aquascaping.

[stephen sykes]

im sure i speak for many. if you (like me) are forever changing/re-arranging your lr, whether adding a new coral and so fourth, and are never happy with the way your tank looks, can you experts give us some basic advice on how to make your tank look killer!

 

[Bmgrocks]

Im no expert but i've found that the best aquascapes are those that simulate nature....no s*** right,

but how do you create that in a aquarium using live rock

Go with the basic Shapes in the aquarium

Central Mound
Horse Shoe formation (front or back against a wall)
Triangle
or seperate "islands"

there is no right way to arrange your rock, its only preference

I personally am a fan of the HorseShoe formation, but I think that would require the most rock.

The only thing you can do is play around with it, leave it up for a day, and try again

 

[Absinthe]

My opinion?

Use one large rock (I like marshall island) as your rockwork and then fill with smaller rocks as needed.

I have one 9lb piece of MI in my tank with a few smaller pieces as "islands"

 

[stephen sykes]

this is me at the mo...

is this what you mean by horseshoe? more corals coming on payday!

 

[InvaderJim]

I'm defiantly not a big fan of my own rock work. It's defiantly due for a rearranging.

 

[tiffrobbins]

I like to make caves and I like to have a full look with my rock work. I don't like tanks that look like someone cheaped out on the live rock.

 

[slam308]

I must be a freak. I put the LR in the day we set up the tank and I've never changed it. Guess I got lucky, I just grabbed pieces out of the bucket and stuck 'em in.
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r258/slam308/Picture061.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
It's an old pic, we got snails, fish and recovering coralline now, but it's the best full tank shot. Any praise is greatly appreciated.

 

[InvaderJim]

I've rearranged mine twice today and I'm still not happy with it. I don't know what to do. =/

 

[victor_c3]

I was happy with my rock arrangements the first time I just placed it in my tank, but I made the mistake of re-arranging it. Now I can't seem to get it back to the way I had it.

In general, I like the boring mound/wall of rock look. I spaced the smalled pieces on the bottom of my tank and placed the big pieces on top so as to make a series of caves. I figure this is better for overall flow and it will create a cave area for fish to hide and chill out in if they so desire.

 

[Doglover_50]

I have a horshoe in my 70g, but nanos seem too small for this--so in my nanos I've gone with the mound look leaning against the back wall.

 

[burton14e7]

I like to create different steps for corals with different lighting requirements, then I always purchase a piece or two that I have predetermined for a shelf and create one of those too which gives me a nice over hang for shrimp to hang under and for low light pieces to be under. In my little 24 I have 2 tunnels and 1 shelf. I only got one large(for a nano) piece of fiji, the rest marshal island and tonga so that I would have interesting shapes to work with.