Inexperienced and unsatisfied aquascaper - please share experience

[ffoott]

Hello fellow reefer, 

 

I have recently "upgraded" to a 12g (from a 50g), and may I say that I never thought that such a small tank would make me doubt my aquascape so much! 

 

I have tried different layouts and settings that initially seem to work, but will eventually fail to feel "right". 

 

I'll post photos of them in chronological order, and would love to have some feedback from you guys on what seems to work or not.

 

Thank you! 

[Subsea]

Everyone of those pictures looked great.  Open spaces allows good circulation and room for dither fish and other inverts to show themselves.

 

What are you asking?  

 

Prior to aquascaping, it would help if you knew what livestock you were going to get.  

 

My favorite two are last and fourth from last.  I like the tunnel and arch.  I think the reason that I like the last was the way that the differrent color,led were reflected.

 

where are the Azores?

 

 

 

[Kellie in CA]

I like the 2nd to last. Very unique shape! 

[tdannhauser30]

Yeah those were all sweet man pick your favorite and stick with it haha. Your a great scaper!!

[falcooo]

2nd to last is my favorite too! Caves are always cool, and the front rock makes for a nice separate island. Maybe even add another front left island too.

[A Little Blue]

Wish I could help. 

I come from practicality and my rockwork is based on distribution of flow, ease of maintenance, plenty of caves and hiding places for occupants and flexibility for coral placement. Other than that, I am clueless esthetic-wise. 

[mitten_reef]

2nd from top: one could never find enough “shelves” to properly place corals, and I use the word properly in the loosest aesthetic sense. The corals will all grow and provide the vertical depth/perception in times. Even if you’re going with zoas garden or a bunch of encrusting LPS corals, 2nd from top still provides nice wide areas to showcase them. 

[tdannhauser30]

2 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

2nd from top: one could never find enough “shelves” to properly place corals, and I use the word properly in the loosest aesthetic sense. The corals will all grow and provide the vertical depth/perception in times. Even if you’re going with zoas garden or a bunch of encrusting LPS corals, 2nd from top still provides nice wide areas to showcase them. 

agree w this after looking at them all again, Lots of spots to "place" corals and not have to super glue down right away, and still a sweet looking scape

[KNelson]

4, 5, and 6! Awesome!

[Tamberav]

Probably #2 as it makes the most sense for coral placement. Try to imagine what it will look like filled in with coral. While some of the verticle scapes look cool, they don't really have nice placements for coral.

 

That one would look fantastic with SPS at the top and a garden of LPS/Zoa's, ect around the base. I feel one could argue that while it may not be the 'best' now... it could certainly become the best once it is filled in with coral with so much real estate to work with.

[jack1978]

#2 and #5 

 

[Zeal0201]

I hate my aquascape and im scared to redo it:(

[banasophia]

Great options! I especially like 2, 5, and 6... in that order... 2 is my favorite but all are fantastic!

[MSunkin23]

Second to last looks great

[ffoott]

7 hours ago, Subsea said:

Everyone of those pictures looked great.  Open spaces allows good circulation and room for dither fish and other inverts to show themselves.

 

What are you asking?  

 

Prior to aquascaping, it would help if you knew what livestock you were going to get.  

 

My favorite two are last and fourth from last.  I like the tunnel and arch.  I think the reason that I like the last was the way that the differrent color,led were reflected.

 

where are the Azores?

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

I'm going for aesthetics and coral placement ease and function, like I assume most refers are. 

 

Maybe because I don't have that many corals yet (or experience) it becomes hard to look past the rocks, into the future structure full of coral.

 

Haha, the Azores stand half way between Europe and the Americas. It's a 9 island archipelago...but yeah, not easy to locate! 

[ffoott]

5 hours ago, Zeal0201 said:

I hate my aquascape and im scared to redo it:(

I felt that quite often. It can be a pain. 

 

But looking at something that doesn't give you pleasure may be worse? 

 

 

[ReefGoat]

2nd picture is mmy favorite. Sweet! 

[Clown79]

The 2nd last and last one are very unique and give different coral placement options.

[banasophia]

I recommend also looking at it from the top down to get an idea how your lights will hit it, considering the lighting needs of your future corals. I have lots of shaded areas and didn’t think of that at first.

[The Reef Novice]

IMO 2nd and last one looks really nice. What's your plan of attack for this tank? inhabitants, corals, etc?

[Zeal0201]

4 hours ago, ffoott said:

I felt that quite often. It can be a pain. 

 

But looking at something that doesn't give you pleasure may be worse? 

 

 

Yeah but then I think of how long itll take to recycle and blah blah blah blah ill just tough it out and maybe later down the road ill remove a couple rocks thats i actually hate

[ajkochev]

2nd to last get my vote as well.

[BohannonReef]

#2 would allow for best placement of corals imo.

[KNelson]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

I recommend also looking at it from the top down to get an idea how your lights will hit it, considering the lighting needs of your future corals. I have lots of shaded areas and didn’t think of that at first.

This.  

[ffoott]

Thanks to all the input so far, you've been of great help!