I absolutely suck at aquascaping

[cvrle1]

I was never artistic person, best I could draw was a stick man. Up until this point in my life it wasnt really too much of an issue, but I think it has finally caught up with me. I absolutely suck at aquascaping. Issue that I have is that I cant visualize what I can do with rocks that I have. I have a bunch of rocks, some small, some bigger boulders, all different shapes, but when I look at them I have absolutely no idea where to start and how to start creating aquascape with them. I kinda have an idea in my head on how I would like scape to look like, but have no idea how to take rocks that I have and mold them into what I want. I am afraid to just start randomly breaking, chiseling and cutting rocks as then I may break something I actually needed to be one piece later on.

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.

Tank is 110G 5' x 18" wide x 2' high.

Thanks

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

GO FOR IT - on a table or bench until you get what you want.
Take pictures as you go, even tag pieces on structures so it can be repeated.

 

[djryan2000]

I was never artistic person, best I could draw was a stick man. Up until this point in my life it wasnt really too much of an issue, but I think it has finally caught up with me. I absolutely suck at aquascaping. Issue that I have is that I cant visualize what I can do with rocks that I have. I have a bunch of rocks, some small, some bigger boulders, all different shapes, but when I look at them I have absolutely no idea where to start and how to start creating aquascape with them. I kinda have an idea in my head on how I would like scape to look like, but have no idea how to take rocks that I have and mold them into what I want. I am afraid to just start randomly breaking, chiseling and cutting rocks as then I may break something I actually needed to be one piece later on.

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.

Tank is 110G 5' x 18" wide x 2' high.

Thanks

Me too. I suggest watching these videos, they'll help -

https://youtu.be/S4eTdqBZnlw


https://youtu.be/A_k6EDHvrWc


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[HumbleFish]

Do you have a wife or girlfriend? I just let my wife tell me where to put the rocks, as she is much more artistic than I.

 

[cvrle1]

Do you have a wife or girlfriend? I just let my wife tell me where to put the rocks, as she is much more artistic than I.

I dont have either haha. I do have a good friend who is very artistic though. She will come by and see if she can help me out.

 

[cvrle1]

I kinda came up with one structure yesterday. It was complete fluke, but so far I like it (location and angle are not final). It did raise some questions thought that i wanted to inquire about

Few of the top pieces are barely touching one another, especially flat piece top right. How would you go about making this more secure? Even if I use glue and/or cement of some sort, there are very few points of contact between the 2 rocks. Should I try to build up shelf piece with smaller rocks using glue/cement and then connect to the bottom one, chisel away until it fits more securely, something else?

Since rock is heavy, and I have limited opening on the aquarium top due to acrylic brace, I will need to do this in 3 pieces. Once it is in the tank, should I connect all 3 pieces or leave them as separate? If I leave as separate, worried about one part falling over. If I connect, I wont be able to take out or remove if need be.

Thanks again for the help and tips so far.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

I would use a smaller piece between the fat rock & that small opening to the left of the
1000 in the last picture for more support. All of my rock is not glued.

 

[clevername]

Me too. I suggest watching these videos, they'll help -

https://youtu.be/S4eTdqBZnlw


https://youtu.be/A_k6EDHvrWc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bingo, i needed that. Just about to do my 7 foot tank

 

[djryan2000]

Bingo, i needed that. Just about to do my 7 foot tank

Thank god for BRS TV!


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[cvrle1]

Played around some more with the 1st structure. Got idea of seeing if I can build some sort of asymmetrical cove out of it. Here is what I came up with so far

There are 2" on all sides between structure and panel, so that there would be water movement, and so that acrylic cleaner can be used. Structure is almost 1/2 the tank height wise. One thing I am not sure is about water movement inside the cove. I will be using 2 gyre XF230s, so it should give me enough movement to move detritus as so on.

I also started playing with idea of doing "bonsai tree" structure on the left

Idea is to add 2 more longer "branches" so one would reach rule of 3rds point top left. Not sure how this will all work out, as i just started.

Any feedback critique, info is more than welcome.

 

[smokenax]

I used pvc with zip ties keeps everything together. I think what you got going is going to look good.

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[cody6766]

If you focus more on shelves (or 'branches') than loops, you'll probably come out with a better tank. Arches on arches on arches are enticing as a beginner, but they rarely look natural when covered with coral. I recommend you look up pics of natural reefs and see if you can emulate that. Also, look at the build pages for people who have much bigger tanks than you have, and then look at builds of similar sizes. I bet you'll find a way to make your little tank look more like the bigger tank if you play with the rock enough.

Don't be afraid to take a hammer to a rock or 3. Get some Water Weld (or similar), super glue gel (pick your favorite brand), zip ties, and a masonry drill bit. Play with the shapes, leave room for one or two 'islands' of rock in the sand bed and remember, you're placing your rock for growth 1-2 years from now, not the ideal look today. Build shelves and flat spots so you can glue corals and let them grow.

It's a challenge to do it right, so don't rush. Build a structure, like it, go to bed. Wake up, fix it and repeat as necessary. At that point, start gluing stuff together so you can reassemble it in the tank.

 

[cvrle1]

If you focus more on shelves (or 'branches') than loops, you'll probably come out with a better tank. Arches on arches on arches are enticing as a beginner, but they rarely look natural when covered with coral. I recommend you look up pics of natural reefs and see if you can emulate that. Also, look at the build pages for people who have much bigger tanks than you have, and then look at builds of similar sizes. I bet you'll find a way to make your little tank look more like the bigger tank if you play with the rock enough.

