New 240 Aquascape!!!

[reefshadow]

Hey, all. I spent the last two days reaquascaping my 240 mixed reef. I removed about 30 pounds of the live rock and all the frags and 2 dinner plate sized sarcophytons. I added some REALLY nice branchy base rock which was easier to stack (thanks, Skysdale!!!!) I wanted a much more open look and to allow the corals I have to reach their full potential. I did a series of pillars connected by ledges, and kept the highest points a good 10 inches from the water surface. What do you think?

This is the old, YUCKY 'scape-



This is the new, SWEET 'scape (I think so anyway)-



Left-



Left middle-



Right middle-



Right-



So anyhoo, there ya go. Alot of my corals are still unhappy, and I need to vaccum the sand. I had alot of the old rock sitting on it, and it was incredible how much stuff came out from under there when I moved them. Ick. I think it will be alot nicer once the base rock gets covered by coralline and the corals expand again. I'll get some more pics a few months down the road.

What do you think?

[Brandon's Reef]

that does look pretty sweet!!!!!!!!! I like it alot better than the first picture

[rjwilson37]

Very nice reefshadow, I think it looks awesome!

[Ritten]

Very nice. You have a real knack for aquascaping!

[fraggin]

nice and clean looking scape

[mr pink floyd]

i see very little difference, but then again im not paying attention, it looks good eigther way i guess

[chrismunn]

im just curious, are your corals attached to large rocks? or are they attached to small ones?

i appologize if i sound like im being an ***, but im not meaning to take any personal shots at you here, and this would come to mind if i noticed this with anybodys tank but,.....

it looks like you have a pretty big and nice tank there, im sure its very expensive too! but, why would you go and tear it down like that to change the rockscape? is it becasue your like the rest of us who have no patience, and were not satisfied with the asthetic value of the rock work? or did you change it to better accomodate living\grownig conditions within the tank?

im really not trying to bash here, honestly, it looks GREAT! im just wondering why you dont let everything grow into place, "cementing" itself permanent?

[Zoalander]

Wow that is just beautiful. Very very very nice, I'm jealous.

[reefshadow]

Thanks, all!-

why would you go and tear it down like that to change the rockscape? is it becasue your like the rest of us who have no patience, and were not satisfied with the asthetic value of the rock work? or did you change it to better accomodate living\grownig conditions within the tank?

Both, actually

a few of the corals have been with me since the beginning of my reefing hobby, 4-5 years. I've been through a succession of tanks, from a 29 to a 55 then 80, 125, and now 240. The 240 has been up almost a year now, and I never made a very good effort to 'scape it. I have a few large colonies of sps that will need alot of vertical room to grow. I want to have fewer nice very large colonies instead of a whole bunch of tiny ones. I think that looks kinda cluttered. Alot of the rock was just dumped on the sand, and flow wasn't very good underneath. It was also cluttered with about 40 frags, so I set up a 55 gallon frag tank for all of those. So it was aesthetics and functionality I was looking to improve.

Some of the colonies did have to be unstuck but not very many. Most of them were softies and will rebound just fine. I fact, some of the attached ones HAD to be unstuck, they were growing on multiple pieces of lr and starting to encroach on other more sensitive corals.

I may put one of the huge sarcos back in there, probably after radically fragging it. I'm going to let what I have grow into the 'scape and see what I think down the road.

[reefshadow]

Oh yeah, alot of the rock I removed was lace rock and tufa. It was nice because it was very mature, totally covered w/ caoralline, sponges, worms, etc. but it wasn't very porous and not very branchy. It was hard to scape with.

[chrismunn]

Originally posted by reefshadow
Thanks, all!-



Both, actually

a few of the corals have been with me since the beginning of my reefing hobby, 4-5 years. I've been through a succession of tanks, from a 29 to a 55 then 80, 125, and now 240. The 240 has been up almost a year now, and I never made a very good effort to 'scape it. I have a few large colonies of sps that will need alot of vertical room to grow. I want to have fewer nice very large colonies instead of a whole bunch of tiny ones. I think that looks kinda cluttered. Alot of the rock was just dumped on the sand, and flow wasn't very good underneath. It was also cluttered with about 40 frags, so I set up a 55 gallon frag tank for all of those. So it was aesthetics and functionality I was looking to improve.

