****Brand new AQUASCAPE forum****

[OCD420]

I’m working on a cave to help deflect the flow in my 75G, I’m using a frag rack atm...

Previously I made a tree...

And my first attempt was a dragon and the magnetic clouds on the back glass...

I plan on upgrading to a 125G in the not too distant future. I didn’t plan well on my first 3 setups,lol... luckily this has allowed me to practice and plan more.

Fairly excited... Got myself a cordless dremel for a side job and discovered how well it works on the rock. I reseeded my frag plugs into the caves top in a matter of seconds and was able whittle down parts of the exterior that I didn’t find appealing. I’ve been wanting to attempt some more challenging builds but have seen the limitations of glue/epoxy alone. I tried using rods once, but my hammer drill just shattered the rock. Now that I have my new industrial strength dentist drill in hand I may have to give that another go!

 

[OriginalUserName]

Fairly excited... Got myself a cordless dremel for a side job and discovered how well it works on the rock. I reseeded my frag plugs into the caves top in a matter of seconds and was able whittle down parts of the exterior that I didn’t find appealing. I’ve been wanting to attempt some more challenging builds but have seen the limitations of glue/epoxy alone. I tried using rods once, but my hammer drill just shattered the rock. Now that I have my new industrial strength dentist drill in hand I may have to give that another go!

What attachment are you using on the dremmel? Diamond grind/cut off?

 

[TemDave]

Fairly excited... Got myself a cordless dremel for a side job and discovered how well it works on the rock. I reseeded my frag plugs into the caves top in a matter of seconds and was able whittle down parts of the exterior that I didn’t find appealing. I’ve been wanting to attempt some more challenging builds but have seen the limitations of glue/epoxy alone. I tried using rods once, but my hammer drill just shattered the rock. Now that I have my new industrial strength dentist drill in hand I may have to give that another go!

Hi OCD420... Very nice rock work! Just thought I would give you a heads up... I drilled lots of my dry live rock using a long 1/2" hammer drill bit in my cordless Makita (you DEFINITELY DON'T need a hammer drill!!), the concrete bit on a regular cordless drill goes through the coral like BUUUTTUH! I put fiberglass rod through my structures, and applied the tank epoxy. One tower that's nearly the full height of my 30" tall tank going in the corner I just stacked them loosely fitting them together like a puzzle, and filled in with more rock- no epoxy.

 

[OCD420]

What attachment are you using on the dremmel? Diamond grind/cut off?

I tried the diamond bit but it was slow and didn’t have a whole lot of cutting surface. I like the tile bit personally... the cutting surface is 4X larger @ about the same price and its much faster IMO.

 

[OCD420]

Hi OCD420... Very nice rock work! Just thought I would give you a heads up... I drilled lots of my dry live rock using a long 1/2" hammer drill bit in my cordless Makita (you DEFINITELY DON'T need a hammer drill!!), the concrete bit on a regular cordless drill goes through the coral like BUUUTTUH! I put fiberglass rod through my structures, and applied the tank epoxy. One tower that's nearly the full height of my 30" tall tank going in the corner I just stacked them loosely fitting them together like a puzzle, and filled in with more rock- no epoxy.

Hey, thanks... appreciate that!
Didn’t think to try drilling it in driver mode, after the first 10Lb rock turned into a pile of rubble I decided to go a different route,lol

No epoxy!?! Nice! Gives me something to think about, thanks for sharing.

 

[Empress]

My 500g tank and fathers 1000g aquascape

Reckless, do you think you can take another picture of the first one with the blinds in the room closed? It's really hard to see with all the glare. I just know it's an awesome scape but we'd like to see it better. Thanks!

 

[Recklessryan904]

Follow the build to check out the progress on my 480g sps tank build and the 1000g !

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/480g-sps-shallows-1000g-build.391678/

 

[OriginalUserName]

I'm not sharing my current scape because it's rubbish (structure broke apart in the last move) but here is a progression on my cube. Starting with beginner "dump pile of rocks" scape, to my first attempt at something stylish. Sadly I lost all of those corals including my 5 year old Frogspawn when my kitchen contractor blew up my AC and didn't notify me. The tank got up to 90 degrees or so and I even lost my stupid mushrooms. My clowns and cardinal survived though! The Duncan had like 15 heads at that point and the frogspawn was the size of a small basketball.

