livestock not if but when you need to do it.

 

[jfoahs04]

Plan it out to the greatest extent possible before you "start" your tank. It's easier with dry rock as you can just tape the dimensions of your tank onto a piece of cardboard and build it how you want it before getting started. But you can still do this with live rock - I've used the taped cardboard method and just slid it under the clear rubbermaid bin where I'm curing the live rock. Winging it can lead to you being unhappy with the results and wanting to rearrange (which gets harder and harder to do as the tank matures) or worse (collapse, instability, etc.).

Have an idea of what type of coral you want and what it requires in terms of placement/lighting. Keep that in mind when placing your rock.

 

[MillennialReefer]

If you fall in the trap of having "too many rocks" in the display, especially if they have been there a couple months or longer - make sure you have room in the sump to relocate them. Particularly if you're removing a significant amount of rocks to maintain the system bio stability.

Also, make sure you have enough space on the higher rocks for corals to grow and not be too close to the surface.

 

[JachPot]

Don't use mortar. (waste of money and you have to cover with sand anyway) Use thick ca glue sparingly to get your rocks connected. Your joints should be connected using rock dust and thin ca glue. This creates the strongest connection.

this is all for dry rock aquascaping of course

Can you link to a proper glue product for this? I've got 200 pounds of rock and a dream...

 

[afrokobe]

Can you link to a proper glue product for this? I've got 200 pounds of rock and a dream...

you can use anything thin ca glue. I've used glue masters, bob smith industries, gorilla glue, etc...



this is the guide i followed

 

[rtparty]

People worry way too much about what their rock looks like right NOW and not enough time planning what it WILL look like once the corals grow in.

Spending weeks scaping a tank is pointless. After a year, you shouldn't be looking at the rock

 

[Ricox]

Try incorporating some plates in your scape so you have more places to put things like lps. Also try to look past the original aquascape and think about coral placement in the future. Also make sure that your scape is open to provide enough area for water moment to avoid detritus settling. Also try and build your scape out of your tank first as it will be much easier than making it in your tank.

 

[Dakota_reef]

I liked it better when it was just a wall of reef rocks. I only say that because I don't like aqua scaping in the first place and trying to make a negative space (focused on habitat for fish) is way too overwhelming for me.

 

[CoralB]

Coral placement, water flow and lighting par should be considered when setting up your rock . Height for sps to grow as well as current, making sure your aware of down stream current especially if your going to put in torches ,frogspawn etc . Want to make sure what’s downstream won’t get stung . Placement throughout the rock work in relation to lighting or par readings for Coral your planning to keep is highly important . Keep in mind that coral will grow and having enough room for each to grow also a consideration . Leaving room for a magnet cleaner/ scraper to operate between glass and rock in important . I’m a sand guy and with using sand I always have to Mack sure the rock creation is secure and balanced enough to withstand burring critters that could dig out the sand under one support which could collapse your creation . I’m sure with more thought I could come up with more but this is a good start .

 

[4davegill]

I have found that when doing aquascaping, larger live rock breaks very easy with a rock hammer. You can even make caves and such by breaking out old coral structures. I used to have large clunky chunks. I use a rotohammer to put holes and anchor them together. I have switched it up many times, and the holes are not noticeable because of the way live rock looks.