My First (NSA) Aquascape (175 gallons)

[thewalkingdad]

I haven't finished the mortar or sand, but the design is finished.

Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out. The clearance from the glass is decent all around. It's better front to back than it is on the sides.

There are three main pieces to the superstructure. The piece on the right is a more centralized mass with a few interwinding arches and overhangs. The middle piece has a long tunnel at the bottom and a few arches while reaching out to the right. The leftmost piece is actually a complete spiral. I wasn't planning on making a spiral. It certainly isn't natural, but it was fun to design. We'll see how it holds up to fish and coral.

I'm open to feedback, but the design likely isn't changing at this point

The overall scape put together

Spiral structure (tough to see that it is actually a spiral from this picture)

Center structure

Rightmost structure

 

[SPR1968]

I love the design and there’s loads of places for the fish to hide etc.

Very nice!

 

[FlexingFishSticks]

Are you sure this is your first? Looks great!

 

[virtual reality]

Nice job, looks really good.

 

[Qasimja]

lookin good!

 

[jeffrey750750]

looks great! I wouldn't change a thing

 

[lotekfish]

I think it's pretty cool. Almost exactly what I would attempt to do with a tank that size. The only thing I would do different is not have the two rock structures meet. There's a dynamic tension when things don't quite touch, like in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel:

 

[BackToTheReef]

Center structure

Rightmost structure

Even without the sand your joints are darn near invisible, that's some clean work!

I love the "right most structure" b/c my mind matrixes the top portion as a creature climbing over some rocks!!

 

[KenO]

Nice work. I'm planning on doing this for my 60 cube. Keep us updated with photos.

 

[Nick Steele]

I like it! I’m thinking of redoing my 20g or just upgrading lol

 

[ScottR]

This is a nice piece. Scaping is my biggest weakness and I mostly wing it. I think scapes are something that we look back on and either love or hate later on once our tank is established. We want a nice place for corals to sit, hiding places for fish and an overall aesthetically appealing look. I fail in all ;Hilarious

 

[thewalkingdad]

This is a nice piece. Scaping is my biggest weakness and I mostly wing it. I think scapes are something that we look back on and either love or hate later on once our tank is established. We want a nice place for corals to sit, hiding places for fish and an overall aesthetically appealing look. I fail in all ;Hilarious

The nice thing about an NSA design is all you do is wing it. Just start gluing stuff, lol.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I think it's pretty cool. Almost exactly what I would attempt to do with a tank that size. The only thing I would do different is not have the two rock structures meet. There's a dynamic tension when things don't quite touch, like in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel:

I see what you're saying. It makes sense. The design I went with here (partially by design and partially by accident) was you have the two pieces interact with each other like hands being folded together. You don't really catch that from you this, but if you were looking at a different angle, you could see how they start to twist and fold around each other.

 

[Weasel1960]

I haven't finished the mortar or sand, but the design is finished.

Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out. The clearance from the glass is decent all around. It's better front to back than it is on the sides.

There are three main pieces to the superstructure. The piece on the right is a more centralized mass with a few interwinding arches and overhangs. The middle piece has a long tunnel at the bottom and a few arches while reaching out to the right. The leftmost piece is actually a complete spiral. I wasn't planning on making a spiral. It certainly isn't natural, but it was fun to design. We'll see how it holds up to fish and coral.

I'm open to feedback, but the design likely isn't changing at this point

The overall scape put together

Spiral structure (tough to see that it is actually a spiral from this picture)

Center structure

Rightmost structure

I just watched an NSA how to video on BRS last week. I liked the idea of using PVC piping to give a 3D reference for the inside of the tank and see that you did that in your pics. your structure looks awesome, good job.

 

[Drobbin0608]

 

[Weasel1960]

The nice thing about an NSA design is all you do is wing it. Just start gluing stuff, lol.

In reality it only has to make you and the fish happy. Great job and like the spiral, will be interesting to see how it grows out with your coral selections.

 

[Servopkg]

I have to say, since I mortar'ed mine, the thing is rock solid. I had some branches that had a little bit of movement with the superglue, but since the mortar solidified its solid. Did you find the same? I used the E-Marco mortar so feel it should be salt water safe for many years to come. Great job as I said on the other forum.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I have to say, since I mortar'ed mine, the thing is rock solid. I had some branches that had a little bit of movement with the superglue, but since the mortar solidified its solid. Did you find the same? I used the E-Marco mortar so feel it should be salt water safe for many years to come. Great job as I said on the other forum.

I used a TON of glue, so none of my branches moved at all, but I also didn't really try to move any of them. Now that they are mortared, they definitely feel rock solid. I used the same mortar as you.

I also used super glue when covering the mortar up with sand. Using the super watery mortar to get the sand on there didn't really work out that well for me, so I just used more glue.

 

[Sidius74]

That looks amazing - I'm about to try NSA on my new tank - out of curiosity, what size and weight are the individual pieces in your picture - I'm worried about moving large pieces of rock work around and placing in the tank without scratching it - Thanks

 

[thewalkingdad]

I don't have actual sizes or weights, but these are my estimates. (noticed if you're in the UK)

Left piece: 10-15 lbs or 4.5-7 kg or .7-1 stone
Center piece: 30-40 lbs (this sucker is pretty heavy) - 13.5-18 kg, 2-3 stone
Right piece: 20 lbs - 9 kg, 1.5 stone

The tank dimensions for reference: (you can see how the rocks size up to the pvc frame I built)

175 gallons (662 liter)
60"x25"x29" (152x63x74cm)