New Aquascape - Corals and Placement ideas.

[obzidian_reef]

Got a beautiful scape done by a LFS out of orlando. Well know but since Im not sure if they're a sponsor here I'll leave their name out.

Its all Haitian Reef Rock in a negative space + caves design that I think really blends both worlds.

Im of course a very, very happy newbie reefer tonight!

I wanted to pic the communities brain a little and help me design the coral types and placement.

The scape has a lot of dynamics and can host low light to high light corals. Im leaning towards a mix reef and would to see what you guys/gals could recommend in turning all this rock into something special.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Waters]

Very cool.....good job. You can do pretty much anything with that setup. I personally would fill it with Acros with some LPS on (and under) the lower shelves.

 

[ekandler]

Scape looks great. I have a similar aquascape on a similar sized tank, by the look of it that’s a 4 ft tank? If so, you may want another XR15. I have a 4ft tank as well with 2 XR30s over them.

back to your original question I love a mixed reef. The scape you have lends itself well to it. You can do mushrooms, zoas, acans, euphyllia, etc. on the lower half of the rock, then have SPS on the upper half. I like to spread out the sticks and have some nice encrusters in between.

I’ll post a picture of mine later for inspiration!

 

[ekandler]

Forgive the corals not being open yet, but you get the idea.

 

[obzidian_reef]

Very cool.....good job. You can do pretty much anything with that setup. I personally would fill it with Acros with some LPS on (and under) the lower shelves.

Thank you!! I love acros and the look of a hammer/torch garden.

 

[obzidian_reef]

Scape looks great. I have a similar aquascape on a similar sized tank, by the look of it that’s a 4 ft tank? If so, you may want another XR15. I have a 4ft tank as well with 2 XR30s over them.

back to your original question I love a mixed reef. The scape you have lends itself well to it. You can do mushrooms, zoas, acans, euphyllia, etc. on the lower half of the rock, then have SPS on the upper half. I like to spread out the sticks and have some nice encrusters in between.

I’ll post a picture of mine later for inspiration!

Lol.. I was thinking the same thing!! This hobby drains the coffers to quickly.

Im going to toy with the seperation of the two fixtures to see if helps fill in some of the shadows however I think the shadows give the scape some demension... where I can play around with different types of corals.

Oh!! I have never grown sps and Im a little timid to get into it BUT i love the look of them. Yea, sticks plus some encrusting pieces, even some cyphasteria would be super cool.

 

[obzidian_reef]

Forgive the corals not being open yet, but you get the idea.

Love it!!!

Funny.. you have clam on the scape, I was contemplating that yesterday.

Question.. you have two Ai's on the backwall.. no pumps on the sides, can you get into why your running that setup vs the two on each side?

 

[ekandler]

Question.. you have two Ai's on the backwall.. no pumps on the sides, can you get into why your running that setup vs the two on each side?

It’s all about what works best for your reef. I’ve always wanted them on the back wall cause I think it looks best but couldn’t for years with my old scape, so I had one on each side.

When I redid my scape to the way it is now, it had so much in the middle (depth and height) that it was too much for the corals with the powerheads on the side walls. Was really hurting the euphyllia and encrusting LPS. After moving a few corals I realized it was better to just move the power heads. So I moved them to the back wall, which helped a lot with stuff on the rocks but created more flow on the sand, so solved one problem but caused another. So I had to move some corals in the sand around to avoid getting damaged, but now I have everything working well.

 

[kevgib67]

Wow beautiful scape! It will work well for a mixed tank. May I suggest a couple of small rock islands in the sand for some easy beginner corals such as zoas and or gsp. Island gardens look great and prevent spreading to the main rocks.

 

[obzidian_reef]

It’s all about what works best for your reef. I’ve always wanted them on the back wall cause I think it looks best but couldn’t for years with my old scape, so I had one on each side.

When I redid my scape to the way it is now, it had so much in the middle (depth and height) that it was too much for the corals with the powerheads on the side walls. Was really hurting the euphyllia and encrusting LPS. After moving a few corals I realized it was better to just move the power heads. So I moved them to the back wall, which helped a lot with stuff on the rocks but created more flow on the sand, so solved one problem but caused another. So I had to move some corals in the sand around to avoid getting damaged, but now I have everything working well.

I'll tell ya.. if there is one thing that drives me nuts is sand being blown around!

Inhad a 20gallon cube before and that setup was very tricky getting flow to the right places and keep the sand in place.

For equipment right now now, i have a reefwave25 and a new in box mp40 as well as a Ai nero 5 I had in my old cube. (Little pump moved water!!)

I think im going to try a traditional pump setup on each end and some in the back for specific targeted areas.

For a mixed tank I think I wanted to setup zones where the top would be more turbulent and the lower softer flow.... how I have no idea yet!

 

[obzidian_reef]

Wow beautiful scape! It will work well for a mixed tank. May I suggest a couple of small rock islands in the sand for some easy beginner corals such as zoas and or gsp. Island gardens look great and prevent spreading to the main rocks.

Thank you!

Actually I have a few flat pieces that I kept around for that very thing.

You know.. i have this crazy idea to have almost a garden of zoas and acan geowing upwards to the structure then met by more complex corals and eventually some sps (if I dont kill them first!)

Lets see.