Jaylivi1212
Active Member
Is there anyone possibly way that I could change this to make it look more appealing?
http://i.imgur.com/a0ay4Rr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a0ay4Rr.jpg
Rock stacking / Aquascaping
- Thread starter Jaylivi1212
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nautical_nathaniel
Indecision may or may not be my problem.
More rock would probably help, that's a big tank for such a little pile of rocks.
Jaylivi1212
Active Member
It's a 110G high. That's almost 90 pounds of rock.
nautical_nathaniel
Indecision may or may not be my problem.
I would add some branching rock or some more base rock to give the aquascape some height. You could also rearrange the rock you have to make a couple taller mounds of rocks instead of a long short pile.
Tiger-Paws
Active Member
Agreed all a lot more rock.
Jaylivi1212
Active Member
How much more pounds of rocks do you think i would need?
The design depends on what you want. That is a nice minimalist design and will allow for a lot of swimming room and taller corals.
I seriously doubt that is 90 lbs of rock. 90 lbs of pukani would have almost filled the tank. That looks like reef saver, so i would expect almost half a tank full. (you have 5 pieces - do each weigh almost 20 lbs??) Tonga branch weighs a lot per size so you would need more.
You only need as much rock as you want for your design. If you like it, then go with it. If you want more, then add more. I know there is a conventional wisdom that says you need so many pounds per gallon, but with today's nutrient export options (skimmers, nopox, gfo, biopellets, chaeto, algae reactors, etc) I don't think the rock per gallon holds true.
ps - the smurf will add a lot of nutrient export on his own ;Smuggrin
I seriously doubt that is 90 lbs of rock. 90 lbs of pukani would have almost filled the tank. That looks like reef saver, so i would expect almost half a tank full. (you have 5 pieces - do each weigh almost 20 lbs??) Tonga branch weighs a lot per size so you would need more.
You only need as much rock as you want for your design. If you like it, then go with it. If you want more, then add more. I know there is a conventional wisdom that says you need so many pounds per gallon, but with today's nutrient export options (skimmers, nopox, gfo, biopellets, chaeto, algae reactors, etc) I don't think the rock per gallon holds true.
ps - the smurf will add a lot of nutrient export on his own ;Smuggrin
Caves, lots of them. BTW, you can use a cold chisel and knock chunks off the rock to make it look a bit more organic. You can also epoxy bits of it together to get a look and feel that you like.
Jaylivi1212
Active Member
It's about 87 pounds i think and it is reef saver.
The smurf and pineapple was my girlfriend's way of contributing to the tank. She actually bought a hollowed out spongebob.
I'm going to order another 100 pounds in much smaller pieces.Caves, lots of them. BTW, you can use a cold chisel and knock chunks off the rock to make it look a bit more organic. You can also epoxy bits of it together to get a look and feel that you like.
Instigate
Valuable Member
Try to stack taller, you don't need to have rock on all of the sand. Some open sand looks nice. And like said above, if you get more, get pukani or tonga. You'll get more bang for your buck imo.
Jaylivi1212
Active Member
What exactly is the difference?
Instigate
Valuable Member
Tonga and pukani are much less dense. At the 45 second mark there is a good visual example.
Jaylivi1212
Active Member
I sorta like the reef saver though. Which one looks way more natural?
savetheocean
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I like having two different mounds
Instigate
Valuable Member
Reef saver definitely has it's benefits. Being man made there is no chance of pests and it's not taken from the ocean. But the pukani is lighter so you get more per pound as well as having much more surface area than other options. Also the pukani is actually from the ocean so it is deffinately the more natural look I think. Not that reef saver is unnatural in any way. I think it looks great too. If I had it to do over I would have gotten the tonga branch and shelf as well as pukani. I love the look of the reefs with branch as the base.
Jaylivi1212
Active Member
Do you have an example of this?
Instigate
Valuable Member
I looked around a bit but didn't find it. I was watching some video on youtube and saw some but can't find it now. It made for a very open bottom.
Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
Def. more rock. I used marco rocks with several pcs of pukani (it has tons of crevices) and a shelf. Some nice swim throughs would be nice for fish as well as some depth texture. If you do a cave, make sure you can see into it. My first layout had a huge cavern and I could not see or access into it. When I redid my rock scape recently (to get fish out to put in QT after marine velvet) I redid the design. I ended up with more sand which I lacked for corals that like the sand bed and more swim throughs for the fish and lots of niches for shy fish. Look at your design with what fish you want so you can create the perfect home for them, as well as coral placement. Also, don't cement everything. If you have to tear down, at least be able to remove in sections.
Jaylivi1212
Active Member
I really like your build.
