Critique my scape

[Samina]

Hi, I’m in the process of setting up a 110g tall and have put together a scape. Please let me know what you think.

I have cemented some of the pieces together but not all. I’m using e-Marco 400 and AF Stone Fix. I am going to cement the pieces together in a way that will lead to 5 or 6 structures that I can then place in the tank when they are ready.

Plan on curing and cycling the rock after I build the structures so I’m trying to get passed this point soon so I can start the curing and cycling in a large tote or Brute. The actual scape will probably be placed in the tank sometime late March. It’s a tank swap with new rock so, I will be going extra slow.

Any how, let me know what you think and feel free to give any suggestions on what I should change. Thanks!

 

[reeflife3]

Looks great. I wouldn’t change it

 

[Liron Mishal]

Beautiful!
Just make sure you have enough hiding spots for the residents

 

[DracoKat]

I like it. plenty of places to put coral

 

[Devaji]

question is it all once piece cemented together or a few piece?
love it, but if its one you might regret it later.

 

[Samina]

Thanks everyone!

It’s going to be probably 5 or 6 or maybe a few more structures cemented together, but this will be the end result when those structures are put back together. I tried to make a decent amount of caves and swim throughs and hiding spots while trying to maximize real estate for SPS up higher since it’s a tall tank.

 

[SPR1968]

Looks great to me, very nice indeed!

 

[Ron Reefman]

If you are planning to have a lot of coral I'd be concerned about how vertical it is. Corals growing out at the top will cast a shadow over smaller corals at the bottom.

A suggestion, if you plan to place corals onto the rocks while still attached to frag plugs (that's what I do), you might consider taking a drill the size of the stem of a frag plug and drilling some (many) of the natural holes in the rock bigger so the frag plug stem fits in. I drilled about 120 holes in my rocks and now, 6 months later, there are only a few empty holes and even those have colored up and look very natural. You'd never guess that the holes were drilled.

 

[Ocean Lotion]

I agree with Ron. Add more rock starting low in the front of your tank building up in elevation as it gets to your tallest points. You can do this while building a lagoon of sorts forming a C shape with the opening of the C towards the front of your tank and a "trench" between the left left 2/3rd of your rock structure and your pillar on the right. Good start though!

 

[I_Got_Crabs]

Hi, I’m in the process of setting up a 110g tall and have put together a scape. Please let me know what you think.

I have cemented some of the pieces together but not all. I’m using e-Marco 400 and AF Stone Fix. I am going to cement the pieces together in a way that will lead to 5 or 6 structures that I can then place in the tank when they are ready.

Plan on curing and cycling the rock after I build the structures so I’m trying to get passed this point soon so I can start the curing and cycling in a large tote or Brute. The actual scape will probably be placed in the tank sometime late March. It’s a tank swap with new rock so, I will be going extra slow.

Any how, let me know what you think and feel free to give any suggestions on what I should change. Thanks!

Looks awesome! I say leave it if you like it.

As a personal preference, I would seperate the tower from the wall. Negative space really improves the aesthetic appeal of a scape, and the natural archway of coral between the two structures looks amazing when it's all grown in. The only other thing I would consider is adding some plates or flatter pieces around the base one of the wall stucture to give you more placement options for corals (but you did a pretty good job of this already).

 

[Samina]

Thanks everyone! Everyone’s feedback is very much appreciated!!

I will remove the shelf between the right structure and the wall to create that negative space, I think your right about how that looks really nice.

I will try to make the wall more into a C shape with a wider base with more overhangs for more coral placement down below. Looking at it from top down, it does seem pretty vertical which will cause those shadowing issues, good call!!

 

[BigJim]

I like the look, but I agree that more flat area would be better if you plan to add a lot of coral. Also keep in mind that you will have to lift the cemented pieces into a fragile glass tank. I wouldn't make them too big and heavy.

 

[andrewkw]

I think your height is probably okay in a 30" tall tank. It looks good but there is one piece I would remove.

This is just my personal opinion but I think having some separation between the rock is more eye pleasing then one giant structure.

 

[Flexin]

Now the challenge, get it to look the same once disassembled and reconstructed in the tank

 

[Samina]

Haha yes putting it back together in the same manner will be a challenge! I will separate the tower from the wall. But I will modify this and repost the new version. Once I am completely happy with it, I will cement the wall to become like 5 or 6 separate structures that I will be able to replace back in the same manner... well hopefully!

 

[jtl]

If you are planning to have a lot of coral I'd be concerned about how vertical it is. Corals growing out at the top will cast a shadow over smaller corals at the bottom.

A suggestion, if you plan to place corals onto the rocks while still attached to frag plugs (that's what I do), you might consider taking a drill the size of the stem of a frag plug and drilling some (many) of the natural holes in the rock bigger so the frag plug stem fits in. I drilled about 120 holes in my rocks and now, 6 months later, there are only a few empty holes and even those have colored up and look very natural. You'd never guess that the holes were drilled.

Hi Ron,
Looks good. Is the area under the corals open?

 

[Ocean Lotion]

Share your final scape with us. We will be interested!

 

[Ocean Lotion]

Share your final scape with us. We will be interested!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hi Ron,
Looks good. Is the area under the corals open?

Yes it is. Below is a side view of the tank. All the rocks except for the very front wall are well off the sand on a platform of egg crate standing on pvc pipe for legs. This is a new extreme version of something I've done a couple of times before with other tanks. But in the past I had the egg crate platform parallel with the sand and just a couple of inches off the sand. But since this is a smaller tank (for me) I wanted to maximize the surface area where I could place corals. By making the rocky surface a slope, it increased the area from 24x24 to 24x 30.

The area under the platform allows for lots of open sand for some of the tanks inhabitants like a sea cucumber, small feather dusters and some spaghetti worms. It also allow water to flow around under the rocks were more beneficial bacteria can form. There is an opening in the front wll so the fish can easily get in and out. This tank is fairly new, but the last tank I did this with had the underside of the egg crate get loaded with a coating of sponges. It also makes for better flow of water around the rocks and over the sand so there are far less 'dead spots' where a cyanobacteria bloom can get started.

 

[Samina]

@Ron Reefman, that is an awesome idea! Nice setup!

I started modifying my wall portion of the scape but didn’t get a chance to finish. Hopefully, I will get some time during the week to finish it and will definitely repost it!

 

[Samina]

Ok folks, here we go (again!). Please let me know what you think of the wall this time. Thanks so much for all your feedback!! It has been very useful and is much appreciated!!