Follow my Oceanic 144g half circle reef tanks progress. 
Aquascaping: Part 1
Posted 10/30/2011 at 02:52 PM by Aaarrrggg
Now comes the bit I equally love and hate... the aquascaping. (Actually...as time wears on, I'm perhaps hating it a little more every day!)
I'd done a lot of research online on aquascapes and I had a vague idea of the kind of thing I wanted. I love the "bonsai" minimalist aquascaping look... but also need as much rock as possible for all those BTAs. BTAs love to attach under shelves and in holes, so I ordered 100lbs of Key Largo Rock and 30lbs of Shelf Rock from [URL="http://www.marcorocks.com/"]Marco Rocks[/URL]:
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rocks.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rocks2.jpg[/IMG]
(That's large bubble wrap btw! Sorry I realized too late that I should have stuck something in there for scale. You can see some books at the top right of the 1st pic to get a rough idea of size.)
I like to start aquascaping by experimenting with shapes and layouts in Play-Doh, (any excuse to play with Play-Doh!)
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape1.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape2.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape3.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape4.jpg[/IMG]
Then I started messing around with the rocks themselves. (Tip, buy latex coated garden gloves so you don't tear your hands to pieces!)
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack1.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack2.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack3.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack4.jpg[/IMG]
These shapes were pretty good, but it became clear that to get them big enough to fill such a massive tank (L 57.5 x W 29 x H 29) I was going to have to get more adventurous.
I'd done a lot of research online on aquascapes and I had a vague idea of the kind of thing I wanted. I love the "bonsai" minimalist aquascaping look... but also need as much rock as possible for all those BTAs. BTAs love to attach under shelves and in holes, so I ordered 100lbs of Key Largo Rock and 30lbs of Shelf Rock from [URL="http://www.marcorocks.com/"]Marco Rocks[/URL]:
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rocks.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rocks2.jpg[/IMG]
(That's large bubble wrap btw! Sorry I realized too late that I should have stuck something in there for scale. You can see some books at the top right of the 1st pic to get a rough idea of size.)
I like to start aquascaping by experimenting with shapes and layouts in Play-Doh, (any excuse to play with Play-Doh!)
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape1.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape2.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape3.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/test-scape4.jpg[/IMG]
Then I started messing around with the rocks themselves. (Tip, buy latex coated garden gloves so you don't tear your hands to pieces!)
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack1.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack2.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack3.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/rock-stack4.jpg[/IMG]
These shapes were pretty good, but it became clear that to get them big enough to fill such a massive tank (L 57.5 x W 29 x H 29) I was going to have to get more adventurous.
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