Need Some Advice On My Scape...

[raven312]

Hi all,

LOOONNG time lurker here, decided to finally set up another tank (after 8 yrs). This one is an Oceanic Biocube 29. I have the tank set up and am letting it cycle.

My filtration is 20 lbs of live sand (keep debating about adding more); 30 lbs of live rock (one HUGE piece, which I'll get to in a minute...); in the middle compartment in the back I have 2 sponges, filter floss, and Chemipure. I'm eventually going to add some chaeto and a light. I'm still running the stock pump. The fans are WAY too loud for me, so I decided to pull the top off and run a Kessil A160WE and just put a net top. I also ordered a Jebao RW-4. Those are all the upgrades I'm going to do for a while.

I've added Seachem Prime to the water for the last tw days (set up yesterday). I'll run tests tomorrow. I know the pH is 8.1and the temp is 78.1, holding steady there.

Here's where I'm looking for suggestion: One of my rocks is HUGE, about 22 lbs. Part of me wants to run a chisel through it and split it up and the other part of me sees and opportunity to showcase some really nice corals (softies and LPS). The inverts would probably have a field day climbing on it. But it looks so massive. What do you think: leave as-is or break it up?? (Please excuse the glass; I didn't rinse the vinegar off well enough, I guess...)

 

[Coralreefer1]

No picture?!!

 

[Sk8r]

It's weird, and its holey---which means water will move through it. Cultivate a lot of bristleworms to keep those passages clean, and that's just kind of a nice unique piece I'd leave it. That arch could well support some coral growth even an archi of mushrooms...got any notions re softie or stony?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

There's no picture.

 

[ericarenee]

It's weird, and its holey---which means water will move through it. Cultivate a lot of bristleworms to keep those passages clean, and that's just kind of a nice unique piece I'd leave it. That arch could well support some coral growth even an archi of mushrooms...got any notions re softie or stony?

Is it just me or are you making this up from your imagination..
Nice description... :bounce1:

 

[raven312]

There were pictures (I still see them!). Not sure what happened. I'll reattach... LOL

 

[raven312]

It's weird, and its holey---which means water will move through it. Cultivate a lot of bristleworms to keep those passages clean, and that's just kind of a nice unique piece I'd leave it. That arch could well support some coral growth even an archi of mushrooms...got any notions re softie or stony?

I definitely want to do softies. The arch of mushrooms sounds like a great idea. I'm partial to ricordea and toadstools. I know I want zoas and polyps also. The rest, I will plan as I see the tank grow out and as certain compatible corals become available.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Nice set up. The only thing I see is the rock on the far right. It is too close to the glass meaning cleaning it will be challenging. I also like to build my rock work up so that a piece of my rock sticks out of the water. Makes it more like a reef as often times you see coral and rock sticking out of a natural reef. Plus Imhave snails and hermits that will sit on the rock out of the water for hours!

 

[Xxero]

I can see both sets of pictures - I like it. Personally, I would leave it alone.

 

[ericarenee]

I can see the images now . I think it looks nice as is...I would also add to not try to please others. its your tank and you gotta look at it everyday. if you do not like no matter what we say .From my experience if your like me you will NOT be happy so change it ....

Good Luck and happy Reefing..

 

[rt67ghy]

I can see the images now . I think it looks nice as is...I would also add to not try to please others. its your tank and you gotta look at it everyday. if you do not like no matter what we say .From my experience if your like me you will NOT be happy so change it ....

Good Luck and happy Reefing..

+1

Just go with what pleases you. When I did my scaping the guy I got my rocks from on seeing it asked me whether I'm going to aquascape or leave the rocks as they are. lol. One person's idea of aquascaping is another person's idea of a pile of rocks.

 

[raven312]

I can see the images now . I think it looks nice as is...I would also add to not try to please others. its your tank and you gotta look at it everyday. if you do not like no matter what we say .From my experience if your like me you will NOT be happy so change it ....

Good Luck and happy Reefing..

I'm definitely not the people pleaser sort. LOL However, I knew someone would touch on what's bugging me about it that I couldn't put my finger on. I initially imagined more of a central island with smaller, isolated islands (something like the Bahamas...) This chunk of rock won't let me achieve that in this tank. To Coralreefer1's point, since I'm going to leave it in its behemoth form, I'm going to move it out from the glass and compress the structure a bit. That'll get me closer to what I wanted. When I get a larger tank I'll move this one over and bring over some smaller rocks (that'll be several months from now, though...) It really helps to be around a group that's been there. Thanks!

 

[raven312]

+1

Just go with what pleases you. When I did my scaping the guy I got my rocks from on seeing it asked me whether I'm going to aquascape or leave the rocks as they are. lol. One person's idea of aquascaping is another person's idea of a pile of rocks.

LOL You're right. I think I've figured it out. Without dismantling the whole thing, I'm going to play with it just a little. I'll post new pics when I get it. (It really won't look much different, just a bit more compressed...)

 

[raven312]

The difference is very subtle but it adds more room to the tank and will be easier to clean. The biggest takeaway from this exercise was not to cut my big rock up. This is a view from the top. There are some interesting caves that the fish should like:



From the front I still have the basic shape, with the bridge that should make a nice "garden" for some zoas or mushrooms:



It's still not as small as I'd originally envisioned but that's not going to happen with this tank, this rock. I'm good with that now. Thanks for input. It really made me look for a compromise that I could live with.