"Jetson's" re-aquascape in 25 lagoon

[jcolliii]

So, my current scape is pretty okay - used artificial branch rock and came up with a pretty neat 'driftwood' feel - here's what it looked like about a year and a half ago.

And here is a better color corrected image from a few days ago.

It has grown in quite well in the last 18 months or so. But, a couple of things drive me nuts. 1) I cannot easily scrape the back wall to get the coraline off, and although stuff doesn't really accumulate under the rockwork, 2) I cannot easily scrape the entire tank bottom, especially the area behind and under the branches that stick out more. 3) the glass bottom is pretty reflective and not a great look.

There are a couple of images in my morgue (a file of reference images related to a topic in visual design lingo) that I have always been intrigued by. I think both of these are fairly old - 2012ish or 2014ish. You may have seen these around if you frequent RC, if not, they are pretty neat in terms of the design and overall look.

This one is from RC user Pallobi, and it's a pretty simple, gallery-like presentation using stacks of frag tiles presumably glued together. The problem for me with something like this is that the bottom glass is still there, and it's too rectilinear.

Another interesting idea is from RC user Calmseasquest - I think this one is from 2012 or so.

This one has always had some staying power with me. I like the simple presentation, I like the no glass bottom, and the simplicity. It's just really cool. But, I don't like detritus trap and maintenance issues with sand, and the bright white bottom is kind of distracting.

But... this design has had me thinking over the past couple of months about putting together the ideal simplified reef aquascape that would still retain some semblance of natural look - or at least, natural materials, and be easy to maintain, and be easy to clean and access.

And the first thing I though of was the Jetsons. I loved that show as a kid, and still watch old episodes sometimes when I can find them. I dig the retro look, the off-the-ground living, the domed shapes of the architecture - just love it all. And that has informed the direction I will take with my rescape.

 

[jcolliii]

The first thing to get sorted out is the bottom. I really don't like the glass bottom - and I had tried black starboard, but because of its low density, it floats. That's not a super problem because a big heavy rock structure will keep it on the bottom. However, it cannot be easily taken out to clean when algae starts growing on it. So that is not an option.

I have used knife handle material for stuff before - the stuff called acetal or Delrin. It's a higher density plastic that will not float. So I ordered up a 12x12 sheet 3/8" thick to see how it would look. It showed up a couple of days ago. Today I sanded it with 220 grit on the random orbital and then cut it into 3.75x3.75" squares. Looks like it will be a great color, and the finish is matte now that it's been sanded, so no annoying reflections and a nice dark color so as to help bring out the coral colors better.

Starting material.

Sanded and cut to size.

Cuts pretty well on a table saw, just have to make sure it doesn't bind against the fence when cutting smaller pieces - used the miter attachment with a straight piece of walnut attached and a spacer block so as to not get pieces of acetal shot at me!

Anyhow, I did manage to mess one of my pieces up, but got 8 individual pieces out of my test piece. I think you know where this is going...

The idea is to use black silicone to attach some relatively straight risers made out of Tonga branch rock to each delrin 'tile'. Each tile will be moveable, removable, and easy to take out and to clean. I will have multiple different heights of my uprights or towers, and each tower will have a single colony at its top.

Proof of concept below. Tape indicates the measured bottom size of the IM25 lagoon with an allowance for the silicone seams on the back, front, and both sides.

 

[dochou]

Very interesting!

 

[jcolliii]

The Tonga branch I had been saving for something I cut up into pieces earlier this week with a rock saw at work (I'm a geologist and we have lots of them for sawing up rocks prior to making thin sections). I cut the bottoms and some of the tops as flat as I could make them, but some still lean to one side or the other. I will flatten them off completely with an old 80 grit belt on my bench sander prior to gluing them to their tiles. The idea is to have the tallest ones toward the back (while still leaving enough room to get a scraper down the back wall) and the shorter ones to the sides and front. Colonies that need more light will go higher with brains and palys down lower.

I didn't have enough Tonga for all of my colonies so I had to buy a few more pieces to cut up. My last piece will be here next week and I can get the last of my uprights cut and then start to dye the pieces before siliconing them to the tiles. You CAN still get Tonga branch, you just have to be patient and be willing to pay for it when it comes up on ebay and etsy. I found a pretty large couple of pieces that I should be able to get all of my remaining uprights out of for around 60 bucks. At over 5 lbs, it's not a bad price considering that this stuff is supposed to be impossible to find.

And yes, you heard right. I will be dying the Tonga uprights black using this stuff.

I have been reefing for over a decade, so yes, I do know coraline will grow, and no I don't care to hear opinions on dying rock. The dark colored rock, together with the dark colored tile floor should both combine to make the bright, vibrant corals kind of float. I think it will be a really cool look.

