Finally finished my aquascape! How does it look?

[Sink_or_Swim]

This is 2 months in the making (well, 2 months of staring at rocks and moving them around, and about 2 hours of making a mess cementing the large shelf together), lol.
Used about 15 lbs CaribSea LifeRock, a 21" LifeRock shelf, a couple real purple barnacle clusters, CaribSea Arag-alive fiji pink live sand, and Tropic Eden special tonga sand. (Tank still cloudy from the live sand, but doing a fishless cycle so I'm not too worried about it at the moment).
Feel like I dumped in too much sand... it's about 1" deep in the front and 3" in the back. But I'm pretty happy with it so wanted to share.

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Cool scape

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Cool scape

Thank you!

 

[EricR]

I really like those barnacle clusters -- look cool and great hang out for a blenny or similar.

Out of curiosity, what did you use to "cement" your rock work together? I just stacked but now thinking of going back and putting acrylic rods in one of my structures 'cause it feels a little iffy to me right now. (So far no catastrophes,,, knock on wood)

 

[Karen00]

I like it overall. Probably the only thing I would add is a couple more levels in different spots so you can layer corals and add depth. I'm not sure if you'll be limited by having more or less one level across the tank.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I really like those barnacle clusters -- look cool and great hang out for a blenny or similar.

Out of curiosity, what did you use to "cement" your rock work together? I just stacked but now thinking of going back and putting acrylic rods in one of my structures 'cause it feels a little iffy to me right now. (So far no catastrophes,,, knock on wood)

Thanks, I like them too. Found them on Amazon believe it or not - they are real and are fragile but were packed really well and not broken at all. I am hoping if I get a blenny or goby they'll hang out in them.
For the rock I got a bucket of E-Marco 400 reef mortar (the purple version). Comes in gray too. It was super easy to mix and cures enough within about 30 min to carefully put the structure in the tank. It also continues curing under water so that's a plus. That shelf and the middle rock it's sitting on are HEAVY - and it's super solid, not worried about it moving. I wanted it to look kind of suspended.
I like the mortar because you can mix it thin or thick as you want, and then fill in cracks and crevices. As it dries you can press a piece of rock into it to give it texture. It also says coraline algae will grow on it fine, whereas it may not with things like glue. Rods would be a good option too though! I'm just not good with drills and my husband has no interest in helping, lol.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I like it overall. Probably the only thing I would add is a couple more levels in different spots so you can layer corals and add depth. I'm not sure if you'll be limited by having more or less one level across the tank.

Thanks! Yeah I know what you're saying - I tried to stagger the top 2 levels a little but the darn filter chamber cuts into my space and when I twisted them too much it was too close to the front glass to be able to clean it... I have 2 more pieces of rock, one being kind of an arch. I may try setting it on top of the shelf and see if it works.

 

[Kiwi reefer]

Scape looks great!

 

[welsher7]

Looks good the barnacles are a cool touch. In the side picture it looks like it is really close to the front glass, which will make any maintenance or coral placement a real PIA.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Scape looks great!

Thanks!

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Looks good the barnacles are a cool touch. In the side picture it looks like it is really close to the front glass, which will make any maintenance or coral placement a real PIA.

Thank you! It is pretty close, about an inch and a half... unfortunately ended up that way unless I pushed the shelf all the way against the back (was trying to leave at least a small gap back there for flow and being able to squeeze an algae scraper in... I almost felt like ditching the shelf piece but I love it AND it was expensive, ugh. Because of the curved front glass, I *think* l'll have enough room to clean around it, but yeah, probably going to be a pain lol.

 

[Sean Clark]

I like the ledge overhanging the island on the right and by the barnacles. You have a good mix going on here. Good job.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I like the ledge overhanging the island on the right and by the barnacles. You have a good mix going on here. Good job.

Thank you, appreciate it!

 

[Ashish Patel]

Nice! only complaint is maybe too close to glass but scape is sweet.

 

[atruex]

Looks great!

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Nice! only complaint is maybe too close to glass but scape is sweet.

Thanks! I agree, wish I could push it back farther but the filter chamber is in the way. Going to be a squeeze cleaning the glass in a couple spots unfortunately.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Looks great!

Thank you!

 

[dmsc2fs]

This is 2 months in the making (well, 2 months of staring at rocks and moving them around, and about 2 hours of making a mess cementing the large shelf together), lol.
Used about 15 lbs CaribSea LifeRock, a 21" LifeRock shelf, a couple real purple barnacle clusters, CaribSea Arag-alive fiji pink live sand, and Tropic Eden special tonga sand. (Tank still cloudy from the live sand, but doing a fishless cycle so I'm not too worried about it at the moment).
Feel like I dumped in too much sand... it's about 1" deep in the front and 3" in the back. But I'm pretty happy with it so wanted to share.

It's hard to tell just from pics but the small rock in front left and possibly Gigantor may be too close to the glass depending on how you plan to clean the glass. Have you picked a tool for that job and ran it down the glass to make sure it will clear?

Looks excellent otherwise.

 

[Jedi1199]

This is 2 months in the making (well, 2 months of staring at rocks and moving them around, and about 2 hours of making a mess cementing the large shelf together), lol.
Used about 15 lbs CaribSea LifeRock, a 21" LifeRock shelf, a couple real purple barnacle clusters, CaribSea Arag-alive fiji pink live sand, and Tropic Eden special tonga sand. (Tank still cloudy from the live sand, but doing a fishless cycle so I'm not too worried about it at the moment).
Feel like I dumped in too much sand... it's about 1" deep in the front and 3" in the back. But I'm pretty happy with it so wanted to share.

Looks fantastic! You did a great job with that scape. The only thing I would do is add a bit more height to one end. Possibly build up a few more inches on the right 1/3rd area to give you some more "Up and down" and draw the eye off center.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

It's hard to tell just from pics but the small rock in front left and possibly Gigantor may be too close to the glass depending on how you plan to clean the glass. Have you picked a tool for that job and ran it down the glass to make sure it will clear?

Looks excellent otherwise.

Thank you! Gigantor, lol! Love it! The pics make it look a little closer than the rocks actually are, but they are close. I'm honestly not sure what would work best to clean the curved front glass... I ordered a Flipper scraper (the kind with the handle, not the magnetic kind) so I can get the back glass and back of the filter chamber. I like magnetic scrapers BUT I don't know if that would work on the front. I tried to leave at least an inch and a half in the spots that were close. I can still move the rocks around so I may play around with that - my issue is the filter chamber in the back (hard to see through the haze) was forcing me to only have so much wiggle room with how I placed Gigantor. I had it placed better before I took it out and cemented it... I think I twisted it some and when I put it back in the tank it was a little different than I planned. I guess in the couple places where things are close to the glass I may end up MacGyvering a cleaner, lol!