Tips and Tricks on Creating Amazing Aquascapes.

[Brian Kennedy]

This thread is fantastic and really has me thinking about the new scape. My box of rocks should be here on Friday and I have few questions.

1. How is everyone connecting the base rock to the egg crate?

2. Are rods recommended if using Marco Morter?

3. What is everyone's preferred method of connecting rocks to one another?

Thanks

 

[Ray668]

Wish I would of seen this before I did my aquascape

 

[Crabby48]

This thread is fantastic and really has me thinking about the new scape. My box of rocks should be here on Friday and I have few questions.

1. How is everyone connecting the base rock to the egg crate?

2. Are rods recommended if using Marco Morter?

3. What is everyone's preferred method of connecting rocks to one another?

Thanks

1. Can’t help not using egg crate. I thought those squares is a good place for stuff to build up and hard to clean out. I don’t know

2. When I looked in to this it seems there not necessary but if you have a lot of weight hanging off it maybe could idea.
The cement bonds well and needed hammer and chisel to break apart

3. My research seemed Marco cement to be one of the strongest but I don’t have a lot of experience.

 

[427HISS]

Agreed; less is more when it comes to aquascaping. The rock also needs to be balanced from day 1. Meaning not too much rock and have a vision in mind.



One of the best I've seen. Often times I see reefs with healthy fish and coral, but the aquascape makes or breaks the tank, IMO.

What is meant by,...."The rock also needs to be balanced from day 1. Meaning not too much rock: ?

 

[Brian Kennedy]

Hi everyone. Here is my first attempt at an actual aquascape. Please rate my scape, the good the bad the ugly.

 

[NY_Caveman]

The right side looks very natural and interesting. The top of the left, less so to me. Just my opinion.

 

[maevepotter]

So I just moved a bunch of rocks over from my 29g to the 40g breeder. I'm quite unhappy with how it turned out. I know the structure to the right looks bad, but i was trying to maintain my new blenny's spot to hide because I am introducing the other fish from the 29.

None of it is glued, the rock is just stacked and leaned on each other. I can try moving the large rock with two knobs where acans are glued to make that cave look open, i can also move the bta rock away. Thoughts? The last 2 photos were the 29g's aquascape

 

[c147258]

 

[fish_Nerd228]

When @wmhaupfear and I were aquascaping our 150 gal we also had to keep in mind that less is more, and we wanted a more natural look. We decided to venture on doing a 3D background using combo of pond foam, epoxy, and sand/crushed coral. We laid out the rocks on the floor and took many pictures from different angles. We used zip ties and and a masonry bit to drill holes and secure them to egg crate. Once the background was complete and siliconed to the back of the tank,we could then have a better idea of how we wanted the foreground to look. Again trying to keep in mind that less is more. We used E-Marco-400 to secure them to the background and to each other. Just to share a few ideas with others.

We are still in the process of our tank build, feel free to follow us along this journey and provide any advice for us.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-like-big-tanks-and-i-cannot-lie.469528/

 

[Brian Kennedy]

Round 2. I think I'm going with this. What do you all think?

 

[jeffchapok]

My first reef. Any suggestions?

 

[jeffchapok]

I like this better

 

[truepercs]

For what it's worth... I would remove some of the large rocks on the right hand side and shift to keep the structure away from the glass.

 

[jeffchapok]

I think this is more visually interesting.

 

[SPA50]

I think this is more visually interesting.

With the right side... If you can make it more of a u shape arch it will look epic.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

This is very impressive! Care to share more about how it was constructed?

 

[sawdonkey]

Round 2. I think I'm going with this. What do you all think?

This looks great, but I’d completely remove that rock in the gap. You’ll have better looking negative space.

 

[c147258]

This is very impressive! Care to share more about how it was constructed?

No skills were actually involved.

These are man made ceramic rocks with a lot of flat surfaces being stacked together.

http://www.asaquarium.com/index.php/article/index/id/25/cid/2

I did, however, follow the post owners recommendation of breaking the tank into 9 rectangles and put the focus points on the four dots in the middle. Great advice!

 

[jeffchapok]

I think this is more visually interesting.

Here's what it looks like filled and with a background. Ready to start cycling tonight.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[SPA50]

My new tank scape. Simple yet effective.