 

[jcolliii]

Once the rock has been dyed and completely dries, I will silicone it on to the tiles. When the silicone sets, it will start its curing process in a large heated tub. Will use a bacteria additive and do a bit of ghost feeding to get the process going. Will probably also shake out my bag of Seachem matrix in the tub with the curing rock to jump start the bacterial seeding process as well. Then, 2 or 3 weeks after that, I will start extracting the colonies off of my current rock structures and start transplanting them in and playing with the modular arrangement so that everyone is as the same level in the tank they currently are and that nobody gets shaded. I think I might have to let a couple larger pieces go, but one of the things I would like to achieve is a slightly more open, more roomy feel. Anyhow, that's the plan as of right now. Will have to add food for my emerald crab as there won't be enough algae to support him for awhile after the move over. Maybe nori?

 

[Lyss]

The Tonga branch I had been saving for something I cut up into pieces earlier this week with a rock saw at work (I'm a geologist and we have lots of them for sawing up rocks prior to making thin sections). I cut the bottoms and some of the tops as flat as I could make them, but some still lean to one side or the other. I will flatten them off completely with an old 80 grit belt on my bench sander prior to gluing them to their tiles. The idea is to have the tallest ones toward the back (while still leaving enough room to get a scraper down the back wall) and the shorter ones to the sides and front. Colonies that need more light will go higher with brains and palys down lower.

I didn't have enough Tonga for all of my colonies so I had to buy a few more pieces to cut up. My last piece will be here next week and I can get the last of my uprights cut and then start to dye the pieces before siliconing them to the tiles. You CAN still get Tonga branch, you just have to be patient and be willing to pay for it when it comes up on ebay and etsy. I found a pretty large couple of pieces that I should be able to get all of my remaining uprights out of for around 60 bucks. At over 5 lbs, it's not a bad price considering that this stuff is supposed to be impossible to find.

And yes, you heard right. I will be dying the Tonga uprights black using this stuff.

I have been reefing for over a decade, so yes, I do know coraline will grow, and no I don't care to hear opinions on dying rock. The dark colored rock, together with the dark colored tile floor should both combine to make the bright, vibrant corals kind of float. I think it will be a really cool look.

This is super interesting -- following. I'm imaging the final product will look like a work of modern art, and I love the non-traditional thinking and design coupled with a traditional material like the Tonga branch.

 

[jcolliii]

Exactly! I think with all of the darker colors, it will achieve a very high contrast, super colorful look that appears to float. And, I think the fish will really enjoy the maze-like effect of the uprights. The idea is one main island with as much negative space around it as possible and with a second clump of just a single large hammer or frogspawn for the clown that the wife made me get.

 

[Acros]

I have thought about rescaping my IM25. My current scape is not that interesting, but I worry about disrupting the tank. I would love to do a floating scape.

Btw, I thought you existing scape looked cool. The new scape seems like a minimalist version of your current scape.

 

[jcolliii]

Okay, so the reef safe dye came in tosay, and it definitely appears to be a watered down latex paint. Definitely water soluble and has that sort of sweet smell that latex has. I don't mind paying for it though, because you never know what pigments are in regular over the counter latex pigments. For this stuff to be reef safe, the purple and black pigments used must be non-metallic in origin. I am thinking of asking for the MSDS just to be certain, but this guy uses it in his dry rock that he sells and has a high rating. I could also bring it to work and put it through our ICPAES and see what ions are present in the plasma after combusting a sample... hmm.....

Anyhow, the color is kind of a purple-black. Perhaps a bit hard to pick up on from the crappy cell phone pics that follow, but it does settle quite fast and when the black settles it is definitely quite purple in hue. It is pretty watery, which is nice - it seeps into the pores quickly and shouldn't clog up the porosity of the old coral branches. It is also densely pigmented enough that it should not need a second application - which is also good because it is 24 bucks for 8oz. I dyed most of the coral I currently have cut and I used maybe about an 8th of the container.

Before and after on two cut pieces of the same branch piece.

Three more pieces to go later on tonight. But got all of this done in about 10 minutes.

And a mock up of how the colors will look together once the branches are siliconed with black aquarium sealant onto the tiles.

It's coming together nicely so far. The thing that took the longest so far was sourcing more true Tonga branches. Now that those are on the way, I may have these pieces glued up and cycling by next week. Figure that I will give these a day to dry, silicone them up, give the silicone a couple days to cure, and then get them into a big bin of salt water and some bacterial additive. Hopefully the color doesn't fade out too much.

 

[jcolliii]

Dye came in today and started the weekend a bit early, so was able to get a coat of the dye on earlier and because it's latex, it dried pretty quickly. So I just glued up the first batch using black aquarium adhesive. These look exactly like what I was after. A couple of the uprights were a bit angled, so I sanded them smooth prior to adhering them to the tiles. Now, just have to wait until next week for the last of the branch to come in and have to order 2 more pieces of the delrin and cut that up. I may cut larger strip-shaped pieces for the areas where there will not be any uprights, but not sure yet.

