First attempt at Aquascape

My initial endeavor into reefing was put to a stop after 8 weeks. I was doing it all wrong. Having read and learned I am taking a different approach. As part of this I am redoing my aquascape. I wanted to create some height, my tank is 25" tall as well as a lot of space for coral and room for fish to swim around and through the rocks.

Here is an album of my efforts at this type of aquascape.

Each of the base pieces are glued to a 6x6x1 sidewalk paver. On the bottom of the paver is some silicon to act as padding so the rock isn't sitting right on the bottom of the tank. Additionally by adding this weight it makes the base parts super stable.

The bottom pieces are reefsaver rock and Fiji rock. Really heavy rocks. The top parts are Pukani rock, which is much more porous and lighter. These sit in nicely into the other rocks and makes for a very stable rock structure.

One of the pieces is three rocks high with a 3/8" solid PVC rod held in place with more glue. It made a GREAT overhang and adds some dimensionality to the tank.

The rocks stack to about 6" from the top of the tank to allow for corals to grow.

I haven't glued the stacked rocks because I may change to a larger tank in the future. Additionally trying to get something that large into the tank was an accident waiting to happen.

 

I think your scape looks fabulous!! I have never seen people use sidewalk pavers as a base for rock - actually a pretty good idea (I think).....

 

Ya, I hope it was a good choice. Its a hard stone, travertine, not cement, so I hope there isn't any leeching into the system. Time will tell I guess.

 

Travertine is a form of limestone, so if they aren't made from an amalgum, you should be OK.

 

Here's what I used.
MS International 6 in. x 12 in. Travertine Chiseled Pavers-LHDWAL612-PAV at The Home Depot

Looks like an all natural stone.

 

The attempted scape looks WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY better then the "eh its just putting rock in a tank" method Good job!

 

Cool idea

 

I know old post but I like that idea. No worries of the rock falling over. Looks really good.