I absolutely suck at aquascaping

[cvrle1]

Originally Posted by Ryancw

http://https://www.jlaquatics.com/aq...1500-gram.html


i just used this stuff and loved it. very similar to fijicrete

Thats precisely what I planned on using

Originally Posted by Ryan

If I were you I would make sure there is minimum 6inches of space between your rock and the acrylic. You have to factor into account any coral then room nonstick your hand in there to clean the glass. All sides.

Not sure if this is really feasible in most tanks, as it means that out of 18" I have in width, I can only use 6". It also means I would lose a whole foot length wise as well. I read 2"-3" is fine, but truth be told this is the 1st time I heard of 6" (not saying you are wrong, just a 1st for me)

[cvrle1]

After spending some time and looking at that cove, I decided that I dont like it at all, and that its not doing anything for me. Back to square 1, At least I know what I dont like, so its a start.

[Ryancw]

Originally Posted by cvrle1

After spending some time and looking at that cove, I decided that I dont like it at all, and that its not doing anything for me. Back to square 1, At least I know what I dont like, so its a start.

That will happen a few more times too. keep at it.

Another thing to try... google images your tank dimensions. ex. 60x20x20 aquascape or 5' aquascape. or just google the rock type your using for ideas.

[DKoKoMan]

Less trying to make it perfect and more pleasing what intrigues your taste. Then make sure you have adequate space to allow for flow to go through and done.

[Dash]

I’m one of those who would never glue scape together. Not being able to move things around would drive me crazy, haha.
There’s a video on BRS about rock scaping that you might find interesting.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by cvrle1

Thats precisely what I planned on using



Not sure if this is really feasible in most tanks, as it means that out of 18" I have in width, I can only use 6". It also means I would lose a whole foot length wise as well. I read 2"-3" is fine, but truth be told this is the 1st time I heard of 6" (not saying you are wrong, just a 1st for me)

Stop and think about it. Your coral on the rock can easily stick 2-3 inches past the rock, more if you get into SPS or LPS down the road. Then add the thickness of your hand while scraping. You can build it however you want, it's your tank, but I'm telling your from experience to give yourself plenty of room for general maintenance on the tank.

[Frogger]

As I stated at the beginning no one plans on getting aiptaisa, bubble algae, vermetid snails, really bad cyano, hair algae, a fish that eats your corals, a coral you don't want anymore or a whole host of other problems. Once you glue your rocks together you are stuck with that problem. There are a ton of threads on CanReef or Reef2Reef about reefers having to completely dismantle their tanks because of these problems. Being able to pick a rock up and remove it from your tank the instant you see some of these problems is a life saver. Also not glueing your rocks together allows you to make adjustments in the future because corals are growing together and stinging other less aggressive corals.

If you really feel you have to glue them together then use a little reef safe epoxy that can be easily pulled apart in the future when needed.

Nice structures are cool at first, once your corals get growing the corals quickly cover your structures and those holes that you created magically disappear. Ideally you need your rocks to allow you to present your corals in the best possible way. Think of the rocks as a kind of shelving units to display your art. This is the mistake I have made multiple times in the past.

[cvrle1]

After taking some time and looking at bunch of pics, came up with few new things. Got annoyed last night, as I was wasting time just standing around and looking at rocks, so took masonry bit, drill, fiberglass rods and went at it. Came up with 2 structures

Right side:





https://youtu.be/p4glY8MmGkw

Left side:





https://youtu.be/LPtnkZrwaOY



Right side max height is 12", so 1/2 the tank height. Left side is around 14-15" at the highest point. I started adding random small pieces (being held by rubber bands) as they are too small to drill, and want to see what it would look like. Hope that by adding these to the left side, it looks more like rocks, and not just boulders stacked on top of one another. Feedback, critique, and so on always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks

[Millepora_Maniac]

I struggle with aquascaping sometimes too, the rock selection these days i find is pretty weak. It's all mined stuff and no nice shapes like you could get 20 years ago. Other times its a total mixed bag from all different parts of the world, making it just not look right together.

I did a rock pile a few times, they eventually start to shift around. they slump after you stack em and become mounds. They also highlight the mismatched rock.

I would do the following to help get some ideas flowing:

1)Group similar styles or shapes together, like Tonga branches, or Filji boulder or whatever you've got there, maybe put all the mined and obviously man made rock into its own pile.

2)try to visualize how you want those individual piles to look. What pieces look best together. Maybe you see some of them making some shelves, and another forming an arch, maybe some of it is totally base rock and not to be used in the main structure.

3)Find your heavy slabs and use them for bases. If its ugly, bury it!
-you can drill small holes through really dense rock with a concrete drill bit pretty easily.
-Slide an acrylic rod through the hole to give you a place to skewer another rock. You can form effective arches and pillars this way without glue!
-If you find a form you really love and don't want it to move around, then get some of that reef concrete stuff, there's all kinds, reefcrest is what i use right now. It loks really fake, but it has great holding power, and its so fool proof to use, if you mess it up, just put it in hot water and it goes back to being flexible again.

4)You don't HAVE to use all your rock. If you make a nice form and there's lots of exposure around it and its really porous rock then you don't necessarily NEED all of it, don't crowd your tank because you feel like you have to use it all.

5)If you feel like you are wasting some of your rock put it in a bucket, and store it, or break it down and put it in your sump for added filtration if you really want to. But hold onto it because you'll likely upgrade or expand one day. This doesn't apply as much to man made rock, but definitely applies for any real imported rock. The shapes you get nowadays are seldom any good compared to the old stuff, so if you've got old school rock its good to keep it.

Too bad about this COVID thing, Aquascaping can be really fun, Like Lego for grown ups. lol

Try having a couple puffs of some sativa, might get those creative juices flowing too

Cheers!-Ken

[cvrle1]

Thanks for the feedback and info.

All of the rock is same, Marco Rock. I actually wasnt sure what it exactly was until few days ago. I went into J&L, as I knew they had Marco rock, so i wanted to compare it to what I had. Turns out what I had is Marco as well. I heard a lor of good things about it, but truth be told I am disappointed in it. it is so bland and dense, nothing like real reef rock.

I do have quite a few big boulders, and I did use them as base for both structures. I also did drill bunch of holes and used fiberglass rods in there (orange driver markers) to connect quite few pieces on the right hand structure. I only used about 50% of all the rocks that I have, so I have more than enough. I will smash 1-2 leftover boulders into smaller pieces to see what I get randomly.

Plan is to connect some of the pieces together with cement, but 1st I need to figure out what scape I actually like and want to keep.