New Aquarium Aquascape Opinions Please

Hi Guys,

This is my first post here on 3reef but I have been following everyone's posts for a little over a month now. I just started my aquarium about two weeks ago but have had to make several changes. I started with crushed coral (from my previous aquarium many many years ago), but changed it out for about 70 pounds of sand. The aquarium is 55 gallons with a 20-23 gallon sump. I just added 50 pounds of live rock and have about 15-20 pounds of previously live rock. I have a mag 7 return pump with 2 koralia 1 power heads. You can see the turboflotor 1000 multi sitting in the sump but not hooked up. I ran it for over a week but it kept overflowing. I know that it takes time to break in but I also read that it may be extra sensitive with a newly cycling tank. I am also planning on upgrading the lights when I get the money in a month or two. Right now, my plan is to have a FOWLR tank and possibly add some inverts. I was wondering if I could get some opinions on my aquascaping and I am open to any ideas. I think I should say that the rocks are more stable than they look I am still relearning the ins and outs of things and am sure to make many mistakes. Thanks again for looking and please let me know if the pictures to work.

Regards,
Ivy

 

It looks nice but... to give a straight shooter opinion:
It just looks like a pile of rocks.

The smaller the tank the harder it is to get a natural reef look. I would suggest smaller rocks and some sort of PVC armature to hold rocks that are zip tied. Break up some of those rocks if necessary. If you google "PVC" and "aquascape" several thread will give you ideas... one of the best that gave me ideas was this one:
Aquascaping
Also check out my reef thread in my signature link.
good luck.

 

i would try not to lean them like that, the big one in the middle should definitely be a flat foundation piece. you have flater more shelf like rock. i would go with more of a shelf them. the three lower pieces on the left are ok. i know this hard to aquascape with flat pieces like those as i have recieved a box of all shelf pieces before. just by judging the pieces of the top of my head i think it may be difficult to contruct a good lucking structure that spans the tank, in a wall fashion. also dont be afraid to stick one or two flater pieces in the back out of sight, you can always by more baserock later to fill in holes. good luck i look foward to see what you do.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I wasn't completely happy with it myself but was hoping for some pointers. That giant rock was included in a 45 pound batch of live rock that I bought. I will try to go to the LFS and find some smaller pieces. I did a search for some ideas about a shelf theme, but couldn't find any. Does anybody have any pictures or links of a shelf theme? Thanks again!!!

Ivy

 

I like the look of one large boulder with many smaller rocks extending out from it. I did a similar set up in my reef tank - there's a certain feng shui aspect or something.

Is the rock sitting on something like egg crate or PVC pipe rings? If it's on the sand you'll have problems down the line when sand moves and things crash down. if it's on the glass you have to consider that all the weight is pressing directly on the glass in a very small area and it may be more likely to cause problems there.

anyways, I think there is plenty of room for any size and type of rock as long as it looks good. I have dived and snorkeled all over the world and seen solid coral reefs, rubble fields, boulder fields, sand bars, and everything in between. The best boulder field I saw was at the Baths on Virgin Gorda. There are huge boulders, as big as houses, covered in life. You could call your tank a mini Baths biotope

Good luck, and when working with those big dense rocks pay extra attention to stability and placement.

-Doug

 

Keep going at it. I just did my 240 gallon and was lucky to have help from a friend and a ton of rock to choose from. If you break up some of the rocks you could do two small islands or a cove. Let your imagination run. After all it is your tank so as long as you like it that is all that matters!

 

Look at my video link located in my signature for aquascaping ideas. I have 3 tangs, 4 clowns, 6 line and a scooter in a 72g and they all get along because of all the dips and dives.
I was going to do the shelf idea and if I had a camera I would take a picture of my sump. I now use it to hold my rocks up off the sand in my sump because the tank isn't big enough to do that kind of theme... you may run into the same problem.

Here's a link and the guy talks about it in his concept headline.
Tank of the Month - January 2008 - Reefkeeping.com

 

+1 make sure the rock is on the bottom, not on the sand.

Just FYI, you can take a hammer and chisel to rock to break it up. Just rinse it off in RO/DI water (if it's just base, in old W/C water if it's live) to get all the dust off so you don't cloud your tank.



If it were me, I'd take that really big rock and make it an island unto itself and pile everything else into a second area... at least I would try it to see what it looks like...

then maybe making some sort of bridge over to it... with some additional base rock or something

 

HOLY CRAP

 

i second that WOW!