 

[Recklessryan904]

I'm not sharing my current scape because it's rubbish (structure broke apart in the last move) but here is a progression on my cube. Starting with beginner "dump pile of rocks" scape, to my first attempt at something stylish. Sadly I lost all of those corals including my 5 year old Frogspawn when my kitchen contractor blew up my AC and didn't notify me. The tank got up to 90 degrees or so and I even lost my stupid mushrooms. My clowns and cardinal survived though! The Duncan had like 15 heads at that point and the frogspawn was the size of a small basketball.

Looks awesome ! Sorry to hear about your incident . This hobby is all about overcoming hurdles .

 

[OriginalUserName]

Looks awesome ! Sorry to hear about your incident . This hobby is all about overcoming hurdles .

Thanks. I'm hoping I will be able to take everything I've learned and make my new scape something truly impressive. TBD.

 

[Recklessryan904]

Thanks. I'm hoping I will be able to take everything I've learned and make my new scape something truly impressive. TBD.

Can’t wait to see it I love seeing other people’s aquascapes . I think where people go wrong is they rush it when aquascaping. The 1000g took a whole week of moving rocks around to get it right , the 500 took 3 days . Just take your time and create something unique and to be extremely proud of !

 

[Recklessryan904]

Just waiting on it to cycle now

 

[reefwiser]

Just waiting on it to cycle now

Need to develop a more balanced scape. This looks just like rocks stacked on rocks.

 

[Recklessryan904]

Need to develop a more balanced scape. This looks just like rocks stacked on rocks.

I wanted it to be open / minimal with shelves to allow the acros to become the aquascape. Thanks for the input .

 

[OriginalUserName]

I wanted it to be open / minimal with shelves to allow the acros to become the aquascape. Thanks for the input .

It's hard enough building a structure that looks good on it's own, but planning ahead for coral growth is even harder. I can visualize my LPS growth, but SPS is still a crapshoot for yours truly.

 

[reefwiser]

Need to have a balance in the rock. Use the golden ratio to develop balance in your rock work.



Many more on YouTube.
The freshwater is years ahead in great layout design. Always best to learn the fundamentals of good hardscape layout. It transfers to the reef hobbyist if one is open to learning.

 

[Greg’s_525xl-Reefer]

An Aussie VLOGER asked me to make him a hardscape with the look and feel of the one I did above so I knocked this up yesterday. The tank is the same tank as previous also, 60x60x55h.

I think a good reefscape is scaled well, it is balanced, it allows for plenty of flow, it has ledges, platforms and levels. It should look great from every viewing angle. It must provide plenty of surface area for coral growth and allow for expansion. It needs to accommodate corals with different light requirements. But most importantly when you see it it has to resemble a beautiful miniature reef that you’ve never actually seen before.

This scape ticks all of the boxes for me and I don’t think I could improve upon it any further. Looking forward to it getting wet and populated.

Rock used was 15kg of Caribsea Life rock cemented together using Aquaforest Stone Fix, love that product. Both of those products actually. They are game changers for reef scapers.

I took progressive shots so you can see how it came together.

This scape is really gorgeous.

 

[Sashaka]

coral placement is in my head.

There are so many great acquascapes posted! One of my favorites is sp1187's scape. Nice!
I'm soon to be rescaping my 180. I hope to take some of these great ideas and put something I can be proud of together. I'll try to post when I get a chance. I have to load all my build pictures yet too. I'm so behind! At least the fish are doing well while waiting for their acquascape back. LOL

 

[Reefs of Space]

I've got a lot of rock with good water flow all around. All of the rock on the back wall is off of the sand. A powerhead is back there blowing across the whole tank behind the rock work. Another one blowing across the front against that current. This is a 30 gallon.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

1st pix is shot of my current 120 reef ready tank that I am getting ready to break down. I had around a 50 POUNDS of Tonga Branch and 50lbs of Ultra Premium Fiji whcih I will not be using for the new build.
My new SCA 150 upgrade, I will be going with a more sps dominate type tank, so i GOT a company called Auqarocks to build me a one of a kind show pcs that came out unbelievable which will hold most of my Acros.
Then I bought two nice large piece's from Vidarock that are called waves. I am just waiting on my sump that i AM about to order from Elite Aquatics and then I will be starting my build thread.