Tank Journal Archive

[jart]

Tried my hand last night at some temporary aquascaping to start getting a feel for what rock I have at my disposal.
** apologies for the poor phone pics. promise to get my DLSR out and worry about lighting/reflections/shadows at some point further into the journey **

- getting the tank to look good from two different sides/aspects is going to be a challenge

- pretty happy with the two structures that I was able to create. Have tried for a semi-minimalist look, with a few overhangs and swim-through gaps. Want plenty of swimming room for fish and enough hiding places/territories to keep everyone happy and healthy. I am gazing at a few of the larger rocks and visualising fish sitting in some of the "large" holes that bore through them. I can see a blenny in my future somewhere, with his cute little head poking out of one of these holes, once the tank is a few months older.

- Plan initially was to put PVC lifts (pieces of round PVC pipe drilled with large holes) under my rockwork to allow more flow around and under the rocks and hopefully mimimise detritus build-up. This is still easily applied to the right hand structure, but the left structure not so much. Most of the contact points with the substrate for structure # 2 are relatively small (5 x 5cm or less) and there are quite a few contact points. Not sure if I will be able to fashion multiple PVC lifts, while at the same time keeping them unobtrusive. Might need to try the "eggcrate platform zip tied to PVC lifts" idea that I have seen pics of on various reefing forums. Any advice/tips would be appreciated.

- Also, two of my favourite rocks, one cool base rock with a nicely sized cave in the bottom of it (my yellow assessor's house) and one pretty large and flat shelf are still in my other tank. So I don't want to spend too much time on scaping the tank til those two rocks are available for use (both rocks have some algae that I think may be bryopsis, so may be doing the scrub and acid bath trick again before transferring them). For reference these two rocks together are approximately the same size as the right hand structure in the pics below.

Here is what I came up with so far.

"Close" shot of left hand structure from the "front"

"Close" shot of right hand structure from the "front"

Pic from the "front". Small rock in front is going to be the central structure under a zoa garden, hopefully.

View from the other side

 

[MagicJ]

Are you able to get a bit more height into one of the structures?

 

[jart]

Are you able to get a bit more height into one of the structures?

Thanks for your interest, MagicJ.

Waiting for my other rocks to be available. :) a few cooking at moment + the two I mentioned in my current tank.

Is your question based on visual aesthetics or something else?

The left structure could definitely add another layer up top. The top rock on the right structure is balanced on top, however, and while it is pretty stable I probably wouldnt want to stack another one on top of it.

 

[Buddy]

I really like it how it is. Nice and simple with plenty of swimming room. A couple of nice clams would look great on the open sand.
You could always add a bit of height on one of the structures with some taller corals like SPS or a nice size leather.

 

[Lesley]

I really like what you have done. Really pleased someone else is suffering like we did to get more than one side lookig nice - it's sooo hard. I also think aesthetics wise I would like to see a little more height ? But you know what , it's what you like in the end :)

 

[jart]

Thanks Buddy and Lesley for your input and advice. :D Will keep pondering everyone's ideas while I wait for my other rocks.

Buddy, good point about using corals on top to add height.

Lesley, from your pics you did a fantastic job with your scape. Must have been satisfying to get it looking so good if you had struggled with it initially.

Looked again at the left structure last night and don't think I will need pvc lifts for it after all. The size and number of contact points will hopefully already reduce the amount of detritus collecting around those sites.

Started cleaning and cooking a couple of other rocks last night that I wasn't planning to use just in case I need more. One is the large skeleton of an old coral that I had forgotten I had (think it might be a vase coral, montipora). Always too big for my other tanks and the base makes it a little awkward to use. However, with the depth of the new tank, maybe I can find a way to use it this time.

 

[MagicJ]

@jart - I copied some good articles on aquascaping in this thread http://thereefuge.com/threads/various-bits-and-pieces-on-aquascaping.10183/

In particular, have a read about the 5:3 rule and perspective.

 

[Agent M]

Hmm, yes i like it! Wouldn't stress too much at this stage, once you start adding corals the shape of the rocks the coral are on etc will influence placement and aquascaping.

 

[jart]

@jart - I copied some good articles on aquascaping in this thread http://thereefuge.com/threads/various-bits-and-pieces-on-aquascaping.10183/

In particular, have a read about the 5:3 rule and perspective.

Thanks, there was a lot of great info there, only some of which I had come across before. Will go back to that thread before changing/tweaking the scape further down the track.

 

[jart]

View attachment 49323

Hmm, yes i like it! Wouldn't stress too much at this stage, once you start adding corals the shape of the rocks the coral are on etc will influence placement and aquascaping.

Thanks for the encouragement, AgentM. I am going to try and take the slow and steady route this time, so will take your advice about stressing and just keep learning while I wait.

 

[jart]

Well I have read through the linked info and tried to digest it, then coupled it with some of the suggestions above, then let it stew in my head for a bit. Click here if you have any interest in attempt # 2 (not huge changes, but I think it is better). Thanks again for everyone who offered their feedback and/or advice.