What lessons have your aquascape taught you?

[Miami Reef]

@Queenofreef

Thanks to this thread I fixed my aquascape!!

Before:

And after!!! Thank you so much!!

 

[DaddyFish]

Well the pain in the mound was worth it haha. I love the layout!

I like your mounds. Looks like a happy place!

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I'm never satisfied, I change mine from time to time, only to make more nooks and crannies for the livestock and corals.

 

[Queenofreef]

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

Oh they fill up SO fast! I always joke around that after the 220g is filled up I need to get a 1000+ tank to actually spend a good amount of time building it out. My house is just going to turn into an aquarium at this point...I'm totally ok with the idea too and that's troubling haha.

 

[Miami Reef]

Oh they fill up SO fast! I always joke around that after the 220g is filled up I need to get a 1000+ tank to actually spend a good amount of time building it out. My house is just going to turn into an aquarium at this point...I'm totally ok with the idea too and that's troubling haha.

I got a question for you: did you ever end up buying that microscope?

 

[Jedi1199]

@Queenofreef ,

I actually got my first ideas for my scape from you! The rule of 3rds and spiral were keys in how I designed my scape. I've always wanted to thank you for those videos. Fun to watch and good ideas.

Here is what I came up with for my 55g

 

[Miami Reef]

@Queenofreef ,

I actually got my first ideas for my scape from you! The rule of 3rds and spiral were keys in how I designed my scape. I've always wanted to thank you for those videos. Fun to watch and good ideas.

Here is what I came up with for my 55g

That looks Awesome!

 

[Jedi1199]

That looks Awesome!

Thank you

 

[NanoReefs]

Here is mine.

 

[Operation Philo Beddoe]

I have no creativity and cant aquascape. lol

"And I just had an 8 foot tank delivered"

 

[James_O]

You should have a build thread!!

How did you attach the rocks? (Cement, rods, etc.?)

 

[Miami Reef]

Here is mine.

Are you running T5’s? Sick scape BTW

 

[Jedi1199]

One thing I would do differently the next time is:

Build the structure in several pieces.

First, one large piece is HEAVY!! Trying to maneuver one single large piece into the tank can be a serious challenge. This is especially true when you have larger tanks that require more elaborate designs. I had a NSA scape piece break while lowering it into my 180. I was fortunate that the bottom glass did not break, but the experience led me to abandon the NSA design on that tank.

Second, When your tank is new, and you get algae outbreaks, it is FAR easier to clean off if you can remove the rocks in several chunks rather than one single huge mass. I have a HUGE algae bloom in my 55 right now. Fortunately most of my coral frags are not glued in place so I was able to move them off the rocks and remove the pieces that I actually could (meaning the pieces from the broken design from the 180 that got repurposed) and scrub off the algae.

 

[NanoReefs]

Are you running T5’s? Sick scape BTW

Yes. I am running a 36 inch ATI 8 bulb sunpower fixture. Fits my reefer 250 perfectly. Thanks!

 

[Miami Reef]

Yes. I am running a 36 inch ATI 8 bulb sunpower fixture. Fits my reefer 250 perfectly. Thanks!

What bulb combo?

 

[ninjamyst]

One thing I would do differently the next time is:

Build the structure in several pieces.

First, one large piece is HEAVY!! Trying to maneuver one single large piece into the tank can be a serious challenge. This is especially true when you have larger tanks that require more elaborate designs. I had a NSA scape piece break while lowering it into my 180. I was fortunate that the bottom glass did not break, but the experience led me to abandon the NSA design on that tank.

Second, When your tank is new, and you get algae outbreaks, it is FAR easier to clean off if you can remove the rocks in several chunks rather than one single huge mass. I have a HUGE algae bloom in my 55 right now. Fortunately most of my coral frags are not glued in place so I was able to move them off the rocks and remove the pieces that I actually could (meaning the pieces from the broken design from the 180 that got repurposed) and scrub off the algae.

That's what I did. My one piece is actually made up of several pieces that can stand on their own. Make it easy to assemble in the tank.

 

[NanoReefs]

What bulb combo?

4 blue plus, 2 coral plus, and two purple. All ATI.

 

[ChaosAquaculture]

that the rock needs to be far away enough for the glass scraper to get by lol - kali

 

[Queenofreef]

Shading, I have so much of it and it's worsened by plating Monti's placed higher up on the rock, rendering a goo bit of real estate useless.

I would love to start from scratch with avoiding shading in mind, it just wasn't on my radar at all when building this tank..

With the 40g, I thought of shading when aquascaping and it STILL had issues with shading With the new scape I did a dry test because that was such a pain

 

[Queenofreef]

@Stang67 I hate the sticky fingers part. I always wear rubber gloves cause of that.

I perpetually have super glue hands cause of this hobby haha