Aquascape newbie needs help with first tank.

Hello,

So it is time to think about the aquascape for my 75 gallons tank.

I started playing around with my rocks and I came up with that:


I'm not saying it's nice or ugly, I really don't know what to do.

I have three kind of rocks. Theres the smooth ones sort of dead corals but heavy like the one on the bottom left:


Then there's the spongy looking ones that have nice texture like the one on the bottom right:


And theres the really branchy ones on to of my arrangement.

Now I really dont know if it's the best way to go about this but I've put the branchy ones on top because they are the most interesting. At the same time, I feel like it will be hard to grow corals on that kind of funky shape.

I bought those rocks part of a kit from someone quitting the hobby. There is about 145 lbs (what he said). The pile is about 14 inches high and my tank is 48x18x20.

Maybe I have it all wrong so please just be straight and criticize, I won't be hurt. Also, if you think I should change some rocks let me know.

Thanks

 

personally, i like the look of that alot. as far as the knobby top , mostly it will allow you to keep corals in place a bit easier. places for them to fit into and such. and you have enough flatter areas for something that would come on a larger piece of LR. excellent start IMO twowordz

 

Looks pretty good to me. The real question is do you like it? As long as your happy with it that is all that matters.

 

I know its tempting to go with the wall of rock, but I would arrange them in a way the adds depth to the tank, also I would nix the arch thing in the middle it looks artifical.
I would put all the porous and good looking pieces in front with the smooth ones propping them up out of sight if possible.

hope that was straight enough

aquascaping takes a while to get down. Sometimes even experienced scapers can only do so much with the tank and rocks shape, but a 75g is a nice size.


of course if you don't get tank fung shui perfect you can always add corals to cover it up

 

also I don't know if I would use that table as the stand it looks a little flimsy unless its steel underneath

 

I think it looks awesome:2thumbsup Great job. Take your time and enjoy your work. oh and don't forget to leave enough room between the rocks and glass to clean.

 

Wow quick comments!

Thanks for your tips.

I tried something else:



Two islands, I think I might like this way better. Theres all sorts of holes and caverns for the fishes and they can also hang out in the middle. Would it help with the flow?

more:




Sorry for the ****ty pictures, I only have my phone around.

I tried to put all the branchy ones so they are in their natural orientation and I tried to hide the broken edges.

To me, bridges need to look natural and I don't feel like I can achieve a natural look with what I have.

Does this look better or worst?

 

sostoudt: for the table, don't worry there's a 2x4 under.

 

I think it looks a lot better and more natural.

you may want to play around with the sizes of the piles tho so they aren't pretty much equal in size.

 

Right. BRB.