Feedback on aquascape, please!

carbondave · Feb 23, 2023

I am putting together a 75 gallon tank for which I purchased 90 pounds of Marco rock. I believe I received a total of 16 rocks, 5 of which were truly boulders (almost totally round with little to no interesting or useful bits). I used a chisel to split those 5 into a collection of smaller rocks, then got to building.

As is clear from the pictures I'm more of a "big pile of rocks" guy than an NSA guy. My plans for the tank are to have relatively few fish and lots of mixed corals. I put an island in the lower right for some zoas/acans, and am planning on the upper left being more sps (including a plate monti) and the right being more lps/softies. I would also like an anemone to host a couple of clowns.

The pictures below are my first attempt at putting things together and I'm feeling a bit meh about it. I want to use as much of the rock as I can (this is probably ~80 pounds of the 90 I bought) but am concerned it's a bit crowded. I tried to create as many caves and ledges as I could. To orient, the bottom cardboard is the actual footprint of the tank, and the pieces taped to the wall show the height. The black lines on the base are 3" in from the sides of the tank.

This is my first time aquascaping, so I appreciate any and all feedback you have!

42Freeman · Feb 23, 2023

Looks like a good scape to me

Phil Steel · Feb 23, 2023

Depending on the fish you're going to buy, those caves might have to be a little bigger. Good first effort though!

carbondave · Feb 23, 2023

Phil Steel said:
Depending on the fish you're going to buy, those caves might have to be a little bigger. Good first effort though!

Good point. The largest fish I'm planning on is a tang, probably yellow but possibly tomini. Do you think that bottom cave will be big enough? It's probably ~6" high.

Phil Steel · Feb 23, 2023

Height, yes. But width if it has to turn, no.

carbondave · Feb 23, 2023

Phil Steel said:
Height, yes. But width if it has to turn, no.

Fair enough. I'll see if I can open that up a bit.

Phil Steel · Feb 23, 2023

carbondave said:
Fair enough. I'll see if I can open that up a bit.

good luck!

Cichlid Dad · Feb 23, 2023

I like to have the scape like yours but using the rule of 3rds, either rt or left, extend the scape out towards the front. Keep it low, this adds dimension. Pm me and I will send you a link to my scape on YouTube.

carbondave · Feb 23, 2023

Alright, took another stab at the scape, and I'm liking the results better on this attempt. I tried to incorporate the feedback around both opening up some space in one of the caves and creating more depth front to back. I also managed to use more rock in this layout. Any additional input is welcome!

steveschuerger · Feb 23, 2023

carbondave said:
Alright, took another stab at the scape, and I'm liking the results better on this attempt. I tried to incorporate the feedback around both opening up some space in one of the caves and creating more depth front to back. I also managed to use more rock in this layout. Any additional input is welcome!

That’s a pretty good looking scape. Much better for flow.

Eienna · Feb 23, 2023

Try to keep it off the back wall. You want flow back there to avoid detritus buildup, and also to be able to squeeze a mag-float back there. Also, keep in mind you want room for the coral to grow upwards.

You don't have to go full-on NSA to utilize the idea of mortaring smaller rocks together for more openness in your cave-type structures, btw.

carbondave · Feb 23, 2023

Eienna said:
Try to keep it off the back wall. You want flow back there to avoid detritus buildup, and also to be able to squeeze a mag-float back there. Also, keep in mind you want room for the coral to grow upwards. You don't have to go full-on NSA to utilize the idea of mortaring smaller rocks together for more openness in your cave-type structures, btw.

Yeah the angle makes it hard to tell but I've got at least 2-2.5" of clearance on all sides. And I'm definitely going to need to glue some of these pieces in place already - may look into using some of the smaller pieces I still have to build up the caves a bit more.

carbondave · Feb 23, 2023

As I was looking at the pictures again I realized there was an opportunity to open up the cave on the right a bit more, which I've done here. Going to take something stronger than super glue to keep it all stable though, I think.

Cichlid Dad · Feb 23, 2023

carbondave said:
Alright, took another stab at the scape, and I'm liking the results better on this attempt. I tried to incorporate the feedback around both opening up some space in one of the caves and creating more depth front to back. I also managed to use more rock in this layout. Any additional input is welcome!

Looks awesome

Eienna · Feb 24, 2023

carbondave said:
As I was looking at the pictures again I realized there was an opportunity to open up the cave on the right a bit more, which I've done here. Going to take something stronger than super glue to keep it all stable though, I think.

Loving that look. You could try the rock dust & super glue method to get it locked in, just a suggestion.

EricR · Feb 24, 2023

I think the progression from crammed to more spread (horizontally) looks good.

Thinking aloud -- If you mortar/adhere everything into one, single structure,,, then later have to deal with issues where you'd want to pull rocks to scrub, it'll be a pain.
*not sure if it makes sense to try to make it partially able to be disassembled, like with acrylic/fiberglass rods but just wondering...

carbondave · Feb 24, 2023

EricR said:
I think the progression from crammed to more spread (horizontally) looks good.

Thinking aloud -- If you mortar/adhere everything into one, single structure,,, then later have to deal with issues where you'd want to pull rocks to scrub, it'll be a pain.
*not sure if it makes sense to try to make it partially able to be disassembled, like with acrylic/fiberglass rods but just wondering...

That's a fair point. I'm not sure I want to try my hand at drilling and using rods, but I might try to glue the scape in different sections such that an individual section could be removed.

Hooz · Mar 3, 2023

Use the powder/thin glue method. It bonds almost instantly, and it holds like crazy. I moved a 2 year old scape I did using that method (not gently) in buckets, and nothing budged.

I'll also add that it's important to mount or hold a light above the scape to see what kind of shadowing you're going to get. What might look great from all angles in a brightly lit room could change quite a bit with light overhead coming down on the top of the scape (like your lights will be).