Critique my rock work.

Mr. Brooks

Mr. Brooks

MASVC Member
Took me forever but I finally got my rock work set up. This is going to be an SPS dominated tank. I wanted plenty of room for the corals to grow out in, while still leaving room for fish to swim above. I'll be using 3 - 400 watt metal halides in Lumen Bright reflectors. I know a lot of people try to avoid the "rock wall" look. But with the dimensions of the tank (72x24x30) I didn't have much of a choice. I wanted the maximum amount of real estate I could get for coral placement. Tell me what you think. Feel free to be honest.

Full tank shot.
<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture013.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture013.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Side shot.
<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture016.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture016.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Right side.
<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture015.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture015.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Left side.
<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture014.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture014.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I'm not very happy with the top of the left side. I'll probably re-do it.
 
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Looks good, lots of places to put corals. My only concern is the strength of it, are the rocks just stacked or they glued/reinforced? How are you going to do flow? It will look nice once it's all grown in.
 
They're all stacked. It's suprisingly strong. I used mostly large pieces. I had planned on using acrylic rods but decided not to in the end. Seemed like it would take too much time and planning. I justed wanted to get it done.

I have a closed loop with a Super Dart and an OM 4-way. The outputs are on the top four corners. The sump return nozzles stradle the overflow and push water behind the rock. I plan on adding at least one Vortech with a battery back up. Maybe a second Vortech in the future.
 
looks alittle too flat. dont get me wrong, it looks nice, and maybe withthe corals itllc hange my mind but untill then i would try to get some valleys in the middle and some peaks on the top, just my 2 cents.
 
Looks good to me too. I re-did my aquascaping about a year ago and wound up using PVC pipe to reinforce my three towers. Mine is a 180 pentagon so it's got some really difficult reaches for cleaning and I kept knocking over my rock work. Now when I accidentally bump the rockwork it just sways and stays. I'm so happy I decided to put in the extra work to drill, especially as my SPS grow out. It hurt me so to "accidentally frag" my montis and millies. Good luck to you!

Mark
 
yeah it looks too much like a table. Add some more structure to make it look less man-made. Maybe make one peak on one side of the tank and slope the rest of the rock downward creating the openness you wanted but not be all flat.
 
The pictures don't really show the depth. There are several valleys in between the rock. I'm thinking some kind of peak on the left? Keep in mind, this is just the base structure for lots and lots of SPS corals. The corals are what will give it a more natural look. At least that's the idea. I really like ledges, can you tell? lol
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13732692#post13732692 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by geekreef_05
Id built taller. the top half looks empty.
Click to expand...

i think what he wants is for the coral to fill in that top space and to leave space for fish to swim, so in my opinion the top doenst look empty for the purpose he going for. but it might take a while to get that look while waiting for the corals to grow in, so thats why i reccomended some more peaks and valleys
 
leave it flat... it wont look flat when you get sps in there!

I would buy some aquamend (home depot) or aquaputty (reef store) and put some of those rocks together. Even if you do not do all of them even some will help with stability
 
looks alittle too flat. dont get me wrong, it looks nice, and maybe withthe corals itllc hange my mind but untill then i would try to get some valleys in the middle and some peaks on the top, just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I agree with this
 
I like it for all the room you will have for corals. Stadium seating to maximize capacity :) I think it will look great when it's grown in.
 
Thanks everyone! I changed the left around a bit. I'm really happy with it now. Tell me what you think. That top piece is leaning a little bit to the left. I straightened it out a bit since I took the picture. I plan to use some aquaputty to hold it level.

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture020.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture020.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture019.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture019.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture018.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture018.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=Picture017.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/Picture017.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
Looks good. It is just the foundation for all your coral growth. The only tweek I would make is take that one piece in the middle(above the 2nd opening from the left), and work it into either side to give a nice opening kind of seperating the 2 structures. Like I said just a tweek!
 
there we go, thats what im saying. see, now you still have max room for coral growth and fish swiming space, but now it looks alot more natural. nice work
 
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