Aquascape Opinions?

[Adalius]

So I moved houses and am in the process of setting up a new Cade 1500 S2 (and tearing down my RedSea P650 at the old house once this is up and running; see build thread here). Started working on the new aquascape and looking for opinions.

Algaebarn sent it with a ton of rock, and quite a few pieces had nice flat sawcut ends for sitting on the bottom which is super awesome, so I tried to use all the sawcut pieces first to get a stable base. I like the two-island setup with an opening in between, I'm thinking of maybe doing an extended ledge out over the opening from the right pile towards the left. I also opted for a single lone 'island' off in the corner as that worked really well on my last tank as a zoa rock.

I'm debating if I should swap the piles though and put the right one on the left so it blocks more of the overflow, and then the highest point also wouldn't be right into the powerhead output.

What do you all think?

 

[Adalius]

Hrm, wife made a good point. Take top rock off the right pile, build the left pile up higher.

 

[Lavey29]

Hrm, wife made a good point. Take top rock off the right pile, build the left pile up higher.

I agree, I actually started with a similar design and have an arch connecting the 2 rock piles. I think yours looks good. Maybe an extra rock island or two. I made my piles higher as you mentioned also. This is basically 2 rock piles with an arch in the middle connecting them.

 

[Wrassenaround]

I started with and have a very similar scape to you and I like it. I would actually keep the height on the right for some Acros if you wish and maybe a bigger leather coral could fill in the space on the right or a nice lengthly torch?

Having some negative space also does a tank well when the corals start to fill in. It gives your fish much needed swimming room.

 

[Adalius]

I agree, I actually started with a similar design and have an arch connecting the 2 rock piles. I think yours looks good. Maybe an extra rock island or two. I made my piles higher as you mentioned also. This is basically 2 rock piles with an arch in the middle connecting them.

I did the arch between two piles on my last tank. I'm kind of trying to avoid that and instead putting a arch/thru-cave in one of the piles instead. So this one has a cave that is a pass-thru but doesn't look like it in one pile, and a nice big pass thru in the other pile. I'm thinking instead of an arch I might cantilever a large flat rock out into the middle opening a bit but not go all the way across, maybe 1/3rd.

 

[Lavey29]

I did the arch between two piles on my last tank. I'm kind of trying to avoid that and instead putting a arch/thru-cave in one of the piles instead. So this one has a cave that is a pass-thru but doesn't look like it in one pile, and a nice big pass thru in the other pile. I'm thinking instead of an arch I might cantilever a large flat rock out into the middle opening a bit but not go all the way across, maybe 1/3rd.

Well I think you have a nice concept developing.

 

[Raul-7]

Honestly, it is one of the better ones I've seen on here.

Negative space is your friend and can create a strong impact - much better than having a wall of rock that I often see in a lot of reefs.

 

[Reef.]

Looks great to me, my type of scape with loads of caves there too.

I’m a strong believer in a scape is very personal to the owner, as long as it has loads of caves then the look is down to the owner.