Honest opinion

[outtafocus]

Here is a few pics of my 25gal cube tank. I am not sure if I like the aquascaping as it currently stands.
Please give your honest opinions and suggestions.
The zoo frags and my open brain are sitting up front because I havent decided on placement. The brain will be tough to place because of its large cone skeleton.
I feel much of my rock is too big and tough to place, I have broken a few pieces up.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1002Image0011.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1002Image0015.jpg

[outtafocus]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1003Image0001.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1003Image0003.jpg

[Delphinus]

I don't mind the look at all, it's not as bad as you think. :biggrin:

The only thing I can maybe think of is that the structure is close to the glass (on the left side in particular is where I'm sort of looking at it). I don't know if it's possible to narrow the diameter any, or somehow taper the structure more perhaps?

The side profiles are awesome though. :cool:

[outtafocus]

Thanks for the kind words Tony.

All the rock is actually an inch or more from the glass, the picture is rather deceiving.

Also, I seem to be having a problem with microbubbles. The drain from my overflow creates alot of bubbles in my sump, the water passes through an over-under-over bubble trap but the bubbles still make it into the display. Any suggestions?

[OCDP]

I really like the look... wish I could accomplish something like that... oh wait , I can... just need a cube first :smile:

Good job.. I think it looks awesome.

[Ruth]

I don't mind it either. I think my only suggestion might be to try and move your powerheads lower in the tank and hide them a bit behind some rock. You want flow lower in the tank as well and as both of your returns are positioned high having lower flow will help keep some of the particles that you want in suspension for you skimmer or to be caught by whatever you filtration you have.

[outtafocus]

When I get around to redoing my return plumbing I will be dropping one of the return outlets alot lower in the tank, as well as have then pointed in different directions. Once this is done I doubt I will need that MJ1200.

Now for the great debate, to stay Barebottom or add sand?????

[robzilla]

i'd stay bare bottom. looks good with a cube

[OCDP]

Stay BB ... less nitrate buildup.. less overall buildup of detritius in the sand, etc... plus.. if you turn that cube into an SPS dominated tank.. it's better suited for it.

I too think cubes look nice without sand.

Just my opinion.

[kari]

Looks good. Alternatively though I would open up the rock work a bit. Instead of breaking up the rock if it difficult to place maybe try a few drill holes in the rock and some small dia pipe or epoxy to hold it in place. Placing the rock away from the glass would help with flow and glass cleaning. I suck at placing rock. It never works according to the original plan.

[Manny]

i think it looks good. it is hard to get a real theme going with that small of a tank.
i personally like a look with lots of caves and a little more open space. the problem with a small tank is if you have stuff too open you wont have much rock to put your corals on. i think that the look you have is good but maybe try to get a few more caves near the bottom by putting bigger rocks on top of smaller ones. you will get more flow through your rock and it will help with the detritus build up too.
i ended up taking out around 30lbs of rock out of my 60 gal. tank. the tank still looks very full and i was able to get a 30 gal. tank going with out having to buy new rock. :mrgreen:

the tank does look very clean and that brain you have at the front looks incredible.

[BT05]

Structure could use a bit more height and looks too symmetrical for me. When you are standing back, most of the focus is on the bottom half of the tank and it looks quite similar from all angles. You can try the support structure thing, but judging from the size and shape of your rocks, that might not work out anyway...

In general, try not to make it look symmetrical so it looks more interesting. Try making a cave on one side of the tank, and leave the other side opened up. Should leave you with enough rock to stack adding height to everything. This might look a bit wierd at first, but if you place your corals accordingly, everything should fill out. When rearranging rockwork, leave it for an hour when you think you are done then come back to it for a fresh look. This will help you decide what you really want to do with it.

What you have now allows all your corals get a fairly even amount of light regardless of their placement, but it just looks kind of plain. If nothing really works other than the current setup, focus on hiding your equipment and I think it would look alot better.

[outtafocus]

Thanks for all of your opinions!
Im surprised I got a lot more thumbs up than I expected. One of my plans is to try and hide the powerheads behind some rock, I would also like a more cave like portion.
I will play a little more with the structure when I get the chance. It seems that every time I go to move a rock, my emerald crab just happens to be clinging to that exact piece, and I am always affraid of squashing him.

[psuedo]

the emerald crab will move when you move the rock. I agree with you for th efact that you should have a cave, and that you need the powerhead to be a little lower. One way to do all this is if there is one corner that is not visible to the viewers, then you could build it up a little with eggcrate and zapstraps. It will make the tank look more structured rather than it all laying in a pile. The fish and inverts will appreciate it, and it will be easier to place corals in the long run.

I like to hide my powerheads behind a rock so as the rock deflects the current.

Everything said here is my opinion and that is how I would do it, but The tank looks good now.

Love the barebottom tank. I am just redoing my tank right now with a barebottom. I know it is a pain in the ass to get the rockwork the way you like it and I have found that eggcrate helps a lot, as I can also drill pieces and zapstrap them to the eggcrate.

Good luck

[outtafocus]

Although many of you had very nice things to say about my aquascaping, Im affraid I just dont like it.
I have found several examples of people with the 30G oceanic cube tank, which has very similar dimensions as my tank. These examples are more the idea I want, more open, spacious and better flow. I know I will have to do some fancy rock work to achieve anything close to this with the rocks I have. I also need to loose the idea that I must use as many of my rocks as possible. Im sure I could use half of my LR and make a very attractive aquascape.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69266&hl=oceanic

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=68883&hl=oceanic

[psuedo]

looks like a few large pieces of rock to me to cause that shape in the tank. You either have to build it all up to get what you want and hope that it is stable enough, or you could break out the zapstaps and a drill and start attaching them all that way

[outtafocus]

I reaquascaped my tank this morning. I am much happier with this setup over my old pile of rocks.
This version has a very large cave in the centre when viewed from the side(the pic doesnt show it very well)
I also feel I have more space to mount frags, and I almost totally hid both powerheads, espacially my Seio620.

I have also included a pic of the little frag shelf I made out of white light difuser. I hated having zip ties on my old shelf, so I used a styrene welding solvent to bond the pieces.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1015Image0006.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1015Image0015.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1015Image0019.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/outtafocuscalgary/2005_1015Image0017.jpg

[Delphinus]

Looks not bad.

Interesting, I recall making two suggestions. 1) a little more taper and 2) more space from the glass on the sides. Now I know you didn't make those your goals, but I'm just gloating that it looks better and I wasn't too far off the mark. :razz:

Anyhow, nice rock work.

PS. What is styrene welding agent? Is that weld-on? Where can you get this stuff? I was about to pick up some new weldon 16 from IPP today but ran out of time so I didn't get over there yet. I've lent my tube out too many times and it's kinda empty now when I need it. :lol:

[outtafocus]

Its actually just a plastic model solvent.
I picked it up at PM hobbycraft, they have several brands. The one I bought is called MBS.
It is basically the same stuff as weld-on, the bottle lists acrylic and styrene as well as like 10 other plastics it will work on.

That shelf is solid.

As for the aquascape, I wanted a bit more height and less of a boulder effect. I am pretty happy with the way I have it. I do have some really small pieces of LR in my sump which I will use to finish it off.
I am now able to fully magfloat all viewing surfaces, with the old pile there was 2 places I could not.

I really think I want to add a sand bed, but I am still torn. I love all the benefits of BB but I still want sand.