Aquascaping help

[wookiefever]

Hello there,

I really need some help with aquascaping. As you can tell from the picture I have made the berlin wall quite well but that is about all I can do. Any suggestions would be great.

Thank you in advance.

 

[thegrun]

I would make a break in the rocks to create two "islands" of rock and build the islands a little higher than what you have now.

 

[wookiefever]

Hmm okay, how would you go about that?

 

[A.Astore]

Are you relying only on them securely stacking or do you have something to help hold them together? If you don't have something to help secure them, I would suggest getting some because of the rock types your have. You don't have a lot of big sturdy pieces to help support a higher structure from what I can tell.

On that note, I agree with two separate structures of varying height. Taking all of the smaller center pieces out would be a good starting point because it looks like you already have the larger pieces to the sides. You can build out a little just try to work up more than out on one and maybe out a bit more than up on the other. Are you planning to have this as a reef or FOWLR? You have some nice shelf pieces in that stack. If you would drill and peg/epoxy a bit you could have some awesome shelves built into your aquascape.

Make sure you don't rush this part because if you aren't in love with it now, there is a good chance that next year at this time you will be talking about pulling it all out and redoing it. Love it now!

 

[wookiefever]

I am planning on doing reef long term. I don't have anything holding them together. My only concern about removing them to attach them together is the die off and also that I have 3 fish already

 

[wookiefever]

New design. I really like it but I'm not sure there is enough shelf space for corals. Further not enough holes for fish. But it is holding.

Tried to drill but it just broke pieces and none of the epoxy or glue I had would stick without the rocks dying off.

What do you guys think?

 

[FishAddict87]

Chisel and hammer to some rocks. This way you can have more options to create the two island look.

 

[FishAddict87]

live rock can stay outside for a few hours for the epoxy to dry/cure. I would recommend emarco for epoxy. looks good though

 

[wookiefever]

Do you think there is enough space for corals and fish? I might make a small shelf connecting the two structures. I have instant ocean epoxy but it wasn't sticking. Would super glue work?

 

[BrianKC]

Do you think there is enough space for corals and fish? I might make a small shelf connecting the two structures. I have instant ocean epoxy but it wasn't sticking. Would super glue work?

There have been some other posts that talk about making a sandwich of the two. Mush up your epoxy, then put a layer of super glue gel on it. Press the frag/rock/whatever into the gel-coated side of the epoxy. Repeat on the other side. The superglue gives instant hold, the epoxy gives structure and longevity.

 

[first29gallon]

You have a nice set up there but I suggest being a bit more random with the aquascaping. Right now it looks like two mounds and while it doesn't need much more changing, taking a few rocks off eat mound and making them uneven and "natural" will do wonders for the look. Also take a few to make one-rock islands around. Not too many and not too big. keeping open substrate is a good. We just want a more natural look.

 

[OrQidz]

Try for something partway between the two pics. Instead of a straight wall or two mountains, take a bit off the mountains and try some smaller hills.

When I need inspiration I just search aquascaping threads or google images.

Sometimes just seeing it a different way helps.

 

[PatW]

Wookie,

Your 1.0 scape was a rock wall which as you have noticed is uninspiring.

Your 2.0 scape had two virtually identical regular cone shaped islands.

I think you can improve 2.0 by

A. Different sized islands. One island can be 50-100 percent bigger than the other.

B. Island shape. Make the islands less symmetric. Have benches, a secondary peak, a saddle or something.

C. Smaller islands. A few small islands of different sizes might give the impression that your big islands grew organically.

Of course, there is what one wants to do and your constraints. We want rock work that is open. We want hiding places for fish. We want stability. We need places to put the corals. Our rock has limited shapes. So you do what you can.

 

[wookiefever]

how is this looking guys?

 

[kindaconstant]

Looks good!

 

[wookiefever]

Thanks [emoji2]

 

[CarrieB]

Not an expert, but I think it's much better.

 

[Orikai66]

The latest one looks pretty good any chance i could get you guys to make suggestions on mine?
Its a 10 gal. Im not yet sure what types of corals i want. So i want to keep my options open

 

[wookiefever]

Looks pretty good already, maybe find a way to throw a shelf in?

 

[oh207]

Nice aquascape. Seems to follow the 5:3 golden ratio rule.