Rock Aquascaping Tips

[CAmor07]

Hello,

Everyone i started my bc 14 about 2 weeks ago and am having so much trouble with aquascaping, ive moved my rocks over 10 times, just cant seem to find something that will most benifit my coral

Does anyone have aany tips or pics they can post

Thanks

[CAmor07]

Anyone

[Cereal Killer]

I had the same problems I was never happy with my aquascape check out my thread you can see all my tries. after emptying the tank a couple times and rearranging everything Im finally happy. But what I did was google biocube aquascape and I saw some great looking tanks. There will be something there to inspire you.

[Stonesour36]

What I did was saw cut some of the rock .That way I could stack the rocks. Look on bulkreefsupply.com they have videos on how to do this. Hope this helps.

[CAmor07]

How can i see your thread?????

Thanks

[Stonesour36]

How can i see your thread?????

Thanks

If you're asking me, I don't have one.

[Cereal Killer]

Yea sorry about that http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=298716

[Stonesour36]

Sorry, hijack!

[mxpro32]

Make sure u start with good rocks. Rocks with a nice shape look good in almost any configuration, and it's almost impossible to make bad rocks look good.

[Cereal Killer]

Make sure u start with good rocks. Rocks with a nice shape look good in almost any configuration, and it's almost impossible to make bad rocks look good.

 

+1 I used BRS reef saver rock. I can't say enough good things about it. So many nooks my tailspot blenny loves it.

[JamesHL88]

of course flow and continuous swimming room should be considered when designing a rock scape. But with that in mind here are my tips.

 

1. IMO less is more. I love the look of minimalist scapes. Try to avoid piling your rock in the back of the tank so it lools like you didnt even try.

 

2. Try to get all three deminsions involved. Front to back, left to right and most importantly up and down. And you dont have to stack rocks to achieve hight. Arches give nice hight to your scape while promoting beter flow and continuous swimming room. Again avoid a row of rocks across the back glass.

 

3. Dont try and make it perfectly symetric. Set things just a tad off center of the tank. Looks better IMO

 

4. If you wanna make arches or platforms then look into zipties and reef puddy. They can make the rocks sit in some realy cool positions that arent possible just stacking rocks.

 

5. (Biggest secret) I know you paid dearly for that precious live rock, but dont be affraid to bust it open with a screw driver and hammer. You will get some really gnarly shapes this way that add character to your reef. Also by doing this you will have smaller more manageable rocks that give you more options to play with.

 

Aquascaping is my favorite part of the hobby i wish i could just set tanks up and let someone else maintain them. Check out my tanks and post pics when you get your scape done!

[Cereal Killer]

5. (Biggest secret) I know you paid dearly for that precious live rock, but dont be affraid to bust it open with a screw driver and hammer. You will get some really gnarly shapes this way that add character to your reef. Also by doing this you will have smaller more manageable rocks that give you more options to play with.

 

Another +1 I took a hammer and chisel to mine.

[Stonesour36]

Hand saw for me. Plus used crazy glue

[CAmor07]

What sort of formation did you put your rocks in

[Tbone675]

Get different rock. Can't make bad shapes look good.

[metrokat]

post pictures, maybe someone can give ideas for you to try

[metrokat]

And just to show you it can take months to be happy:

The all important Aquascape begins with an obsession and is always a work in progress. For my biocube, I was re-scaping well into the 3rd month of setup.

 

[miniwhinny]

If you can post pics do so - that way we may be able to look and give advice. Don't worry, we've all struggled with rock placement - it gets worse when you start buying corals and find you need to "adjust" stuff to fit them in lol.

 

Another idea is to spend a few hours looking at peoples build threads. Most folks have links in their siggy's and you can see what you like that way. Search for your particular tank too because what may look amazing in say my 20L may not even fit in a 20 cube.

 

Good luck and don't forget WE LOVE PICS

[CAmor07]

Pics

 

Pics

 

The Second one is current,

 

 

I mean the last one

[miniwhinny]

Out of the 4 pics I like the second one (top right)

 

It looks a bit "even" between sides but I can picture it covered in corals. There's some nice places and good levels so you can put more light demanding ones nearer the top. I like how the lower levers are flatter...JMHO

 

The last one is nice too if you can flip the lower bottom left side rock on it's side so it's flatter like in the second scape.

[CAmor07]

That one was my least favorite hahaha

[Cereal Killer]

I like the last one as well but I would turn that one to make it flat. Looks like the Berlin wall. Remember to leave space on the sides for a mag cleaner to get around. Good Luck.

[CAmor07]

NEw sEtup,

Thinking about putting some wavy coral at the top inbetween for clowns

[JamesHL88]

I like it... you could even use the dark spot in the middle for some NPS corals like sun polyps.

[CAmor07]

Do they require like low lighting