First Ever Reef Tank Scape

[DaveFe]

Hey everyone, just finished putting rock into my first ever saltwater tank and looking for feedback. I've got a front and my best attempt at a top down photo. I tried to do lots of openings for fish to swim through and also leave some places to grow coral(LPS).

I still have a few pieces of rock leftover so I can add or adjust a bit.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Welcome to R2R!

In general it is very nice. People rarely show top downs of their aquascape, so I really like that. When I planned mine I did front and top view diagrams and found it very helpful.

Personally I would have the rocks fit a little better without all the holes, but that is just my opinion. You obviously wanted them for your tastes.

That said the top line is a bit too even for my tastes. If you pulled this rock here you would get a nice slope with less uniformity.

 

[Waters]

I agree.......looks a little too unnatural at the moment...the right side looks good, the left I think just needs to be re-stacked a little more haphazardly if that makes sense.

 

[Captain Quint]

You have some nice rock. Good base pieces, several arches, various shapes with small 'caves', some with good holes for coral plugs later.

Just try different rock placements such as putting pieces of base rock in V shapes and different patterns as well with arch shapes atop, you can do so many nice formations with the LR you have.

IMHO, it would look better not so spread out with all the possibilities seen. Nice shapes and not all base rock. You made great choices!

 

[DaveFe]

Thanks everybody for the comments, I agree the left side didn't look quite natural so I redid a few pieces and really liked the changes, you can barely see it but I moved one piece behind the main formation and bridged it to the main structure so now there's another little pass through right near the overflow, added sand too so definitely no more major moves at this point. Here's a new pic, I know it's really minor but I love the half buried rock in the bottom right with the little pass through.

Maybe not the right thread but also any thoughts on powerhead placement? My sump return splits into two, which you can see in this pic and then I have two tunze nanostreams just hanging in there right now to circulate water. The thermometer on the right side is just there temporarily I figured one should go in that upper corner but what about the last one where would be the best place for it?

Thanks again.

 

[Captain Quint]

Looks great.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Thanks everybody for the comments, I agree the left side didn't look quite natural so I redid a few pieces and really liked the changes, you can barely see it but I moved one piece behind the main formation and bridged it to the main structure so now there's another little pass through right near the overflow, added sand too so definitely no more major moves at this point. Here's a new pic, I know it's really minor but I love the half buried rock in the bottom right with the little pass through.

Maybe not the right thread but also any thoughts on powerhead placement? My sump return splits into two, which you can see in this pic and then I have two tunze nanostreams just hanging in there right now to circulate water. The thermometer on the right side is just there temporarily I figured one should go in that upper corner but what about the last one where would be the best place for it?

Thanks again.

Much better. If this is your first scape you are off to a good start.

What kind of powerhead? One near your overflow for sure. Ideally, one on the opposite end but that depends on how you tolerate the look of a powerhead on the end. If you are doing LPS that probably isn't necessary at all. Couple options. (assuming the black arrows are your return lines)

 

[DaveFe]

Much better. If this is your first scape you are off to a good start.

What kind of powerhead? One near your overflow for sure. Ideally, one on the opposite end but that depends on how you tolerate the look of a powerhead on the end. If you are doing LPS that probably isn't necessary at all. Couple options. (assuming the black arrows are your return lines)

Thanks! It's my first saltwater tank but I do have a 55 gallon cichlid tank that is just rockwork.

I have two Tunze Nanostream 6025's. I like the idea of putting one on the overflow side and one in the back corner opposite the overflow. I was trying to avoid putting one in the front right side, just thought that would aesthetically not look the best, you can see the door on that side so that's where people will be passing through looking at the tank.