Welcome and don’t feel bad we are all broke since this is your first reef tank I am gonna be very honest with you. Ditch that rock try and find someone or LFS that has live rock or rock that matured like real reef rock. Having that seasoned bacteria is gonna save you a lot of heartache. I started my resent tank with the same stuff and ended up with algae blooms and had to balance out my nitrate and phosphate levels to get rid of it. Your tank will be easier to manage with that added bacteria trust me.
My first
- Thread starter Kittypowpow
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jabberwock
2500 Club Member
Agree, my first reef tank was a dry rock algae farm...
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Kittypowpow
Active Member
You know I was so torn over this subject when I first started doing research. I was so scared of the alien looking hitch hikers that I talked myself out of live rock. You bring up a great point though. I don’t want to be so in over my head that I resent the tank. I might take you up on that advice. I really appreciate it!
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Kittypowpow
Active Member
Hello all! This is going to be my first salt water adventure. I wanted to get some feedback on this scape. Does it speak to anyone…..or is it just a pile of rock sloppily stacked in a box? Brutally honest feedback welcome! Marine stuff cost too dang much compared to fresh water to hate it in a few months lol
kevgib67
10K Club member
I liked the first one but wow this looks great! Did you know you had an artistic sculpter in you?
Improvement? Orrrrrr not so much?
h20cyclone
Active Member
Looks good! I like how this one seems to have more pieces that seem to have natural seams that fit together better. They are right about the live rock approach being easier. I also look back at doing things the longer/ harder way and learning a lot from those experiences too. It's also important to remember that the hardscape aspect of aquascaping is only half of your aquasapce. Coral placement and microfuana will be just as important to an overall aquascape as the hardscape is. I have seen several hardscapes that look really awesome, and then they added corals and it just didn't seem to fit as well. Also seen a basic pile of rocks that once coral grew in on looks spectacular. An aquascape is a constantly evolving thing you that you shape and grow over time. You are never really truly locked to it in one form. Most importantly do what you think looks good and enjoy it, you only get better each and every time! Excited to see how this one progresses.
Improvement? Orrrrrr not so much?
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Kittypowpow
Active Member
Hahaha aww that’s so nice of you to say. I literally spent way more hours than I’d like to admit putting rocks in and taking rocks out! Over and over and over lol.
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Kittypowpow
Active Member
Thank you so much for the advice! I’m very excited about the process. I hope I can get the corals and what not right the first time around (definitely won’t but I imagine they are harder to move around over and over (?). I guess I stressed the hard scape so much because I wanted to at least start on a good foot. But we shall see what challenges the next step brings. I wanted to switch to live rock, but decided I invested too much in what I had so I’ll just have to be patient and see how it goes. So for now, Ill force myself to be content with it and add water!!! Thank you for reminding me to just enjoy it and let it evolve. I need to remind myself it will never be perfect sometimes, so don’t take the joy out of it trying to make it “perfect”
I like the second one!
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Kittypowpow
Active Member
Yippee!! Thank you!
