Reef Discussion

[toby4]

hi, i have been reading this forum for a few weeks now and it makes me realise how little i know, i am in awe of the knowledge you guys have.

Specifically I have been spending a lot of time looking at the aquascaping posts and pictures and have come to realise that my tank looks like a carcrash compared to most of the others.

As such i have come to realise that i need some help . So i was wondering if anyone could recommend someone (professional or otherwise) who could help me aquascape my tank properly.

I have a 400L aquaone aquareef tank (i cant post a link here so just google it) with all the associated kit which i got my LFS to deliver and setup for me. I have had it running about 4 months now and my levels are all fine.

Inside the tank is only coral sand, dead rock, some barnacles and some dead coral, there is no height, interest or colour to what i have.

Given i have limited fish at the moment (2 lionfish, a blue tang, a coral beauty and 2 green brittle stars) i am hoping it shouldnt be too difficult to adjust the aquascaping without having to start from scratch. I am thinking we leave the sand and replace most of the rest of the stuff.

Ideally i am looking for someone to source some rocks etc and then come to my place (sydney, 7kms from the cbd) to install (i will be there to help). I am obviously willing to pay market rates for the work and all materials.

I am not looking for live corals etc at this stage just a tank i am not embarrassed to look at! Over time i will look at adding to the tank as my knowledge levels go up but i feel like i really need a hand at the moment.

I would really appreciate any ideas or suggestions anyone has.

thanks for reading this.

cheers

 

[MichelleShocked]

Hi @toby4 & :welcome
Glad to have you aboard!
Alrighty! Where's our NSW members? :)
Have you tried looking on YouTube @ various set-ups so you get an idea of what you want & what direction you want to take your tank?
When you think of your tank, what do you want to see? The answers to those questions will go a long way to determining what to add or subtract for your aquascaping.
Oh and start a Tank Journal so we can all admire your progess :)

 

[MichelleShocked]

I would also suggest some easy soft corals that are forgiving of new reefkeepers - morphs, Xenia, Clove coral, green star polyps - all pretty & colorful but easy to keep & grow :)

 

[toby4]

Hi, thanks very much for your reply. I really appreciate all the help I can get.
Ideally when I look at the tank I want to see lots of life and colour, thats really my main criteria, my dream is for it to look serene, beautiful and interesting.

My wife is an artist and I had to convince her to allow me to get a tank as opposed to hanging a painting on the wall, but I'm sad to say at the moment with what ive achieved I've failed miserably.

Ideally I would like to keep my two lionfish but I realise they put limitations on a tank and am willing to give them up if need be.

I am sure that over the coming years I will build a great tank, but right now I need all the help I can get. To be honest it depresses me to look at my tank at the moment, and it shouldn't do given all the time, effort and money that's gone in to it, that why I am looking for your help.

 

[chimaera]

Do you have any pics of the tank? I am sure people on here can offer some advice that might save you paying for someone to come do it for you.

 

[MichelleShocked]

I was going to say that any tank with Lionfish is not going to be full of life AND serene lol but you seem to have concluded that already lol As you know they are predators - members of the Cod family - and will consume anything they can fit in their mouth so they will severely limit the lifeforms you can keep. Its not impossible - just needs thought.
However if you chose to remove the Lions, you open your options immensely. The choice is entirely yours & neither is wrong :)
Color & movement can be achieved through your corals - to me, watching a fully extended Goniopora swaying in the current, is extremely relaxing & reminds me of a hilltop of daisies dancing in a breeze.
Zooanthids & morphs are extremely colorful & you can create "gardens" of them.
There is one issue with having a wide variety of corals in one tank - you must meet all their needs simultaneously. This is where it gets complicated & braver souls than i have chosen to stick to a particular type rather than drive themselves potty trying to manage it. Its doable - but you need alot of knowledge to draw on.
So: perhaps you can have a google and see what corals really take your fancy? Some fall for SPS, some adore LPS and others, like me, only have eyes for softies.
Have a look & see what takes your fancy :)

 

[Agent M]

It sounds like you are taking things at a perfect pace as you learn more Toby. You shouldn't under rate yourself. I was going to ask if you are an artistic person or find it stressful but you've beat me to it! Would your wife help you rescape the rocks? She can offer you her eye while you decide on the method you are going to use to construct the beginnings of your reef. Not to discourage you from hiring someone, but I just think you can do this and do this well :)

If you were going for a fish only tank - I'd suggest concentrating on making the rocks themselves look good. But as you are interested in adding corals over time the rocks looking good is completely irrelevant - the rocks need to form a practical framework with which to add corals to. Thats what is going to give you maximum visual impact.

We can certainly give you tips on how to go about it on here if you are happy for us to. I don't know anyone personally that you could hire - what myself and the others can offer is some practical advice on how to do it and help you avoid any mistakes we made when starting out. I think you will be happy with the results.

I don't think you should consider getting rid of your lions unless you aren't enjoying keeping them. I'm loving the choices you've made so far, your tank is definitely going to be a point of interest in the house. Don't see them as 'limiting' - you are building something here and they are the most current additions. The 'what next' is your scaping :) The important thing is just to set up your tank in such a way that you have flexibility later on if your interests change.

As Michelle said above - a good first step is to decide what sort of corals you like. This gives us an idea of the sort of spaces you are going to want to create. The 3 general groups are - SPS corals (hard to keep), LPS corals (very popular), Soft Corals (easy to keep, some ppl love them, others don't) - we'll include morphs and zoanthids in this group so as not to complicate things for now.

