Tank arrives tomorrow and I’ve spent the last 3 days mocking up the aquascape.

[Ronny]

Red Sea Max Nano XL 33gal. Have spent the last 3 days mocking up the aquascape. Would appreciate any comments, criticism and or suggestions! First pic is from where it will be viewed most often. Thanks!!!

 

[shakacuz]

looks great! will it be a mixed reef?

 

[Ronny]

looks great! will it be a mixed reef?

Forgot to put that in. Yes it will.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Looks awesome!!! Nothing bad to say about it.

 

[Ernie Mccracken]

Lookin' good, but if you want some ideas from a third party:

• The overall aquascape is a little flat and lacks depth. I know it isn't easy in this size display, but there's nothing to draw the eye over or behind the scape. e.g. that open channel you have down the middle is perfectly straight and leads right to the back of the tank. Make it curve around so the eye naturally wants to follow.
• The lower arch is your focal point and it's too centered, both vertically and horizontally
• Individual rocks are overall too large for a nano, shrinking your sense of scale. I would be tempted to smash some inter smaller pieces.
• Your upper arch looks placed, not as natural as your lower arch
• Your 3 main elements don't scale together. You have small single rock island, medium single rock island, but then giant rock wall
• Your small rock island is a little flat and uninteresting, and probably will be even after there's corals on it.
• You have negative space at the top, but if you're planning on huge LPS or something at the bottom, they will dominate your scape.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

your shrimp will make a home of your upper pass through very quickly.

 

[Ronny]

Lookin' good, but if you want some ideas from a third party:

• The overall aquascape is a little flat and lacks depth. I know it isn't easy in this size display, but there's nothing to draw the eye over or behind the scape. e.g. that open channel you have down the middle is perfectly straight and leads right to the back of the tank. Make it curve around so the eye naturally wants to follow.
• The lower arch is your focal point and it's too centered, both vertically and horizontally
• Individual rocks are overall too large for a nano, shrinking your sense of scale. I would be tempted to smash some inter smaller pieces.
• Your upper arch looks placed, not as natural as your lower arch
• Your 3 main elements don't scale together. You have small single rock island, medium single rock island, but then giant rock wall
• Your small rock island is a little flat and uninteresting, and probably will be even after there's corals on it.
• You have negative space at the top, but if you're planning on huge LPS or something at the bottom, they will dominate your scape.

Thanks so much for the tips! I will definitely take them into consideration and try to improve. I’ve struggled finding the right size rocks while gaining the height that I want.

 

[Dave-T]

You might want to slope it more from front to back so the corals up above don't shade the ones below.

 

[Ronny]

Lookin' good, but if you want some ideas from a third party:

• The overall aquascape is a little flat and lacks depth. I know it isn't easy in this size display, but there's nothing to draw the eye over or behind the scape. e.g. that open channel you have down the middle is perfectly straight and leads right to the back of the tank. Make it curve around so the eye naturally wants to follow.
• The lower arch is your focal point and it's too centered, both vertically and horizontally
• Individual rocks are overall too large for a nano, shrinking your sense of scale. I would be tempted to smash some inter smaller pieces.
• Your upper arch looks placed, not as natural as your lower arch
• Your 3 main elements don't scale together. You have small single rock island, medium single rock island, but then giant rock wall
• Your small rock island is a little flat and uninteresting, and probably will be even after there's corals on it.
• You have negative space at the top, but if you're planning on huge LPS or something at the bottom, they will dominate your scape.

Not sure this is any better.