What lessons have your aquascape taught you?

[Miami Reef]

Here was my first attempt at aquascaping:

Someone said it was too minimal and bad. So I listened and added more rocks:

I was having tang aggression and people said I needed more rocks. I unfortunately listened.

I never quarantined so I got velvet. I had to tear down the tank and go fallow and rebuild my rock:

I had to tear it down again and rebuild it because this rockwork was on top of the sand = not stable. Plus I had too much sand which would make my fallow fail.

And this is what I have today.

It looks good enough. I’m working on my extreme perfectionism personality. It’s so difficult for me. I have to come to terms that my rock work will NEVER look 100% good to me. It will never be good enough. At this point I just want my tank to mature and for the corals to fill it out. I’m done with aquascaping.

It pains me emotionally to see all the work and internal conflict I went through with myself. This job was really hard. Big tanks aren’t always fun when you fear failure and backlash. I wanted everyone to like my tank. If I heard someone say they didn’t like something about my tank, I would want to make it better.

 

[Queenofreef]

Also anyone using mortar to create aquascapes... especially smaller tanks. I would recommend this method instead of the BRS method


The bond is solid and no need to glue on extra sand/rock to get the mortar color to match. I would first use gel superglue to get the pieces in place. Then come back with my marco powder and fill in with the thin CA glue.

Strength of the bond is as good as something like JB Water weld. I have never used marco mortar, so I don't have direct experiences with it. I just thought the whole BRS method seemed tedious. This also seems like the method a lot of asian aquascapers are using.

Oh wow that’s a really awesome technique! You’re right, doing that makes much more sense. Definitely giving it a go with my next scape

 

[Queenofreef]

I've always used super glue and 2 different epoxies mixed to make a not so purple but not so gray color. Modular structures with epoxy feet to not scratch glass, and easy to clean under/good spot for digging fish.

I created the same type of foot for the first time and I love it so much! Gives it that nice “floating” look too which I love. Took a few tries to get it right though, drove me nuts for a while haha

 

[vtecintegra]

Lesson? NSA sucks as a fish habitat. Aquascape for the fish to have places to sleep, get away from each other, and establish territories. Not something that looks cool to a person. The person doesn't have to live in the tank, the fish do.

 

[ninjamyst]

Lesson? NSA sucks as a fish habitat. Aquascape for the fish to have places to sleep, get away from each other, and establish territories. Not something that looks cool to a person. The person doesn't have to live in the tank, the fish do.

You can easily have both. That's the best part about building your own scape.

 

[workhz]

I gotta say, and this is just a personal opinion, I never really liked the branchy stuff. I never understood the fascination with tonga rock even 20 years ago. I've also never glued rocks together but that's just me. I do try to make sure when I add new corals that I'm not overly blocking off swim paths or caves or crevices.

 

[Queenofreef]

This isn't about you. It's about me and what I learned.

Sorry!! I thought you were taking a jab at my aquascape, I get a ton of backlash for it so i’ve become defensive ;Shy

 

[Queenofreef]

I gotta say, and this is just a personal opinion, I never really liked the branchy stuff. I never understood the fascination with tonga rock even 20 years ago. I've also never glued rocks together but that's just me. I do try to make sure when I add new corals that I'm not overly blocking off swim paths or caves or crevices.

It’s quite modern-looking to me, not a natural look at all that’s for sure. I think I like it because of that, but the stacked natural look is absolutely beautiful in itself. Next tank I plan on doing that!

 

[Queenofreef]

I like to leave some space between the rocks and glass, for scraping and cleaning. As well as enough space that a clumsy invert that might knock over a piece, you can retrieve the piece of coral/frag. Also, I’ve learned (the hard way) that an avalanche might cause a chip or crack in the glass!

An avalanche?! Have a new nightmare now

 

[Goaway]

Sorry!! I thought you were taking a jab at my aquascape, I get a ton of backlash for it so i’ve become defensive ;Shy

Don't take things personally, with text a lot of information is lost. Is someone joking? Are they being mean? Is it 3rd person talking?

Aquascaping is a headache. You think it have it all constructed and it all falls down. You glue a rock here and there, next thing you know you have urchins prying things apart, hermit crabs eating glue... A lot of people try to prepare for the worst. And some of us, just hope it works out.

 

[Queenofreef]

I made my aquascape with RRR and I learned my lesson for aquascpaing. I love my scape but the old one was TERRIBLE.
Don't underestimate growth
Caves are important.
dedicate areas.
My new scape is perfect for me as it has caves, space to grow, and dedicated areas

That’s always been the most difficult part for me, always build the scape acting like it’s it’s going to be a FOWLR tank haha

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Interested in hearing about any lessons your current/previous aquascapes have taught you, or what you would change if you could go back in time!

