aquascape to vertical?

[benj2112]

I am having my first try at aquascaping and I have come up with something I think is half way decent. I do have some questions, though.

Is it to vertical? Think there is plenty of place to put corals?

Not enough places for fish to hide in? Should I attempt to chisel any hiding spots?

The red outline on the left is where I am thinking of breaking a different rock and placing it there to have it flow towards the front at a downward angle. The black line on the top is where the top of the tank would be (4ft x 2ft).

Thanks for any help.

 

[thegrun]

What types of coral do you intend to keep? I can't tell how far below the water line the top of the rocks are, but even with SPS corals or gorgonians it looks like there is enough room to me for corals. I agree opening up a cave/arch where outlined in red would be desirable for water flow and opening up a fish swimming lane. A couple of small rocks near the existing main rocks would provide some shelter for the fish, they need it particularly at night where they want a small cave or crevasse to sleep in. Overall it looks good to me. Be sure you keep at least 3" between the rocks and the side glass so you have room to clean the glass.

 

[benj2112]

I was thinking of filling that spot in red in with rock, but you are saying to chisel an opening between the taller rock and the lower round one?

 

[thegrun]

I would chisel out a passage way and add a rock at that location.

 

[JZinCO]

No thoughts on the chiseling but vertical can be a challenge. I have a rock going straight from the sand bed to over the water line. It's straight vertical.

Same surface area as if it was laying horizontal. There are challenges however. Epoxy and glue have to work against gravity. so I mostly put my lighter frags on vertical spots. My crabs have knocked off plenty of frags. Even so, vertical rocks have little overhangs of a 1-2cm which can be taken advantage of. Rocks also have plenty of small holes so I can slide in coral skeletons into holes or frag things onto old branchy coral skeletons.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

I like vertical rock scapes. The way I have built them in the past is to use apoxie sculpt and break apart larger solid rocks then glue them back together into the desired shape. Sometimes I just make several "pieces" then stack them like legos. When breaking the rocks up and gluing them together all the little branches and edges you make become interlocking pieces. I have built some pretty elaborate sculptures this way. I really like the results. Also it will make 20 pounds of rock cover the area of 50 pounds.