Exactly the look I was after! So far, so good.

 

[jcolliii]

First batch of 8 uprights are in the big tub with salt water, a heater and pump doing their thing. Shook out my Seachem Matrix bag in the tub with the rocks and added some food. A bottle of bacteria goes in tomorrow.

 

[Memisis]

So awesome, keep up the posts!

 

[jcolliii]

Ordered the remainder of my acetal this weekend. For anyone interested, a breakdown in cost so far for the rescape:

$24 Addictive Reefkeeping reef safe black dye
$75 Additional Tonga branch rock from ebay listings
$88 Acetal sheets in 12x12x0.25" (will need to order one more full one if I can't find some remnanat material to fill in a couple small spots
$12 Black aquarium-safe silicone
$~10 bacterial additive in a bottle to get cycling going faster
$20 misc (sand paper, stuff I can't remember, will need more aquamend epoxy for mounting colonies to uprights)

 

[jcolliii]

Disassembled the old aquascape and carefully removed my colonies from the old rock. Have most of the broken up rock in back and the corals mostly on the bottom, but a couple up on their pedestals. I don't mind a couple partially cured pieces finishing their cure in the tank. All other rock pieces dyed, siliconed to their tiles and curing. Getting there.

Had more corals than I thought I did!

 

[jcolliii]

Phosphate had climbed a bit higher than I like 0.5ppm or so. Did a 4gal w/c and brought it down a bit. May do one more W/C tomorrow to get back to my 'normal' range of around 0.2 or so. Tested the water that the rock is cycling in and not super high - 0.5ppm there (but I put 5g of water change water in there from my main tank a few last week to help rapidy cycle (along with back chamber grunge and aquavitro seed), so probably not very high. Hmm... I did feed reef roids a couple of times last week... Now that I know the [PO4] in the tub, I will keep an eye on whether it goes up or not.

 

[JNalley]

I like your idea here, though a stark black bottom might get old after a while and still gives it that utilitarian feel of a glass bottom. I also really like that image you posted with the sand, it gives a very natural feel while still presenting a more futuristic approach. Perhaps using coarse shells with an under gravel filter is a compromise to the Detritus trap? This also has the added benefit of reflecting some light upwards rather than it being absorbed by the stark black bottom.

 

[jcolliii]

Snowy afternoon here, so perfect day for this sort of work. I think we've 4" on the ground now, and still coming down.

Okay, still a work in progress. I have to take a couple of my colonies off of their current pedestal and move them to shorter or taller ones, but I am narrowing in...

Still way too much in the tank. I still have to figure out how to cut two colonies off of their current branch, need to re-make Starsky's (the starkii damsel) house (or the clown will pick on him and tear his fins up). I am thinking Crusty's days in this tank may be limited. He's just too much of a problem child. Anyhow, I glued most of the colonies to their final column today, but still have a lot of stuff to move and adjust. At least you can see the bones coming together and get an idea of where this is going.

Man, is that yellow octospawn cool. Never really cared too much for frogs/octos before, but this thing is vibrant, there are not too many true yellows in corals, and it has a lot of motion! Tomorrow, I need to fins a small piece of ABS, silicone it to one of my 'tiles', and fit a coral topper and Starsky's house will be complete. I think his roof will be that AOG colony. A couple branches need to be cut, and it will be closer to the final product - but probably still not quite there.

Stay tuned.

 

[jcolliii]

It's coming together. But, ran out of superglue gel, so this is where I am after working on this for several hours yesterday and today.

At this point it's about composition (mainly height and fitting things together) and complimentary color pairs. Had to take a few colonies off of their uprights again and move them, but much closer now. The rows are not lined up properly yet either, but where I am stopped right now.

At this point I have most of the corals where they need to go. I still have to do surgery on the Krakatoa colony (still on the large branch from the previous scape on the left in the pic above, toward the rear where it can't be seen). I've found that the Palys are pretty easy to remove when you get a corner of the mat peeled up off of the original rock. It's tedious work though. I try not to damage the corals too much, I try to make sure I am safe because of palytoxin concerns. Nerve-wracking. Once those are largely peeled off, they will be glued onto the long branch that parallels the ground that you can see toward the rear left behind the Anacropora in the pic above.

Anyhow, a couple more of these are going in my office tank in the morning - the Lobo, and probably the clown for starters anyhow. The Anacropora toward the front is just there because that is where I ran out of glue, so just left him right there.

Getting close. I think I should have the rescape done and ready for some photography by Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[blaxsun]

Very innovative!

 

[Solga]

I must say, I really like what you have going on here, and I have often though of doing something similar. Although I will be doing a sand bottom, I have even started considering how to go about making a couple low 'floating' pedestals, in my 40B build, for a GSP colony and a zoa colony in order to contain their spreading habits.
Definitely following along for this one!