 

[toby4]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I will post up a picture of the tank this weekend, I'm out of town at the moment. I'll also post some links to pics of tanks on here which I love so you can yet an idea of what I'm hoping to achieve.

I would love to keep the four fish I have right now (including the two small lions) Ideally one or two more would be good but it's not a major issue as I would rather have room in my tank now which my current fish can grow into. I am have decided to get rid of my brittle stars, I am going to return them to my lfs for some store credit. So it sounds like adding life through corals is the way to go.

I work quite long hours, and we've just got a dog which is taking up a lot of my free time so ideally I'm looking for corals which are beautiful and as low maintenance as possible, I'll have a look through pics and decide on which ones we like but the LPS and Softs sounds good. In general which would you say are the lowest maintenance?

Cheers.

 

[Agent M]

....the LPS and Softs sounds good. In general which would you say are the lowest maintenance?

Both :) I was really hoping you were going to say that as now I get to recommend my fav's, lol.... low maintenance here we come!

 

[toby4]

The lower maintenance the better. My dog is super high maintenance and I need to even out!

 

[toby4]

Ok, I've spent some time looking at corals and I'm pleased to say I pretty much like them all!

So am open to suggestions for the most colourful lowest maintenance ones please.

In regards to my rock, I have been recommended to head down to aquaristic in beaconsfield, does that see like a good starting place?
When I head down there what do you recommend I look at / get?

Also given my tank has already cycled do you think If I leave my sand and water I will be ok switching my rocks for new ones and reintroducing my fish or do you think I'll have to go through a full cycling process again?

Cheers

 

[Agent M]

My first questions are - can we see what rocks you already have? I think we should use them unless there is an obvious reason not to. And do you have a spare heater and a small powerhead? If your tank is already cycled, a lot of ppl cycle the new live rock in a plastic tub first, then add it to the tank.

Also, posting those pics of tanks you like would be helpful in case I'm steering you in a direction that I like better than you do :p

I'm about to add another post under this but wanted this separate so you can see clearly what I'm asking you amongst the rest of my waffling.

 

[Agent M]

AQUASCAPING TIPS. Things to keep in mind as you are doing this to keep it low maintenance.

I recommend always leaving a generous gap around the perimeter of the tank that allows you to get your arm down in between the glass and contents in the tank for cleaning, this INCLUDES the back glass.

When you add the rock to your tank, wiggle it down into the sand so that it is sitting directly on the glass on the bottom. This helps to prevent rock structures toppling over.

Keep the rock structures as open as possible - no live rock 'walls' or thick stacks. My reasons: maximum swimming room for fish plus areas where they can stay out of each others line of sight. You want good current to be flowing around every single thing that is in that tank. 'Dead spots' are areas where the crud builds up and affects your water quality. We want to be able to clearly see any areas that do this instead of having hidden rubbish traps in between the rocks that create problems for you a year or so later. You also don't want to create an environment where you can't get an animal out of the tank without tearing the tank apart to get it (this is one of the most common mistakes made).

You want your rock structures to have as many flat or gently inclined tiers as possible because this is prime coral real estate where the coral will be able to grow in an upright position and will receive the full benefit of the light.

This is an example of pretty much all of these things not being applied and the best result you could hope for. See how the rock is the main feature and the corals are trying to grow on weird angles in the space thats left? If they dismantled that tank, the water would soon be a slurry of sediment from what is between the rocks.

 

[Agent M]

I'll wait for your reply then move on to the more exciting design end :)

 

[JoeT]

I checked this site out with interest about Aquascaping, what at first looked like a wall of text it actually became very informative.

The first link is about understand the 2/3rds rule
http://fish-etc.com/aquascaping-main/how-to-hardscape-your-aquarium

The second link is understanding reefs and aquascaping
http://fish-etc.com/aquascaping-main/on-the-rocks-how-to-build-a-saltwater-reefscape

Hope you enjoy it like i did :)

 

[toby4]

Hi, i'll post close-up pics of my rocks tomorrow when i post pics of the tank.

I got back from a few days away and found i've got a bit of a brown algae bloom so want to clean the tank first before i take my pics as i looks a bit manky! i dont know why its happened but the tank gets a lot of direct sunlight plus i introduced my two lionfish last week so that probably caused it.

i can easily get a tub, heater and a powerhead so once i get the rock that sounds like the way to go.

thanks again for everyones help and suggestions, i am going to read the two aquascaping links now.

cheers!!!

 

[toby4]

 

[toby4]

 

[toby4]

hi, so here are pictures of my tank and you can understand why i need help!! there is no height or interest to the eye, its all very boring.

so i have 4 red rocks in the middle, small bits of coral in the middle front, large fake coral on either side and barnacles on the right front.

i defo think i need to lose the fake stuff, not sure about the red rock, what do you think?

ps the brown algae has only come up in the last few days, my phosporous is high so i've put some antiphos in to lower it.

 

[firebird]

definitely get rid of the fake corals. I actually find the barnacles useful for some of my fish that like to hide in holes. You do need more live rock to be able to create more height. You need to draw out for yourself what sort of layouts you like-maybe 2 separate bommies; maybe a central structure with caves and arches ,maybe creation of a gully
See my pm today for a LR ad I saw