Show me your rock work. Need opinions and inspiration for my own

[Milky Way]

I'm forcing myself to start enjoying my tank,

 

I DO NOT like the rock scape in my tank plus i always struggle with coral placing.

 

But I'm more needing help with aesthetics. I don't want my tank to look like I just threw everything in there. 

 

I want to take the rock out break that down and create an arch or round shape something like in attached photos.

 

Do you think it's to late to do that??? i don't want to kill any anaerobic bacterias while the rock is out of it's tank.

 

Any ideas or opinions???? Please share your pictures with rock work for inspiration 

 

the 1st pic of my current aqua scape. the rest of the pictures from google

[WV Reefer]

I think your scape looks nice.  It's very similar to the others you posted. Once your corals grow in it will take a nice fuller shape. 

[1891Bro]

Well, if you want it different make it look like the photos you like. You're the one that has to enjoy it all the time. I don't see anything wrong with what you have going though. Maybe pick up a few small pieces to add a few little islands? Whatever though, it's a nice scape as is. Plenty of room for stuff to grow. 

 

If i posted a pic of mine you wouldnt like it. There's no arch. 

[Milky Way]

1 minute ago, 1891Bro said:

Well, if you want it different make it look like the photos you like. You're the one that has to enjoy it all the time. I don't see anything wrong with what you have going though. Maybe pick up a few small pieces to add a few little islands? Whatever though, it's a nice scape as is. Plenty of room for stuff to grow. 

thank you for your advice

i just can't find my dream picture or rocks cape.

I'll keep searching)))

that's why i posted this thread so everyone could share with their rockworks for inspirational thoughts 

[GregEmmitte]

Make a shelf!

[GregEmmitte]

Crude little doodle on a piece of junk mail.

 

you can put euphyllia on the top, some sun coral under it and shrooms and zoas and a gorgonian on the island rock.  

 

[Milky Way]

actually i like it a lot!!!

 

Thank you very much!

 

I need to create smth. from existing rock. I'm not planing to bye any extra rocks

[GregEmmitte]

If you want, spend a few extra bucks on a small dry rock shelf. You've got enough rock in their already. 

[moosubi]

16 minutes ago, GregEmmitte said:

If you want, spend a few extra bucks on a small dry rock shelf. You've got enough rock in their already. 

This.  Just buy a small little shelf rock, cure it, then make your bridge!

[samnaz]

I don't have any experience with breaking up already established rock to create a new scape, but it definitely seems like the most difficult and tedious way to create a different scape within your tank.

 

I started with boring live rock and just threw it in my tank more or less, and it's just awful looking. I decided to get some dry rock, smash it up, carve it, saw it, and glue it all back together into much more interesting shapes. The great thing about doing it with dry rock is you can take all the time in the world.

 

I struggle with coral placement too. So while I've been working with the dry rock, I hammer, chisel, or drill holes into the structures that are about the size of a frag plug stem. Makes mounting corals on rocks a piece of cake. Also makes relocating them super easy. 

 

After you create the prefect dry rock scape, you can slowly add sections of it to the tank, bit by bit and the live rock that's already in the tank will seed it.

 

Dunno if this helps you at all or gives you any ideas, but I was in the exact same boat as you and this is what worked for me, so far so good. Also I have spent a seriously embarrassingggg number of hours searching for inspirational aquascapes and reef tanks. Find some that really inspire you and try to recreate it.  

 

Here you go, endless aquascaping inspiration:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1524985

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-on-creating-amazing-aquascapes.97209/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1968380

[TheBig053]

Here is my EVO with an arch.  I won't lie, I got the arch inspiration from @ninjamyst Evo. I ended up buying way too much rock from my LFS, so I had a few extra pieces to smash up and play with. 

[Milky Way]

8 hours ago, samnaz said:

I don't have any experience with breaking up already established rock to create a new scape, but it definitely seems like the most difficult and tedious way to create a different scape within your tank.

 

I started with boring live rock and just threw it in my tank more or less, and it's just awful looking. I decided to get some dry rock, smash it up, carve it, saw it, and glue it all back together into much more interesting shapes. The great thing about doing it with dry rock is you can take all the time in the world.