Some of the colonies did have to be unstuck but not very many. Most of them were softies and will rebound just fine. I fact, some of the attached ones HAD to be unstuck, they were growing on multiple pieces of lr and starting to encroach on other more sensitive corals.

I may put one of the huge sarcos back in there, probably after radically fragging it. I'm going to let what I have grow into the 'scape and see what I think down the road.

ahh, i see, and understand! i have a very small 10g tank now, its been running about 3 years. ive broken it down and changed it about 5 or 6 times actually.
at first i was impatient, then i needed more room for new corals, then i needed to re-arange for the growing corals, then i wanted it to look good. now i have a horribly packed tank with awfull water flow, and helcka algae! ive spent 3 years making my tankl exactly what i wanted it to be, and now its covered in algae....
im terribly dissapointed, and plan on taking it down and up-grading to a larger tank now.

anyways, i really have no idea what that has to do with your rockwork, you tank looks freakin' awsome, and i hope that it stays the way it is for at least a few years. it will be nice to see the tank after all thoes corals grow out a bit!

my next tank will be an experiment.(as soon as i get the dang thing going!) i plan on making my rock scape, and only adding very small frags, and colonys. and try to do it all at once so it will grow in natural formations, IMO thats what makes the tank look best. seeing corals growing in natural formations.

sorry to go on and on like this but im pretty bored right now, your tank looks great, and good luck.........
cheers

[kirstenk]

Looks Fabulous!!

[Purple Haze]

you're all about the open look. Ever thought of some larger columns to fill up all of that open space?

[House_64]

Beautiful tank.... I especially like how open it is, you can definately see all your fish and coral better. Nice tank.

[zemuron114]

i liked both of them! I like higher aquascapes better, but you def pulled it off. looks very clean!

[cecilturtle]

Reefshadow,

I really like it. After first viewing the thread I browsed some more and came back to it. It really is easy on the eyes. I would love to come back to this tank in a year......

[thereefmaster]

Awesome!!!

[skylsdale]

It looks great--glad that rock is working so well for you!

In regards to the comments of how low the rockwork is (which I first noticed as well), I think we forget a lot of times--or aren't even aware of the fact--that fish in the wild tend to swim over or above the reef, not in front of it like most aquascaped tanks force them to do. Also, too many people don't take into consideration future growth rates and space that mature corals will need...but I think reefshadow has done a great job in anticipating their future needs.

reefshadow, are those the hairy shrooms you gave me on the left side of the tank?! If so, it looks like they might end up eating my tank alive...!

[bonerfortuna]

I think it looks great, much better. Now you have to be patient and let it mature from this point . Great job, you can do mine anytime. Question, did you use any adhesive to get those rock formations?

[joeychitwood]

Originally posted by skylsdale
In regards to the comments of how low the rockwork is (which I first noticed as well), I think we forget a lot of times--or aren't even aware of the fact--that fish in the wild tend to swim over or above the reef, not in front of it like most aquascaped tanks force them to do.

Excellent point. I like the new aquascaping. It looks quite natural. Great job.

[143gadgets]

Very Nice

[murezor]

Hi reefshadow,

Very attractive tank, which coincidentally also describes your avatar.

[Chihuahua6]

I like it. How did you make that arch with the hole on the middle on the left side of the tank? I really like that.

[reefshadow]

Thanks, all!

you're all about the open look. Ever thought of some larger columns to fill up all of that open space?

Nah, at least not at this point. I think it would be really cool to let some of the specimens reach a very large size (the few sps in particular).

reefshadow, are those the hairy shrooms you gave me on the left side of the tank?! If so, it looks like they might end up eating my tank alive...!

Lol, yeah. I would definately isolate them on the bottom or something. They will eventually climb, but mine have been growing on that rock for 3+years, so they aren't too fast.

In regards to how I put together the rocks, I was going to try zip ties but after looking at the rock I saw how it could be fit together like a puzzle. It really is very branchy stuff, and made very stable formations.

Anyhow, thanks esp to skylsdale! How is the liverock I gave you doing? You should come take a look at the tank now, It seems like pics never do it justice. could be my crappy cam though

[mg426]

Wow very nice, awesome. I do have one question. What is the next size you will be setting up??? very nice job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!