Common Aquascaping Mistakes

Tradewinds

Tradewinds

Well-known member
Share with me, if you will, the mistakes you have made in regards to aquascaping.

The biggest regret I have is bonding 25+ pounds of live rock together with epoxy. In hindsight, I should have used another method to stablize my rock columns; a method that would have allowed me a way to move/remove portions of the rock as needed.
 
Over doing the rockwork and making flow an issue that leads to dead spots and detritus build up. I'd prefer a more open look to, also allows corals to grow in better.
 
Less is more as stated above and not a fan of solid rock walls along the back of the tank.
 
Essense said:
Over doing the rockwork and making flow an issue that leads to dead spots and detritus build up. I'd prefer a more open look to, also allows corals to grow in better.
Click to expand...

Agreed, my first mistake was adding way too much live rock to a 75 gallon tank. I had horrible nitrate issues. :hammer:

I moved a 90 gallon reef tank in the living room and moved the old 75 gallon into my man cave, and poof, nitrate issues are gone. I also added biopellets so that has helped some but my nitrates were soaring around 160 after 20 gallon water changes.

An open rock scape is the way to go. I am very happy with my current scaping, and will never do what I did before, rookie mistake...
 
Making sure all glass visible to the viewer has enough space between it and the rockwork for the mag float to fit between!

Using enough epoxy to prevent rock slides but sparingly enough for me to easily breack the rocks apart for remodeling.
 
In the past I've piled rock too closely together, reducing flow and causing detritus buildup, leaned rocks against the glass, and made things too symmetrical.

My most recent 'scape was pretty open, created using fiberglass dowels and drilled pieces of rock. I was very happy with it, and will be trying to make something similar with the new tank. Drilling rock isn't easy, but it makes aquascaping much easier (and easy to take apart and rearrange too).
 
making a wall out of LR and adding too much LR were my 2 biggest mistakes (dont have pics to show, but would guess a LR wall looks almost the same in every tank). an open design with good flow is much better IMO
 
I actually enjoy a lot of rock but I never simply stack or walls. I always have big swim through caves cutting through. The 3d background IMO is awesome. You can lean rocks on it and never have to worry about cleaning the back of the tank.

I like creating overhangs as well. The fish always like hanging under the overhangs.

I've been doing a reed for about 20 years now and I don't think I've ever enjoyed the looks of my tank as much as i do now.

reef1-1_zpsbc90cedc.jpg
 
Looks good, Junkyard.

That's the way I'm going to go - backwall foam/rock, that hides the equipment and gives some overhangs, but leaves the rest of the tank to have rock jut out into and create some negative space.
 
When I got my 60g cube (1992) I wanted to do something unique. Being an active diver, I tried my best to recreate a reef scene. I used a piece of pumice I got from the local landscaping company that weighed in at about #150, then spent the next month or so in my basement (no garage) with hammer, chisel, and electric drill with several large spade bits to carve it to it's finished shape. By then it was down to ~#80. I put it in the tank and added water. Much to my surprise, it FLOATED! Drained the tank, dried the rock and then used a couple tubes of silicone to fix it to the bottom. All in all, it has been a good tank, but because the single rock in the tank is fixed to the bottom, there is no way to reaquascape, much less catch the occasional troublemaker. The only way to catch anything is to drain the tank almost completely, until the fish are pretty much just flopping around in the sand.

The good news is - after a recent move of the tank to allow for new carpet, the wife has agreed to allow me to upgrade!!! I'll be ordering the 120 tomorrow. (no pumice this time!!!)
 
I love the wall look but you should make sure to leave enough room between it and the glass (front and back) for good flow around the scape.
 
Way to much live rock. Luckily I hadn't epoxied them together, which leads to mistake 2. Never epoxied rock and had a rock slide.
 
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