How do you do aquascaping?

[Waboss]

I do my aquascaping by really looking at how I want the flow in the tank to move (I like an open or semi-open back side of the tank so I can have good flow there too) and making sure I have room for different kinds of corals (high light/high flow, low light, etc.). Sometime I sacrifice some of the flow behind the rockwork to have a few more places to mount frags though.

 

[James M]

I do munch aquascaping based on coral . I like to have a high , medium , and low placement and fill in each spot and open in the front .

 

[BedrockIOMC]

With my rock I kind of just go with it and what happens, happens. I do go for a wall though for the biggest reason for me is I feel that there is less room in the tank with the rock piled in the center of the tank. I just like having that more room in front of the rock. I do make sure there is all kinds of cave for everything, I love the caves. and then the fish have the whole back side of the rocks as well to get in behind and swim behind. and the way I can get them to lay and hold on is the way they go. I dont glue them because you never know if you need to move them or you just never know. I just feel its a better and more natural look to everything if they lay which ever way you can get them to hold. If you have to glue them or get them to stick then its not there naturally and doesn't look right to me.

 

[jonnyeatworld]

Aquascaping is the hardest/most frustrating/most fun part

 

[Art2249]

I just set up a table and worked with it till I liked it. then i siliconed the structures to marine board and moved them as sections into the tank.

 

[Art2249]

I just set up a table and worked with it till I liked it. then i siliconed the structures to marine board and moved them as sections into the tank.

Oh I forgot to tell you. I cut the bottom pieces flat using a skilsaw and diamond blade.

 

[lactose]

Open with arches and holes and solid but minimal sitting on the floor. I start by playing with the rocks in a mock of the tank and them move them to the tank and wind up changing it once its in the tank - but I swear by playing with the rocks first as I get a 'feel' for them. My OCD + Engineering background fights with my artistic graphic design experience until I give up as I know I could keep changing it forever. I give myself bonus points if I can make something look like an animal (turtle, reindeer) secretly to me I am currently in love with CaribSea LifeRock Shapes.

Here is my staged design:

Here it is in the tank:

Can you spot the turtle?

 

[Schnizzle]

How do you do aquascaping? I went full on trial and error. This is my first salty tank.
What is the "method to your madness" in rock scape building? I picked rocks out of my pile that I liked and went to town shaping things the way they wanted to go.
Do you go for a wall? I've seem some that look good but I did not want a wall. I wanted something more entertaining for the sea life.
Do you shape rocks with an idea of what you're aiming for? I thought I was going to. Chisels, bricking hammer and a punch... The rocks split everywhere I DID NOT want them to.
Do you kind of stack them to see what you can make with shapes you already have? After the above adventure, absolutely.
Are you a minimalist, or do you go for a pound (or more) per gallon? I wanted to leave lots of swimming room while having enough filtration. Which after typing seems like it would be the common goal of everyone here. haha

Error:

Win:

 

[ESH]

For aqua scaping, I search around forums for build threads to get different ideas until I find what I like. Drawing out a basic idea of what I want to achieve helps.
In my display tank, I went with 2 rock mounds, valley down the middle. I started with live rock from the gulf, and didnt take the time to shape anything outside of the tank prior to setup as I didnt want to kill off too many of the critters that came with. I have taken parts out later on, and cut through them with a hack saw and chisel to reshape, though this was a challenge as I had coral growing on them at this point.

Something I didn't initially think through was SPS coral growth. In my tank, I went with 2 rock structures, with caves underneath, and a few higher pillars. These pillars block up a lot of light, and take up a lot of surface area. Because they go all the way to the op of the water, while they look cool, I cannot put any coral on them as they are too close to the lights and would burn up. Eventually, I plan to move a few of these rocks out of the tank and into another one, but for now, they stay.

IMG_1104 by E, on Flickr

Next tank, I think I want to have minimal rock, with most of it in the sump so I can have more surface area in the tank.

In my frag tank, I'm using a bonsai reef structure. Its pretty cool, but I think if it was a little lower in the water it would look better as it creates a lot of shading underneath it, creating a lot of unusable space.

 

[gary504504]

L

I take the rocks out of the tank I am taking down. I put them in the new tank that I just added the sand to so I cant even see them while I do it.
I then move them getting to aptasia or to remove fish from the tank. I never attach them together. I just stack them. They never go back exactly the same way.

Ike this scape

 

[benha]

Majority of my rock are live fiji rock, so it was hard to balance rock on top of each other. I don't use any glue or puddy, but I try to set a foundation of larger rocks at the bottom and smaller rocks at the top. I also like to push my rocks towards the back of my tank so that I have some form of depth and I like the open front sand space. Am currently still trying to manage the flow around my tank, as it's difficult for flow to reach between my rocks for my sps coral.

 

[davocean]

I still prefer the stability I get and ability to go up using acrylic rods, and a cheapo masonry bit to bore holes.

I make a template of tank on ply, keeps rock wet, play around till I find a fit.

I do like open space and swim room more, not only looks better but less dead spots.

I also scape for my magnifica sea anemone a high up perch so she stays put, so this is all thought about as I scape.

The other thing I like about doing this, I can lift the whole structure, so if I swap it's a breeze(kinda)

 

[MiamiAG]

Guys,

IMO, the first step to any aquascape is first to decide on what story is in your head and that you're trying to tell. Then you attempt to translate that into your hardscape using established aquascaping principals.

For example, I would like to tell a story about mountain tops and flocks of birds criss-crossing them. Then I would do the following:

Accomplished using traditional visual art techniques such as the Rule of Thirds:

And the Golden Triangle:

Although the above is shown as a freshwater aquarium, the same principals apply in saltwater. They just take longer to execute.

 

[davocean]

^^ That is great for FW especially, and can be applied to reefs, but that scape will remain relatively the same, where our's will change dramatically as corals grow out, so your vision needs to project your ever changing story.
I appreciate both, but 2 very different animals IMO

 

[MiamiAG]

^^ That is great for FW especially, and can be applied to reefs, but that scape will remain relatively the same, where our's will change dramatically as corals grow out, so your vision needs to project your ever changing story.
I appreciate both, but 2 very different animals IMO

Most definitely. However, the FW tank will stay that way only with pruning. Otherwise, the plant will grow wild and undo the intent of the aquascaper.

With SW, the aquascaper needs to place corals with intention and think about how they will grow years into the future. This allows for some level of control. Like bonsai, fragging can also be used to control growth to some extent.

 

[legendOfDragon]

I would like to know how to stack the rock together with small base like branching out and cave.