I’ll start—

My 40g is my second tank and first true aquascaping attempt (pile of live rock in first build). With this scape, I grossly underestimated the room corals need and left ~3-4” of space between glass and rock. Looks great empty, but not taking into account fully grown-in coral size means I almost always knock some off and angry zoas when doing maintenance. And that sucks.

If I could go back, I would’ve paid more attention to shadowing—the left side has stayed empty because of serious shadowing from the large pillar. Wish I paid attention to that in the tank prior to committing as my coral choices are sadly quite limited there now.

Recently added rubble pieces on the top ledge and arch and it’s really made the difference with this tank. My aquascape had very flat areas, making the corals look a bit one-dimensional when placed together. Looking back, I think my initial scape was too cut-and-dry, adding little pieces of rubble here and there makes the aquascape look much more visually interesting.

With my new 220g, tried to apply those lessons and quite happy with the results. Paid a lot of attention to shadowing because wanted to give each coral “the best spot in the tank”. But this was challenging because as a newbie to large aquascaping it was hard to create height while also avoiding sharp slopes. To avoid that, focused on the transitions between heights more and made sure the slopes (?) were drawn out.

Another challenge was leaving enough room for future colonies at the top of the scape with enough space between the coral and waterline. Creating a wooden stake showing the height limit helped a LOT when building!


What are the lessons you’ve learned from your aquascapes? Hopefully I can learn some new techniques!

Great discussion! IMO I made the same kind of mistake you mention with my scape. I need to allow more vertical space for coral growth. I'll do better with the next one...

I will add that I really like the look you had with it! I really like the scape in your 220!

 

[jaso]

So this is my first reef tank as such first time aquascaping in a reef tank as well... I wanted to create a bonsai/NSA style scape and tried to take into account of shadowing when I built the scape.

The more I look at it, the more I want to fix it or add more to it. Anyone have any suggestions for me? (Are my branches too close together for a nano?) This going into a 18x18x18 cube, hopefully I didn't build too close to the walls. I am planning to add a small island up at the front with a piece of live rock when I cycle my tank.

Love it! Less is more…plan for the future. It will fill in beautifully.

 

[ReefyTank]

For me it was patience and ability to do pieces in sections.

Even though I thought I took my time I still went ahead with something that I wasnt 100% happy with how it looked. Overtime that little bit became more of an eyesore for me.

The other piece was that my structures were so stacked it was hard to take a piece out with out messing it all up.

On my last attempt it seriously took me a year to puzzle together my latest scape and its not fully complete yet just building a section for the left but I really am happy with how everything is looking and how even the fish behavior is different.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

This is what I came up with

 

[Ferrell]

Less rock, less vertical areas, pay attention to areas that will get shaded. A 75 fills up fast. Current 2nd tank got better with more areas for coral growth. It’s a 30 getting ready to be a 40. 30 got too small quick too

 

[ReefyTank]

Having plenty of rock is essential imo! Can’t tell you how many times I needed to redo portions because of cement mistakes or the structure falling and breaking. Plus, what you don’t use is worth keeping around— I keep leftovers handy to use as a base for frags, adding small chunks over time, nem rocks, etc.

good point. You may think you have all the perfect rocks and as your scaping so many variables start coming into play.

 

[Glue Masters]

Just put this scape together:




What I learned:
- Keep height low. I am planning to completely demolish the first branching structure next week and start over and make it lower. It is currently 14in high and will be going in a 20in high tank.
- Make plenty of caves and hidey holes and ledges for fish to hide. It's a balance between minimalistic and practicality. Not shown in my photos are additional rubles I will lay next to the main rock structure to create safe space for smaller fish.
- Avoid too many flat spaces. I am not a fan of stax or smooth flat surface. They do not look natural.

That bottle of ca though, right on!!!

 

[Ef4life]

That's the rock I am gonna demolish =P. It's also heavy as hell and not stable. So gonna take a hammer to it next week and see what shakes out

I think it looks like an eagle - I say keep it. #america

 

[Gup]

I went with a good deal of Roth work in my 55 high. I knew I was going to have all small community fish and I wanted sleeping quarters and plenty of tunnels. Now I accomplish that, I realized once I start putting in corals, things will get tight.

Going forward, there will be reduction of rock work to allow proper room for adding Coral