New/first ever reef tank, hows my aquascape?

[Herides]

It's a 40 gallon breeder and i'm just looking for opinions on how I did with my aquascape. Your Thoughts?

 

[Flippers4pups]

It's a 40 gallon breeder and i'm just looking for opinions on how I did with my aquascape. Your Thoughts?

I like the aquascape! But where did you get the rock from. Some looks very smooth.

 

[Bryn]

That's like my wife asking if she looks fat in her dress....

Seriously, it has many answers, depending if it is bare bottom, fish only, what type of light, what kinds of fish.

Most importantly, have you "glued" it all together so it does not easily move. You would not want a rock to fall to a bare bottom and break the glass, causing a leak. Also keep it away from the glass so you can clean behind, and around it. Also allows for a power head to be used to stir up any ditrus.


It has pass through's, hiding places, nooks and shelving for corals. Looking good.

Also welcome to R2R...

 

[Herides]

I like the aquascape! But where did you get the rock from. Some looks very smooth.

I got it from my local reef/fish store! I know it's not as porous as most other dry rocks but its what they had I figured it looked ok.

 

[Herides]

That's like my wife asking if she looks fat in her dress....

Seriously, it has many answers, depending if it is bare bottom, fish only, what type of light, what kinds of fish.

Most importantly, have you "glued" it all together so it does not easily move. You would not want a rock to fall to a bare bottom and break the glass, causing a leak. Also keep it away from the glass so you can clean behind, and around it. Also allows for a power head to be used to stir up any ditrus.


It has pass through's, hiding places, nooks and shelving for corals. Looking good.

It is going to have a sand bed, i'm just trying to get the rocks right right now. the most "unstable" parts are glued down and I still intend on adding liberal amounts of more glue. I have checked to make sure none of it is too close to the side walls and all sides seem fine to me. The nooks and hiding places were my main concern as I at first thought I hadn't left enough but thank you for confirming that!!

 

[scabbedwings616]

Welcome and I like the aquascape.

 

[4tanks]

I'd make sure there is enough room to get a glass algea cleaner all the way around it or it will bug the hell out of you the one bit of algea you can't clean off the glass

 

[Rjukan]

I'm not a fan. It looks real cluttered, and the stack on the right doesn't have the feel of something in the ocean, it looks very man made.

Now no one likes a negative Nelly, and I'm sure ill catch some flack for saying it, but you did put it out there and asked for opinions. I did the same when I started my tank and I would have appreciated a negative comment.

The benefits of a 40b is the large footprint and shallow dimensions. Maybe you should try and leave more open sand space, and don't feel the need to go as vertical as you have gone.

 

[NashobaTek]

Welcome to the team!

 

[MaxxuM]

It is going to have a sand bed, i'm just trying to get the rocks right right now. the most "unstable" parts are glued down and I still intend on adding liberal amounts of more glue. I have checked to make sure none of it is too close to the side walls and all sides seem fine to me. The nooks and hiding places were my main concern as I at first thought I hadn't left enough but thank you for confirming that!!

Did they say what kind of rock it was? Looks a little like seiryu I used to use for cichlid tanks.

I'd take a little more time sculpting the arrangement, leave space around it for easy hand access, and do a search on google for "rule of thirds aquascaping" to get a look at what other people are doing.

 

[Herides]

Did they say what kind of rock it was? Looks a little like seiryu I used to use for cichlid tanks.

I'd take a little more time sculpting the arrangement, leave space around it for easy hand access, and do a search on google for "rule of thirds aquascaping" to get a look at what other people are doing.

This was a while ago tbh so I may misremember the conversation, but when I asked about dry rock, the employee said they didnt have any other forms of marine dry rock other than these (and these were sitting in the marine section of the store under their saltwater fish shelves) and described them iirc as "meant for stacking", and they also pointed out the dry rock they had in their little freshwater area which was on the other side of the shop (none of that I took), so i'm pretty sure these should work more reef purposes i hope ;Nailbiting.

After seeing others talk about the sides I now will definitely take a more thorough examination of the sides and make sure I have space, and I heard about using the rule of thirds for this yesterday and upon doing so I took a cursory glance at it with the rule in mind and thought I did a good job of it, but i'll try it again, thanks!!!

 

[Herides]

I'm not a fan. It looks real cluttered, and the stack on the right doesn't have the feel of something in the ocean, it looks very man made.

Now no one likes a negative Nelly, and I'm sure ill catch some flack for saying it, but you did put it out there and asked for opinions. I did the same when I started my tank and I would have appreciated a negative comment.

The benefits of a 40b is the large footprint and shallow dimensions. Maybe you should try and leave more open sand space, and don't feel the need to go as vertical as you have gone.

No need to worry about negativity, this is what I need, and I agree with you that one of my main worries is there isn't that much space for bare sand and the 2 stacks do look a tad unnatural, I've mostly been trying to ride on the hope that my imagination can visualize of how the corals and such will cover it. That is sort of why I did go as high was to still enable plenty of sand space. Thanks!!!