Don't be afraid to take a hammer to a rock or 3. Get some Water Weld (or similar), super glue gel (pick your favorite brand), zip ties, and a masonry drill bit. Play with the shapes, leave room for one or two 'islands' of rock in the sand bed and remember, you're placing your rock for growth 1-2 years from now, not the ideal look today. Build shelves and flat spots so you can glue corals and let them grow.

It's a challenge to do it right, so don't rush. Build a structure, like it, go to bed. Wake up, fix it and repeat as necessary. At that point, start gluing stuff together so you can reassemble it in the tank.

Thanks very much for the feedback. Yeah I am not sold on anything I did so far. That cove wasnt doing anything for me at all truth be told. Just started playing around and experimenting to see what I can come up with. I will use aquaforest stone fix and super glue (with accelerant), just need to 1st come up with something worth connecting permanently together haha.

 

[cody6766]

One thing I forgot to mention, that may seem to be 180* off from my previous post, is to remember to allow swimming room for fish. It's also important to keep gaps in your rock to allow for good circulation. The idea is to try to get as much surface area for coral mounting, while trying to keep the internal structure open for flow and swimming. So, don't discount arches or gaps all together. Just focus your attention on them in terms of flow and swim space, not open space facing the front glass.

A consequence of this is fish catching. If you have a ton of good hiding places, make sure you pick the right fish the first time. It doesn't limit you, but it forces you to think more critically about stocking.

Lastly, you can't look at enough build posts. Try to find the ones that go from bare to mature reef and steal every good feature others have posted. If it's a big tank, break your rock smaller and populate it with smaller corals. Beg, borrow, and steal is the mantra for aesthetics in this hobby. My tanks would never have been half as nice as they were/are without using ideas from some of the greats.

 

[cvrle1]

One thing I forgot to mention, that may seem to be 180* off from my previous post, is to remember to allow swimming room for fish. It's also important to keep gaps in your rock to allow for good circulation. The idea is to try to get as much surface area for coral mounting, while trying to keep the internal structure open for flow and swimming. So, don't discount arches or gaps all together. Just focus your attention on them in terms of flow and swim space, not open space facing the front glass.

A consequence of this is fish catching. If you have a ton of good hiding places, make sure you pick the right fish the first time. It doesn't limit you, but it forces you to think more critically about stocking.

Lastly, you can't look at enough build posts. Try to find the ones that go from bare to mature reef and steal every good feature others have posted. If it's a big tank, break your rock smaller and populate it with smaller corals. Beg, borrow, and steal is the mantra for aesthetics in this hobby. My tanks would never have been half as nice as they were/are without using ideas from some of the greats.

One of the reasons why I went with caves at least is because I read from quite few people that scape should have them, so that it gives fish room to hide, sleep and run away into if they are being bullied. Without these places, tank can have issues fish wise. In a way it makes sense, but on the other hand there are many aquariums out there than dont have caves at all. And it looks like they are just fine without them.

In terms of stealing from others, I definitely want to do that, but am finding it a bit challenging to find pictures of tank that shows both what scape looked like and what tank looks year(s) down the road with corals and so on. Its always either one or the other, but rare to find examples of both.

Thanks again for all the info. Much appreciated.

 

[cody6766]

One of the reasons why I went with caves at least is because I read from quite few people that scape should have them, so that it gives fish room to hide, sleep and run away into if they are being bullied.

That's true, but they're going to look for tighter places than under arches. It is important to build space in your aquascape for fish to sleep/hide, but it doesn't have to be complicated. Just try to build in some overhangs and gaps in your base rocks so fish can swim through. That happens naturally during the stacking process so long as you don't try to make sure that every side of every rock is pressed against another. I'll try to upload some pics to show what I'm talking about.

Sorry it's huge. Take note of the major shapes. The tall piece on the back left is pretty much its own, and very close to the back wall. Same goes for the tall piece on the back right. There's a smaller chunk that makes the front right with a small arch that reaches forward. Moving to the front left structure, it has small pass-throughs to the middle and the back. Lastly, I put a chunk of LR center of right that spans the front right and back right structures, creating another overhang. There's a bunch of open space in and around each major structure. I think I joined them in two main pieces, possibly 3. Once it was in the tank and the contact points were glued together, I added smaller rocks around the base to fill it out. Don't try to build one solid rock out of the stack, try to build an open structure , kind of like what you get if you stacked cups or glasses into a 3D pyramid. THat will give you the holes, tunnels and caves that will keep your fish happy and your tank cleaner.

 

[cvrle1]

May be just me, but I dont see picture(s)

 

[cody6766]

Crap...I linked a facebook picture and apparently failed. It shows for me, but must not show for the rest of the group. Sorry, looks like no pics.
Follow the stacked cup analogy and borrow and steal from tanks in the build section. Don't get caught up in size. you can always adjust rock size to make the proportions fit your tank. Mine's not Reef of the Month gem, and I certainly didn't design it without help from browsing other great builds.

Search for my 120g build on RC. If Photo Bucket didn't kill the links, you'll see the same concepts in action. It's from back in about 2014-2015, so not a currently running tank.

 

[cvrle1]

Thanks either way. I shall look for your build thread and go from there.

 

[cvrle1]

After taking some time and looking at bunch of pics, came up with few new things. Got annoyed last night, as I was wasting time just standing around and looking at rocks, so took masonry bit, drill, fiberglass rods and went at it. Came up with 2 structures

Right side:

https://youtu.be/p4glY8MmGkw

Left side:

https://youtu.be/LPtnkZrwaOY

Right side max height is 12", so 1/2 the tank height. Left side is around 14-15" at the highest point. I started adding random small pieces (being held by rubber bands) as they are too small to drill, and want to see what it would look like. Hope that by adding these to the left side, it looks more like rocks, and not just boulders stacked on top of one another. Feedback, critique, and so on always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks