IM10 - Tree Rockscape - Thoughts and opinions?

[Nart]

Hellooo All,

 

I am in the process of starting my second reef tank and the goal for the IM10 is to keep this tank simple, easy, and low maintenance.

Usually I am in a rush to stack rocks up in the tank and get it going, then a few months in I'll be unhappy with my rockscaping. So, this time I took it nice and slow. Only worked on the scaping when I felt inspired to. I have always liked the minimalistic approach in reef tanks and for some reason the tree design came to mind when I saw the IM10.

 

So... This is what I came up with.

 

I have turned this pile of Pukani rocks from BRS:

 

To this.

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on the scaping? I tried following the rule of thirds in photography.

As for the substrate, I'll be going with sand. I might even try to add a divider in the middle so I can get an elevation in sand towards the back of the tank to create some depth.

 

Thanks all.

[Nart]

'ellooooo bump.

[MockandRoll]

Looks great. Good job

 

[Tautoo]

I think it looks great!  Will look nice with a small GSP / Shroom island in the front as well

[VaporCountry]

Love this scape, awesome job.

What kind of corals do you plan on keeping? 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Looks pretty good.  Going to have to find some corals that love shade though to fill the area under the rock.  It might actually look good with nothing on the substrate and the rock covered in corals on second though.

[Nart]

So that's my next question to lead up to... my original plan was to make this an all anemone tank. I have RBTA, RFA, and Maxi mini nems in my IM25. I was going to move those all here... But seriously, deciding on what corals to put in this tank is a tough choice for me right now.

 

The goal for this tank is to keep it low-maintenance and easy as possible with just the weekly water changes up-keep, thus I was thinking of keeping just all anemones in the tank.

I've had really good success growing chaeto in the back of my IM25, so i'll apply the same chaeto concept over to the IM10 as well to help keep nutrients in check. But I don't want to have to test for any parameters like I do in my IM25.

 

I also already have a Picasso clown and yellow-line goby in QT that'll be going in this tank.

 

Maybe I can move my fathead dendro over to the IM10? I don't know.. lol.

 

I am also in the process of re-scaping my IM25 - already have the scape done after many painful hours... just curing it in a tub now.

Here's my finished rock-scaping for the IM25

 

But anywho, back on track... if I move the dendro over, I don't want to keep any anemones near it... that's like my pride n joy lol.

I'm open to coral suggestions for the IM10.

@TILTON Yeah - I was thinking of leaving the substrate as is with nothing on it. I really like the clean and open look.

 

thanks all.

 

[MockandRoll]

An anemone tank with that scape surprised me. IMO, The scape is fit more for a SPS tank. 

[Nart]

16 hours ago, MockandRoll said:

An anemone tank with that scape surprised me. IMO, The scape is fit more for a SPS tank. 

Hmmm... very good point. I am going to have to re-think this one.

Maybe I'll ask my coral vendors and get their opinion as well.

[Friendly]

the tree rocks scape is excellent!

 

do some research so you can put low light corals on the trunk and underside of the branches.   

[Weetabix7]

LOVE the 'scape. 

Something like this looks really good with long-tentacle corals like Torches on the ends of the "branches". 

[Nart]

What a great idea... and torches are relatively less demanding too. Thanks @Weetabix7

 

I'll have to start a journal thread soon so ya'll can follow along

[Dreichler]

Great scape for the 10 and the 25!  Like others have said, that 10g scape looks like it's designed for SPS, which would look fantastic in that.  Another idea would be to do on the 10g is all zoas on the rockwork to make a zoa garden and then have a bare bottom of Cyphastrea or Leptos, both of which don't require much light. 

[Nart]

@Dreichler Appreciate the feedback. Great idea with the bare bottom cyphastrea or leptos! I thought I was set on having sand in there... but now you're making me re-think it lol.

 

Man. I've been really trying to stay away from SPS in the IM10 tank because I want it to be a very low-key chill tank to enjoy without having to worry too much like I do with my IM25.

However, with that said, I'm not an expert with SPS, but I believe there are really easy branching SPS's to keep right? Any suggestions with easy SPS that you would recommend?

 

I am trying to follow the rule of complementary colors as well.. so I think having 3-5 colors in it would be good.

[Dreichler]

5 hours ago, Nart said:

@Dreichler Appreciate the feedback. Great idea with the bare bottom cyphastrea or leptos! I thought I was set on having sand in there... but now you're making me re-think it lol.

 

Man. I've been really trying to stay away from SPS in the IM10 tank because I want it to be a very low-key chill tank to enjoy without having to worry too much like I do with my IM25.

However, with that said, I'm not an expert with SPS, but I believe there are really easy branching SPS's to keep right? Any suggestions with easy SPS that you would recommend?

 

I am trying to follow the rule of complementary colors as well.. so I think having 3-5 colors in it would be good.

An SPS tank can be easily maintained without much work.  I have a mixed reef stocked full of LPS, softies, and SPS... And my weekly schedule is... doing nothing!  I'm actually in college and my tank is at home.  The only maintainance that gets done on the tank is feeding and a weekly water change.  No dosing, no extra equipment, just carbon and water changes.  It also helps that my tank has been established for about 4-5 years now.  

 

As as far as what SPS to keep that would keep down maintainance would be some birds nest, stylophora, monti's, digitata, and pavonas.  The easiest SPS are gonna be the different species and variations of montipora such as montipora digitata, montipora capricornis, and montipora hispidia.  Capricornis and Hispidia don't branch so much, but I would consider them somewhat of a branching/plating coral.

 

another thing to think about is to tie in your IM10 to the IM25 filtration.  This would only be possible if you have both tanks next to each other though.  You'll get a larger water volume which will help stabilize parameters and only have to do one water change instead of two.  Just food for thought.