Tried to do a 2 island lagoon look, looking for input!

[modendahl]

Just rearranged the rock work in my tank, went for a 2 island lagoon style scape. Ignore the algae, it’s being addressed and it looks weird since the established rocks were moved around. Looking for ways to improve it! Tried to hit rule of thirds but didn’t nail it.

[mitten_reef]

Too much rock for the tank size. Remove the top right, and try to reconfigure the top left down a little, maybe remove the big one on top front?. 

[howaboutme]

I'm not sure what a "lagoon" look is but I have a shallow tank (12" H) w/ 2 main rock structures. Rock on left is from transfer. Rock on right is new but cooked. Pict from a month ago:

 

[suhaib10]

I'd suggest maybe breaking the down the rock into smaller pieces and then reshaping/gluing them together to get some more unique shapes, hiding spots and mounting points for corals

[rough eye]

i think the design looks really good, but i would leave a couple inches of bare sand between the rock and glass, all he way around. also, not sure what lighting you're using but for myself i set 4" as the limit for how close i would want rock to the surface of the water.

[mcarroll]

If you have lights on you might want to have at least one or two SMALL snails in there to start things off....seems like you may have gone overboard tho....6 or 7 snails, some of them look pretty good sized too.  I think I would scale back to fewer snails if possible.  One good-sized snail will do it.  More will just slowly starve to death more than likely.

 

I agree with making more room between the glass and the rock – you will need room there for corals to grow out and fish to swim.  (And for you to clean the glass!)

 

I wonder about the enclosed nature of the structure – is that by design/on purpose?   It will form an effective food trap unless you get the flow just right.

 

If the structure wasn't enclosed by design, then I would suggest shooting for as open a rock layout as you can reasonably achieve.  Water should be able to flow through your rock structure as much as possible.

 

 

[Tamberav]

I think you mean an atoll?

 

If so, I think smaller rocks will be better to get the look. Maybe switch some of the front and back rocks. 

 

I also agree less rock... imagine the corals growing and giving you the height and not the rock. 

[modendahl]

21 hours ago, mcarroll said:

If you have lights on you might want to have at least one or two SMALL snails in there to start things off....seems like you may have gone overboard tho....6 or 7 snails, some of them look pretty good sized too.  I think I would scale back to fewer snails if possible.  One good-sized snail will do it.  More will just slowly starve to death more than likely.

 

I agree with making more room between the glass and the rock – you will need room there for corals to grow out and fish to swim.  (And for you to clean the glass!)

 

I wonder about the enclosed nature of the structure – is that by design/on purpose?   It will form an effective food trap unless you get the flow just right.

 

If the structure wasn't enclosed by design, then I would suggest shooting for as open a rock layout as you can reasonably achieve.  Water should be able to flow through your rock structure as much as possible.

 

 

Appreciate the input.

 

I have 4 snails and around 8 hermits in there, they've been in there for 3ish months and seem fine. There always seems to be plenty for them to eat. I will keep watching and if there ends up being less to eat I will take a few to a shop.

 

Its probably going to be a while before I get more corals, going to save up for a while. I get what you're saying about having space for them to grow up and out. I will try and reduce the scale of the scale of the scape a bit. I was trying to do it without keeping rocks out of the water while I broke them to reduce bacteria and life die-off, so I just used the same rocks that have been in the tank without breaking them up.

 

I did not do the enclosed nature of the structure on purpose. I was trying to curve the two islands around and they ended up getting closer together than I meant for them to.

 

21 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I think you mean an atoll?

 

If so, I think smaller rocks will be better to get the look. Maybe switch some of the front and back rocks. 

 

I also agree less rock... imagine the corals growing and giving you the height and not the rock. 

 

I guess atoll is a more accurate word for what I was describing haha. I also addressed your other concerns above.

 

Thanks everyone for the input!

[mcarroll]

On 10/23/2021 at 6:15 PM, modendahl said:

Just rearranged the rock work in my tank, went for a 2 island lagoon style scape. Ignore the algae, it’s being addressed and it looks weird since the established rocks were moved around. Looking for ways to improve it! Tried to hit rule of thirds but didn’t nail it.

For the record,  I do like the look of it!  🙂