 

I struggle with coral placement too. So while I've been working with the dry rock, I hammer, chisel, or drill holes into the structures that are about the size of a frag plug stem. Makes mounting corals on rocks a piece of cake. Also makes relocating them super easy. 

 

After you create the prefect dry rock scape, you can slowly add sections of it to the tank, bit by bit and the live rock that's already in the tank will seed it.

 

Dunno if this helps you at all or gives you any ideas, but I was in the exact same boat as you and this is what worked for me, so far so good. Also I have spent a seriously embarrassingggg number of hours searching for inspirational aquascapes and reef tanks. Find some that really inspire you and try to recreate it.  

 

Here you go, endless aquascaping inspiration:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1524985

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-on-creating-amazing-aquascapes.97209/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1968380

i really appreciate your response.

 

i will probably do the same thing, i will just crash a piece of dry rock and just play with it.

 

May i see the pic of your current aquascape?

8 hours ago, TheBig053 said:

Here is my EVO with an arch.  I won't lie, I got the arch inspiration from @ninjamyst Evo. I ended up buying way too much rock from my LFS, so I had a few extra pieces to smash up and play with. 

loooove your rock work a loot!!!

 

Thank you for sharing!

 

what did you use to put the small pieces together ??????

[GregEmmitte]

Put a rock in two or three garbage bags and then whack it with a hammer. You'll get smaller pieces of existing good live rock.

[TheBig053]

38 minutes ago, Milky Way said:

i really appreciate your response.

 

i will probably do the same thing, i will just crash a piece of dry rock and just play with it.

 

May i see the pic of your current aquascape?

loooove your rock work a loot!!!

 

Thank you for sharing!

 

what did you use to put the small pieces together ??????

The arch and tower is actually four pieces of rock that I didnt need to break up. The only piece that is secured with epoxy is the top of the tower on the right hand side. The rock forming the arch actually locked into place nicely with the two base pieces. The smaller pieces that I broke up are in the sand bed in the front on the right and left hand side. 

31 minutes ago, GregEmmitte said:

Put a rock in two or three garbage bags and then whack it with a hammer. You'll get smaller pieces of existing good live rock.

Flat head screw driver and hammer works well also. 

[GregEmmitte]

29 minutes ago, TheBig053 said:

 

Flat head screw driver and hammer works well also. 

I've also used old socks with smaller pieces lol

[Milky Way]

On 6/1/2017 at 10:23 PM, GregEmmitte said:

I've also used old socks with smaller pieces lol

 

On 6/1/2017 at 9:54 PM, TheBig053 said:

The arch and tower is actually four pieces of rock that I didnt need to break up. The only piece that is secured with epoxy is the top of the tower on the right hand side. The rock forming the arch actually locked into place nicely with the two base pieces. The smaller pieces that I broke up are in the sand bed in the front on the right and left hand side. 

Flat head screw driver and hammer works well also. 

 

On 6/1/2017 at 0:38 PM, samnaz said:

I don't have any experience with breaking up already established rock to create a new scape, but it definitely seems like the most difficult and tedious way to create a different scape within your tank.

 

I started with boring live rock and just threw it in my tank more or less, and it's just awful looking. I decided to get some dry rock, smash it up, carve it, saw it, and glue it all back together into much more interesting shapes. The great thing about doing it with dry rock is you can take all the time in the world.

 

I struggle with coral placement too. So while I've been working with the dry rock, I hammer, chisel, or drill holes into the structures that are about the size of a frag plug stem. Makes mounting corals on rocks a piece of cake. Also makes relocating them super easy. 

 

After you create the prefect dry rock scape, you can slowly add sections of it to the tank, bit by bit and the live rock that's already in the tank will seed it.

 

Dunno if this helps you at all or gives you any ideas, but I was in the exact same boat as you and this is what worked for me, so far so good. Also I have spent a seriously embarrassingggg number of hours searching for inspirational aquascapes and reef tanks. Find some that really inspire you and try to recreate it.  

