Tips and Tricks on Creating Amazing Aquascapes

[Jeff000]

Originally Posted by greg1786

thanks Jeff ! I have about 18 inches between the wall and back of my aquarium. where would I be able to buy vinyl for my tank? is it a certain type made for aquariums or can I just get vinyl laminate from hd or lowes

Originally Posted by marspeed

greg a sign store should be willing to sell you what you need it's used for sign lettering

This.
It's cheap too. Use lots of soapy water to apply it, like lots lots, it will allow you to get it on the tank and slid it around and then use something like a credit card to start in the middle and work all the air out, gives you some wiggle room.

I use black vinyl over white for my bedroom windows for 100% light blockage. I work night shift. Window looks white from the outside, but pitch black on the inside. Was pretty easy to install.

[aquanooby]

Hi all I am quite new to all this so go easy on me lol this is my attempt at an actual aquascape
Here is how it looks from above

here is a pic from the front

would love some ideas but I am on a limited budget my next two purchases are skimmer and a sump and I got four horses to feed lol
The tank is a 36g bowfront

[aquanooby]

O boy I think I see it ! The large piece needs to stand up I see shelves

[Ted_C]

After thinking about my original aquascape on pg8 and seeing comments about accounting for coral growth - I re-did my scape. Much better I think - but let's hear your thoughts

Front view:


Right Hand Side:


LHS:

[Veganbrian]

Originally Posted by Ted_C

After thinking about my original aquascape on pg8 and seeing comments about accounting for coral growth - I re-did my scape. Much better I think - but let's hear your thoughts

Front view:


Right Hand Side:


LHS:

I like it alot, the only thing i would change is the left front rock. I would cut the bottom a bit to make it shorter so you can have better depth of field.

[CyclistMT]

Originally Posted by Lavoisier

Thanks, Cyclist for the input. I do want to avoid "too much" and your suggestions are excellent because I can always add rock. Here is my rough mock up of what you might be suggesting:

Yes! That is exactly what I was suggesting. Like you said, you can always add more and that's exactly what you will be doing with growing animals.

It does seem to be missing a little something that I can't put my finger on but that "something" might get filled in with coral, anemone, or a clam. Again, I found aquascaping much more challenging in a tank viewed from two sides than one viewed from three sides. I think it has to do with the having two distinct focal point with a two windowed tank. Each viewing dimension is different. With a three window tank you only have one main focal point to worry about as your eye is always drawn to to that point no matter what window you look through. At least mine is.

I would start with what you've come up with and see where it leads you. Good luck!

[Ptyochromis]

Originally Posted by aquanooby

Hi all I am quite new to all this so go easy on me lol this is my attempt at an actual aquascape
Here is how it looks from above

here is a pic from the front

would love some ideas but I am on a limited budget my next two purchases are skimmer and a sump and I got four horses to feed lol
The tank is a 36g bowfront

What would make the largest improvement is to move the piece off the wall.
Grey line being the center of the pile after the 'scooch'.

[Veganbrian]

Originally Posted by aquanooby

Hi all I am quite new to all this so go easy on me lol this is my attempt at an actual aquascape
Here is how it looks from above

here is a pic from the front

would love some ideas but I am on a limited budget my next two purchases are skimmer and a sump and I got four horses to feed lol
The tank is a 36g bowfront

I would suggest reading post #35 over again.

[Jonh Reef]

Great thread and very useful...

[aquanooby]

[aquanooby]

i know i know yea yea you can see the pvc ill fix that

[marspeed]

looks perfect

[Veganbrian]

Originally Posted by aquanooby

Night and day difference. One thing that would complete it would be to do a structure coming off the left side that tapers into small pieces of rubble rock. Make it curve comeing to the foreground of the tank face.

[Curious George]

EXCELLENT JOB aquanoob. When I saw the original scape, I said "Yikes!" Then I scrolled down and the world made sense again.

Well done.

[fishcatdog66]

Please ignore the lighting and reflection.

[bnaef17]

Aquanooby, fantastic re-work. Off to a good start.

[igot2gats]

Originally Posted by Dino

I've thought about it but the somewhat ironic thing is (often) stickying a thread kills it. For good threads like this one its almost always better to just leave it unstickied and let the community keep it on the first page rather than sticky it where it seems most people don't look or read .

Hmmmmm....interesting point. I never thought about that. You're probably right, the more I think about the death of stickies....crazy stuff. Weird.

There wouldn't be any way to sticky & lock it, then copy & put an 'open' copy of it back into the community?

[ctmgardea]

Originally Posted by fishcatdog66

Please ignore the lighting and reflection.

fishcatdog66,
very nice aquascaping, I like it a lot! it would be neat to see what it would look like with the right side as more of an "island" with a channel between the two structures.
nice work!

What size tank is that (LxWxH) and how many lbs.'s of rock did you use? it would be neat to see different views of the tank as well.

I am getting ready to redo my 180 gal. soon and I really like what you have done.

keep us posted!

[baggedtb]

This is a great thread. I just aquascaped my 90 and I have not been very happy with the outcome of it. I plan to completely redo my rockwork tonight and possibly remove the eggcrate I put in the bottom of the tank.

[aquanooby]

I did not do eggcrate i dont know why but allot said its bad i was only worried bout my large piece but i supported
it worth the pvc

[kduen]

Here is my latest attempt. 1st is a top down all mocked up on the floor. (excuse the toes)



The second is in the new tank.

[Veganbrian]

Originally Posted by fishcatdog66

Please ignore the lighting and reflection.

I like it a lot. When its filled in with corals it will be awesome. Only thing id say is bring the right side in a little bit more away from the glass to make it even on both sides.

[Veganbrian]

Originally Posted by kduen

Here is my latest attempt. 1st is a top down all mocked up on the floor. (excuse the toes)



The second is in the new tank.

I would ditch the egg crate, It will only cause you nitrate issues down the line. I really enjoy the scape. One minor thing is hitting that "other" intersecting point of the "rule of thirds" I would get another rock to make the right side a little higher than the left and make sure to get one that tapers off like a mountain.

[ohioreefer]

This is a great thread doing a 120 build right now and i will follow this thread Forsure thanks everyone and there is some really great looking tanks on here what's the best expoxy or glue to use that's very strong

[96slowbra]

Originally Posted by kduen

Here is my latest attempt. 1st is a top down all mocked up on the floor. (excuse the toes)



The second is in the new tank.

i like this, what are the tank dimensions? how much rock?