Bad aquascape?

12gallonsofhex · Apr 25, 2020

Paulie069 said:
When I swap out my tank this summer I’m definitely gonna make sure I apoxy bolt together whatever it takes to make sure rocks don’t fall,, I made the beginner mistake of not securing my rocks and the whole thing came tumbling down last week,, like a stack of dominos, and a seahorse got crushed tail and is gonna lose a piece of it

Oh no! What a bummer. My first rockscape was not secured either and I had problems with rocks shifting. Luckily it was an acrylic tank that would only scratch instead of breaking. We are very fortunate to have Reef2Reef now. This place makes it easy to make good decisions before we jump in.

Paulie069 · Apr 25, 2020

12gallonsofhex said:
Oh no! What a bummer. My first rockscape was not secured either and I had problems with rocks shifting. Luckily it was an acrylic tank that would only scratch instead of breaking. We are very fortunate to have Reef2Reef now. This place makes it easy to make good decisions before we jump in.
[/QUOTE
Totally true this website is awesome but then again this website is the whole reason I wound up with a reef to begin with I was just passing through checking out and Seahorse stuff because that’s what I’ve been to him before you know it I have a 55 gallon ecosystem going on in my houseTotally true this website is awesome but then again this website is the whole reason I wound up with a reef to begin with I was just passing through checking out some seahorse stuff because that’s what I’m into,and before you know it I have a 55 gallon ecosystem going on in my house

Marco S · Apr 25, 2020

I've never owned a cube, but imagine it would be more difficult to aquascape. That being said, it looks fine to me. The size fish that would do well in a 40 gallon tank will have plenty of hiding places and swimming space.

As far as coral goes, you can play around with the powerhead placement around the tank until you get it right for whatever flow you need and add powerheads if needed so the rock really isn't that important IMO. As long as you and the fish, inverts and coral are happy, that's all that matters.

Good job on your first marine tank and WELCOME TO R2R!!!

vetteguy53081 · Apr 30, 2020

A L W A Y S . . . R E M E M B E R . . . T H I S :
Its YOUR tank and YOUR Creation and if you want to put spongebob and a mermaid, and a beer can, and a couple tree branches in. . . By all means do it. As long as you are HAPPY with it- it's your creation. Facebook - ha. I allow only my fish to tell me they don't like it.
It looks totally fine and once you bet some coraline adhesion, it will be pretty !!!
WELCOME TO A JUDGEMENT FREE ZONE !!!

mcshams · Apr 30, 2020

Georgia00013 said:
Thank you! I love it and think it looks great. People kept saying that the fish don't have room to hide/swim and that I need to break the rocks up more but, I'm not going to have a giant number of fish in it and I thought I did a decent job giving them different spaces.

Based on the size fish you'll likely pick for a 40g... they'll easily be able to hide. You rock.. scape literally and figuratively!.. Roll with what thrills you!

Paulie069 · Apr 30, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
A L W A Y S . . . R E M E M B E R . . . T H I S :
Its YOUR tank and YOUR Creation and if you want to put spongebob and a mermaid, and a beer can, and a couple tree branches in. . . By all means do it. As long as you are HAPPY with it- it's your creation. Facebook - ha. I allow only my fish to tell me they don't like it.
It looks totally fine and once you bet some coraline adhesion, it will be pretty !!!
WELCOME TO A JUDGEMENT FREE ZONE !!!

I love that statement
“Judgement Free Zone “
It fits this website perfectly

Erink · Apr 30, 2020

Georgia00013 said:
So I was really happy with this but I've got a lot of negative feedback(facebook group). Is this a bad rock setup? This is my first marine tank.

Depending what you're putting in it, I would make more caves and hiding places

Anchor · Apr 30, 2020

Georgia, Welcome to Reef2Reef!

As to your scape, In the end it will not matter what anyone here says or suggests, you have to like what you have.

I don't have to like it you do..

However, there are artistic ideas and things that can help with how things will end up looking eventually like rule of thirds, the Z factor, Triangles.. blah blah.. single columes can be great aquascapes as can any other.. just has to appeal to ones eye. And again, that is YOUR eye.

Arches, bridges, hallows etc. all play a role in how your fish get along and where you can put corals . I suggest you research those things and build accordingly.. If you already have what you need then leave it alone.

Hope that helps as much as anything else we can say.

Cleaner. · May 1, 2020

id take the chunk out of the middle and make a tunnel ,,,they like those things---lots of little places to hide also.....

Webslinger · May 1, 2020

Problem with most scapes I see is they don't have a section that goes high enough. 2" below surface. Especially cubes need height in the rockwork

najer · May 1, 2020

I love it but would pull one rock (possibly two but I think it is one), I watched the video 4 times!
As everyone has said it only matters what you like in the end, my only comment about the "Jenga rock(s)", the dark rock(s) is flow, I would pull that / those, that would really open up the scape.

Georgia00013 · May 1, 2020

najer said:
I love it but would pull one rock (possibly two but I think it is one), I watched the video 4 times!
As everyone has said it only matters what you like in the end, my only comment about the "Jenga rock(s)", the dark rock(s) is flow, I would pull that / those, that would really open up the scape.

I may pull the big Christmas tree shaped one out of the middle if I decide to glue them together. As for now, its needed for stabilty!

Paulie069 · May 1, 2020

Georgia00013 said:
I may pull the big Christmas tree shaped one out of the middle if I decide to glue them together. As for now, its needed for stabilty!

Make yourself happy with it not any of us sideline people throwing ideas at u. Like I stated before I think it’s awesome

Gennaio · May 4, 2020

Looks good to me. If there's a way you could remove the rock in the center, open that up be light a giant cave seems cool. The way it is looks fine to me tjough

John Smith · May 5, 2020

Here are a few questions I think you can answer for yourself: looks and functionality/practicality.
If it looks good to you, that's all that matters.
Is it functional for the fish? think about all the fish you might have in the future. How big they might grow to be. How active they are. How many. Each of them will need a place to hide at night. If there are not enough hiding places, they will fight, the loser will be stressed and susceptible to diseases. Will you have corals? What kind, how big and where you might place them.
Is it functional for you? Think about maintenance. Is there any dead spot that detritus might collect? can you reach in to clean if necessary? Can you easily remove a dead fish or a dead snail?
If you have the answers, you are in good shape.

Plecosam · May 5, 2020

Proteus Meep said:
Looks like a good aquascape to me...i found it's best to keep away from Hatebook reefing groups in general it is just heavily populated with unhelpful and unpleasant individuals.

Here is my little 30 litre cube (before i got a 55 litre) which had a similar scape to yours so you can see that shape of scape can indeed work even in a much smaller tank than your own

Personally I do not see the difference between Reef2reef and Facebook, it is just elitism from forum users, both are social media or if you do not like that comparison at least social places. I do not really do the Facebook thing, but am not judgmental, besides this place has mimic'd facebook with likes and hashtags etc.