 

Here you go, endless aquascaping inspiration:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1524985

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-on-creating-amazing-aquascapes.97209/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1968380

 

On 5/30/2017 at 11:12 PM, moosubi said:

This.  Just buy a small little shelf rock, cure it, then make your bridge!

 

On 5/30/2017 at 10:23 PM, 1891Bro said:

Well, if you want it different make it look like the photos you like. You're the one that has to enjoy it all the time. I don't see anything wrong with what you have going though. Maybe pick up a few small pieces to add a few little islands? Whatever though, it's a nice scape as is. Plenty of room for stuff to grow. 

 

If i posted a pic of mine you wouldnt like it. There's no arch. 

 

On 5/30/2017 at 10:23 PM, WV Reefer said:

I think your scape looks nice.  It's very similar to the others you posted. Once your corals grow in it will take a nice fuller shape. 

i finally feel happy with my rocks!!!!I want to say thank you for all of your advices and comments.

 

It was a huge mess while i was moving everything around .

 

Its bad when you don't have a sump and you don't know where to put your corals

 

i have a shroom and couldn't detach it from my rock. so i had to put the rock on the mushroom. Do you think it will die and release organics in the water or it will escape and show up on the different side.

[GregEmmitte]

Looks great! As long as the shroom isn't crushed it should move in its own. 

[moosubi]

Shrooms re pretty hardy. I had one get ripped off it's plug by my pesky hermit. Bout two weeks later I see it peeking out from a deep crack in my rock work. It just attached itself there and is happy as can be! Good luck!

[Milky Way]

1 minute ago, GregEmmitte said:

Looks great! As long as the shroom isn't crushed it should move in its own. 

i think it's not crushed but deep in the sand

[GregEmmitte]

Is there a way you can dig some sand away so he can have some exposure to light? Even if it's a little it will encourage him to move in that direction.

[schgr.cube]

13 hours ago, Milky Way said:

i think it's not crushed but deep in the sand

 

I'm sure it will be fine. I have seen many hardy species of coral find their way out of bad spots. Like Greg said though, digging out a bit will definitely help!

 

Looks great BTW.

[Clown79]

Looks very nice.

 

Once corals grow to a certain size and filling up area, the scape often disappears, if you have a lot of corals.

 

 

[Milky Way]

On 6/5/2017 at 1:38 PM, schg said:

 

I'm sure it will be fine. I have seen many hardy species of coral find their way out of bad spots. Like Greg said though, digging out a bit will definitely help!

 

Looks great BTW.

thank you,

 

do you live in Columbia???

 

where do you bye corals from???

 

I live in Baltimore and pretty new in that area so don't really know places and people who sells corals

[DAP]

I am in Maryland too.

You have CTS Aquatics in Towson, The house of Tropicals in Glen Burnie.

Lately house of tropicals has been selling Jason Fox  Corals at really cheap prices

they also get reef gen Corals from time to time. 

Pacific east has cheap delivery to a UPS facility, iirc is near Catonsville

I belong to WAMAS, lots of people on there selling frags.  Most are in Virginia though. But. Sometimes it's worth the drive

there is a Baltimore club called, chesapeake marine aquaria society, but membership has died off compared to what it used to be.   

Wamas is a good bunch of people.  They have a frag fest once a year where they give away free frags to members. I walked out with around 10 frags. From sps to softies.  Last year the meeting was in Bethesda.  

 

 

[Milky Way]

2 minutes ago, DAP said:

I am in Maryland too.

You have CTS Aquatics in Towson, The house of Tropicals in Glen Burnie.

Lately house of tropicals has been selling Jason Fox  Corals at really cheap prices

they also get reef gen Corals from time to time. 

Pacific east has cheap delivery to a UPS facility, iirc is near Catonsville

I belong to WAMAS, lots of people on there selling frags.  Most are in Virginia though. But. Sometimes it's worth the drive

there is a Baltimore club called, chesapeake marine aquaria society, but membership has died off compared to what it used to be.   

Wamas is a good bunch of people.  They have a frag fest once a year where they give away free frags to members. I walked out with around 10 frags. From sps to softies.  Last year the meeting was in Bethesda.  

 

 

nice to meeting you,

 

thank you for all of your suggestions.

 

Just registered on WAMAS