Tips and Tricks on Creating Amazing Aquascapes

[ssc]

Great information Thank You for the thread

[blutang007]

Tagging along. Great info here.

[Rowdeus]

Thinking about doing a design like this on my one 180:



I was going over some of the corals I have that I plan to move into this tank so I mocked this up. I know it's really the colors that make the scape pop but just wanted an opinion.

[major stare]

Interested to hear honest opinions on my 2x2x2ft cube aquascaping.

It is viewed from two sides....

Apologies for the poor phone pics.

Front...


Side...

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by Rowdeus

Thinking about doing a design like this on my one 180:



I was going over some of the corals I have that I plan to move into this tank so I mocked this up. I know it's really the colors that make the scape pop but just wanted an opinion.

Very nice. I know your coral will grow in but you may want to consider adding a rock or two to the right hand structure to create a change in vertical dimensions between the two structures.

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by major stare

Interested to hear honest opinions on my 2x2x2ft cube aquascaping.

It is viewed from two sides....

Apologies for the poor phone pics.

Front...


Side...

Nice structure, beautiful corals! I think your tank might be even more striking if the sand was clean and white.

[Rowdeus]

Originally Posted by Lavoisier

Very nice. I know your coral will grow in but you may want to consider adding a rock or two to the right hand structure to create a change in vertical dimensions between the two structures.

So maybe a flat piece where the birds nest will be or a overhanging piece to give it height and depth?

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by Rowdeus

So maybe a flat piece where the birds nest will be or a overhanging piece to give it height and depth?

Yes, or even an additional rock on the far side of the birds nest to give the visual diversity. I'll look forward to your tank's development.

[greaps]

Originally Posted by Lavoisier

Very nice. I know your coral will grow in but you may want to consider adding a rock or two to the right hand structure to create a change in vertical dimensions between the two structures.

Where did you buy your dry rock?

[Rowdeus]

Ok thanks. I will add a little more to that side. The lfs here sells it. I will probably order a few shelf pieces from Marco Rocks. The lfs doesn't carry flat pieces. I have a build thread in the large aquarium thread labeled Row's 180 build.

[murdock84]

Originally Posted by usingthejohn

Here's my new scape. Not much of a difference but I tried to incorporate the tips within this thread



Another view. The 2 groups are meant to follow the idea on 3rd photo.


I followed this idea.




Opinions please. Basically I'm not sure if I should join the rocks along the left side to form 2 breaks, so to speak

[dh7922]

I don't see a lot of folks aquascaping with Tonga branch, personally I think they're easy to work with and can create some awesome looking scapes. Here's a few picture of my tank with some branch rock.

Here's a side view showing how wide the scape is with just 40-45 lbs of rock. The tank is 30" wide by the way.

[major stare]

Originally Posted by Lavoisier

Nice structure, beautiful corals! I think your tank might be even more striking if the sand was clean and white.

Thanks.

The sand is white but the two Conches are continuously disturbing it and bringing up small peices of Live rock/coral that need weekly cleaning out. Plus there are a few crabs in the shot as the tank had been fed.

I'll take better pics tonight after a clearup.

[tmantaylor18]

Originally Posted by dh7922

I don't see a lot of folks aquascaping with Tonga branch, personally I think they're easy to work with and can create some awesome looking scapes. Here's a few picture of my tank with some branch rock.

Here's a side view showing how wide the scape is with just 40-45 lbs of rock. The tank is 30" wide by the way.

Impressive! I've always wanted to trying using this stuff but can never find it anywhere. Where did you grab yours?

[usingthejohn]

Originally Posted by tmantaylor18

Impressive! I've always wanted to trying using this stuff but can never find it anywhere. Where did you grab yours?

Aquamaxx now sells tonga branch

[tmantaylor18]

Originally Posted by usingthejohn

Aquamaxx now sells tonga branch

Thank you!

[aleithol]

Originally Posted by tmantaylor18

...Where did you grab yours?

...and I got mine at Bulk Reef Supply.

[dh7922]

Originally Posted by tmantaylor18

Impressive! I've always wanted to trying using this stuff but can never find it anywhere. Where did you grab yours?

Mine isn't the real wild tonga branch or the dry stuff from brs. It's the man made tonga from Real Reef Rocks. I just had my lfs order it for me through Real Reef. Really nice stuff and easy to work with. I'm not using any epoxy or anything, they're just stacked on top of each other.

[GroceryGetterS4]

Originally Posted by dh7922

I don't see a lot of folks aquascaping with Tonga branch, personally I think they're easy to work with and can create some awesome looking scapes. Here's a few picture of my tank with some branch rock.

Here's a side view showing how wide the scape is with just 40-45 lbs of rock. The tank is 30" wide by the way.

Never seen tonga branch I liked....till now! That looks awesome!

[fessoclown]

Glad I stumbled onto this thread. Tagging along.

[mcrist]

Here is my latest aquascaping on a 84x48x30.

Front View


Rear View


Side View

[RVANANO]

Great thread!! I didn't see this before but I attempted to do much of what was described here (with a more minimalist approach to allow for maximum coral growth)

[Sharkman999]

This is mine this evening, a relatively new tank so needs a lot more corals, plus I had velvet about a month ago which wiped out all but four of my fish....seem to be over it now so slowly re building.

[fessoclown]

What a great thread, I just got caught up. Here is my new tank, I am thinking it is a little too symmetrical.... or maybe not symmetrical enough... any thought? Critiques...

[rgulrich]

Great thread, and it provided me many ideas for this build.
This is the reef as originally set up October 2013 just after the move from a 180 at the old house to this 300 at the new house. The idea is to have a reef accessible and viewable from all four sides, so the aquarium left and rear are two foot from the walls. The reef structure provides many swim-throughs for the fish, and is built diagonally from what is the left rear in this photo to about 2/3 of the way to the right front. I used a Zooanthid rock as an "exclamation mark" for this structure. I then placed the Euphyllia rocks against the right rear overflow, and later placed M. capricornis on it as well as a few acros, which are beginning to grow quite well on the right side.



This is the reef as of October of 2014. I've shifted a few rocks, replaced the oolite with rubble to maintain a high flow rate, the corals have grown in a bit. All SPS corals in this photo started as 3" or smaller frags in this past year.



The view from the "right end" of the reef looking down it's length. I'm looking forward to replacing these pumps this week to free up the view completely.
Here you can see the reef structure from the "back" overflow to the left front foreground diagonally across the aquarium, and the burgeoning "Euphyllia" rock on the overflow to the right.


I think with the replacement of the large internal pumps with some (much) more inconspicuous models and another years' growth, this should be quite the fish hang-out and invert-bar. The chromis are already beginning to find spots in the acropora colonies to hide/rest/dart in and out from, and everyone else seems to enjoy working the reef.

Thanks to the original posters to this thread for their thoughts and ideas that have gotten this reef to this point!

Cheers,
Ray