280g Inwall

[Delphinus]

That particular pile has a 1/2" column of PVC (you can see it coming out the top rock as I hadn't cut it yet when I took that pic). Otherwise the rocks are just laying on top of each other. I took some thorite yesterday and bonded a couple spots so that when I take the rock layers apart (I'll never be able to lift that pile on its own) to put into the tank, I hopefully have some reasonable hope of refinding how they fit together when in the tank (I realize I'm only kidding myself but I'm clinging to optimism here). I also came to the realization I'm probably going to have to crawl INTO the tank to get rock pile placed properly, so that should be an interesting exercise later today. (Wish me luck!!)

I used an acrylic rock and some thorite to bond the three rocks at that slanted angle for the smaller pile in beside to create that ravine (the real goal of the whole thing pictured there was to have a ravine. That whole thing was "just a pile of rock" until I put a second pile of rock next to it and all of a sudden it turned into this angels signing "Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" moment and light was shining on the ravine. Weird stuff.)

This is just one rock pile and will hopefully be sitting on the right side somewhere. For the rest of the reefscape it will likely be a mixture of zap straps, acrylic rods, and the occasional splop (or maybe even a splurch or splotch) of thorite and/or epoxy. I haven't quite got the vision yet for the rest except for things like "want caves, ravines and shelves." I'm not very good at artistically placing rocks - when I moved the smaller rock pile last night the big pile went right away back to "just a pile of rock" and the angel choir left. I said "come back, I have beer!!!! I totally don't mind sharing it with angels!!" but it didn't change their mind.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

That whole thing was "just a pile of rock" until I put a second pile of rock next to it and all of a sudden it turned into this angels signing "Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" moment and light was shining on the ravine. Weird stuff.)
I'm not very good at artistically placing rocks - when I moved the smaller rock pile last night the big pile went right away back to "just a pile of rock" and the angel choir left. I said "come back, I have beer!!!! I totally don't mind sharing it with angels!!" but it didn't change their mind.

That's because you offered them beer Tony. It requires something a little more "heavenly", like vintage red wine made from grapes crushed beneath the feet of thirty virgins.

[Delphinus]

Rock 1 - Tony 0

... sigh. Tomorrow's a new day..

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Rock 1 - Tony 0

... sigh. Tomorrow's a new day..

uh oh things not working out liked planed?

[lastlight]

What became of the ravine? The skies opening up to light angels blast the pile with heavenly light etc? Come on man what happened?

[Lance]

???????

[Dez]

Hey Tony,

I haven't been on canreef all that much. Just catching up on your build thread. I'm really excited for you that you are soooo close to livestock in your tank. Keep at her .

[Delphinus]

I thought I had given myself enough markers to be able to rebuild the layers inside the tank. But between the dim lighting and my -6 or so eye prescription, I just couldn't see well enough to pull it off (maybe if I actually DID crawl into the tank, but I didn't - I think I'd need a SNUBAby tube or something so that I could get my head the requisite 6" away so I can see - man Lasik is looking better and better - I just need to convince someone to pay for it!!) Anyhow so I thought OK, take the rock out, rebuild it outside the tank with the glasses back on and this time drill more holes and use as many acrylic rods for alignment as I need to be able to rebuild it by touch and feel.. But you know how it goes - no two rocks will ever fit together exactly the same more than once - and the whole thing just lost its mojo - and became one of those moments where no matter what you do - you know the ones - everything you do just makes it worse? "No that's worse - undo it - no now it's worse some more - undo the undo - wait what, that's worse than the worse before which was worse than the worse before that!" .. and I find when I get into that state it's best just to wallllk awayyyyyy slowwwwwly..

Another thing, the shelf pieces are overwhelmingly large inside the tank. I have to go look at Brett's old 225 pictures to get some inspiration because I'm not sure I liked the look of the huge pieces in the tank the way they were going to go now anyhow.

So I might focus on some other facets on the rockwork next. I have to go look up again the tanks that have served as inspiration to see what other ideas I can try.

[Delphinus]

Went and found Brett's FTS of the 225. Here they are: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...&postcount=385

So I recognize the pieces on the left island but I'm not sure I ended up with the shelf pieces from the right side island as I don't recognize them in the pile of stuff. I think two people ended up buying rock from Brett after the shutdown so I think they probably ended up with the other person. Which is too bad since that was my favourite part of his old 'scape. Oh well, life goes on. One thing that I am reminded of though after seeing the pictures is that low rockwork is better. I "thought" that I wanted one island to be nice and high just to give the tank some different visual flow, but seeing the low rockwork convinces me now that I'm probably wrong on that idea and should stick to lower lying rockwork anyhow.

So I hate to say it but I'm not sure that the enormous shelf pieces are doing anything for me. I'm REALLY not good at visualizing something with an aesthetic quality to it, and I'm even worse at connecting reality to a vision (there's a reason I'm not an interior designer - man I envy those with the talent to "make stuff look good.") Some smaller shelf pieces would do better but it would be a HUGE shame to bust the big ones up as they would go really nicely into a big tank somewhere. Maybe I'll sell them if I don't end up using them, we'll see. Between a 50g rubbermaid with rock, a 20g tank holding some rock, the rock from Brett and some rock from Kien it's not like I'm sitting on a huge deficit of rock (in fact I'm thinking I might have gone a little overboard with the rock collecting the last year or so), so the options should be out there in the meantime.

All I know is I want swim-through caves and ravines and a slight island look. I also like the bonzai look to a tank but it's clear to me now that I have NO hope of blending elements from say someone like Kien's 'scaping to someone like Brett's 'scaping (or "Sweet Ride's" tank here: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...12&postcount=3 ) I mean .. it could probably be done and be an epic win, but, it's WELL outside the realm of what my own talent (or lack thereof) is capable of. Boo. I'll have to leave the visionary work to those whom are better visionaries.

@$%^&%*&!!! Man alive I hate the aquascaping phase of a tank! The temptation to do what I've always done and "just throw the rock in there and let it be what it may, landslides warts and everything" right now is huge and it's taking a lot to fight the urge at the moment.

[Lance]

Tony have you thought of breaking the larger shelf pieces? I ended up doing that. I had made two columns but it just didn't look right because the pieces were too big. After breaking them into smaller chunks it was much easier to make a nicer-looking island.