New 240 Aquascape!!!

reefshadow

reefshadow

New member
Hey, all. I spent the last two days reaquascaping my 240 mixed reef. I removed about 30 pounds of the live rock and all the frags and 2 dinner plate sized sarcophytons. I added some REALLY nice branchy base rock which was easier to stack (thanks, Skysdale!!!!) I wanted a much more open look and to allow the corals I have to reach their full potential. I did a series of pillars connected by ledges, and kept the highest points a good 10 inches from the water surface. What do you think?

This is the old, YUCKY 'scape-

20899front.jpg


This is the new, SWEET 'scape (I think so anyway)-

20899Picture_367.jpg


Left-

20899left1.jpg


Left middle-

20899middlel.jpg


Right middle-

20899middler.jpg


Right-

20899rights.jpg


So anyhoo, there ya go. Alot of my corals are still unhappy, and I need to vaccum the sand. I had alot of the old rock sitting on it, and it was incredible how much stuff came out from under there when I moved them. Ick. I think it will be alot nicer once the base rock gets covered by coralline and the corals expand again. I'll get some more pics a few months down the road.

What do you think?

:)
 
im just curious, are your corals attached to large rocks? or are they attached to small ones?

i appologize if i sound like im being an ***, but im not meaning to take any personal shots at you here, and this would come to mind if i noticed this with anybodys tank but,.....

it looks like you have a pretty big and nice tank there, im sure its very expensive too! but, why would you go and tear it down like that to change the rockscape? is it becasue your like the rest of us who have no patience, and were not satisfied with the asthetic value of the rock work? or did you change it to better accomodate living\grownig conditions within the tank?

im really not trying to bash here, honestly, it looks GREAT! im just wondering why you dont let everything grow into place, "cementing" itself permanent?
 
Thanks, all!-

why would you go and tear it down like that to change the rockscape? is it becasue your like the rest of us who have no patience, and were not satisfied with the asthetic value of the rock work? or did you change it to better accomodate living\grownig conditions within the tank?
Click to expand...

Both, actually :p

a few of the corals have been with me since the beginning of my reefing hobby, 4-5 years. I've been through a succession of tanks, from a 29 to a 55 then 80, 125, and now 240. The 240 has been up almost a year now, and I never made a very good effort to 'scape it. I have a few large colonies of sps that will need alot of vertical room to grow. I want to have fewer nice very large colonies instead of a whole bunch of tiny ones. I think that looks kinda cluttered. Alot of the rock was just dumped on the sand, and flow wasn't very good underneath. It was also cluttered with about 40 frags, so I set up a 55 gallon frag tank for all of those. So it was aesthetics and functionality I was looking to improve.

Some of the colonies did have to be unstuck but not very many. Most of them were softies and will rebound just fine. I fact, some of the attached ones HAD to be unstuck, they were growing on multiple pieces of lr and starting to encroach on other more sensitive corals.

I may put one of the huge sarcos back in there, probably after radically fragging it. I'm going to let what I have grow into the 'scape and see what I think down the road.

:)
 
Oh yeah, alot of the rock I removed was lace rock and tufa. It was nice because it was very mature, totally covered w/ caoralline, sponges, worms, etc. but it wasn't very porous and not very branchy. It was hard to scape with.

:)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6860982#post6860982 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefshadow
Thanks, all!-



Both, actually :p

a few of the corals have been with me since the beginning of my reefing hobby, 4-5 years. I've been through a succession of tanks, from a 29 to a 55 then 80, 125, and now 240. The 240 has been up almost a year now, and I never made a very good effort to 'scape it. I have a few large colonies of sps that will need alot of vertical room to grow. I want to have fewer nice very large colonies instead of a whole bunch of tiny ones. I think that looks kinda cluttered. Alot of the rock was just dumped on the sand, and flow wasn't very good underneath. It was also cluttered with about 40 frags, so I set up a 55 gallon frag tank for all of those. So it was aesthetics and functionality I was looking to improve.

Some of the colonies did have to be unstuck but not very many. Most of them were softies and will rebound just fine. I fact, some of the attached ones HAD to be unstuck, they were growing on multiple pieces of lr and starting to encroach on other more sensitive corals.

I may put one of the huge sarcos back in there, probably after radically fragging it. I'm going to let what I have grow into the 'scape and see what I think down the road.

:)
Click to expand...
ahh, i see, and understand! i have a very small 10g tank now, its been running about 3 years. ive broken it down and changed it about 5 or 6 times actually.
at first i was impatient, then i needed more room for new corals, then i needed to re-arange for the growing corals, then i wanted it to look good. now i have a horribly packed tank with awfull water flow, and helcka algae! ive spent 3 years making my tankl exactly what i wanted it to be, and now its covered in algae....:(
im terribly dissapointed, and plan on taking it down and up-grading to a larger tank now.

anyways, i really have no idea what that has to do with your rockwork, you tank looks freakin' awsome, and i hope that it stays the way it is for at least a few years. it will be nice to see the tank after all thoes corals grow out a bit!

my next tank will be an experiment.(as soon as i get the dang thing going!) i plan on making my rock scape, and only adding very small frags, and colonys. and try to do it all at once so it will grow in natural formations, IMO thats what makes the tank look best. seeing corals growing in natural formations.

sorry to go on and on like this but im pretty bored right now, your tank looks great, and good luck.........
cheers
 
Beautiful tank.... I especially like how open it is, you can definately see all your fish and coral better. Nice tank.
 
Reefshadow,

I really like it. After first viewing the thread I browsed some more and came back to it. It really is easy on the eyes. I would love to come back to this tank in a year......
 
It looks great--glad that rock is working so well for you!

In regards to the comments of how low the rockwork is (which I first noticed as well), I think we forget a lot of times--or aren't even aware of the fact--that fish in the wild tend to swim over or above the reef, not in front of it like most aquascaped tanks force them to do. Also, too many people don't take into consideration future growth rates and space that mature corals will need...but I think reefshadow has done a great job in anticipating their future needs.

reefshadow, are those the hairy shrooms you gave me on the left side of the tank?! If so, it looks like they might end up eating my tank alive...!
 
I think it looks great, much better. Now you have to be patient and let it mature from this point . Great job, you can do mine anytime. Question, did you use any adhesive to get those rock formations?
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6863133#post6863133 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skylsdale
In regards to the comments of how low the rockwork is (which I first noticed as well), I think we forget a lot of times--or aren't even aware of the fact--that fish in the wild tend to swim over or above the reef, not in front of it like most aquascaped tanks force them to do.
Click to expand...
Excellent point. I like the new aquascaping. It looks quite natural. Great job.
 
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