Oh the changes made

[weekendplayer]

Hey everyone. I just reaquascaped my tank and reworked the light rack and was wondering what you guys think. At first I just had the standard rock wall but was not very happy with how it looked. So I took some 1/2 in PVC and made some shelves for the rock work. I find with the new layout it opened up the middle for swim room. I'm not really sure about the right side just yet. I don't really like all the PVC showing. I know that in a few months the coralline will cover it so will see. I also reworked my light rack. The old rack was made of wood and I couldn't move it out of the way when I needed to get into the tank. I was on Melv's website and saw his light rack. I based my design off of his. but I added two 24in drawer glides vertically so that I could raise the rack out of the way for cleaning and water changes. I think the project came out pretty well, what do you guys think?


Before

After

And the light rack

 

[sir_dudeguy]

wow thats cool! Cant wait till you get some corals growing to cover that table thing, and then it will look way awsome. If i were you, i'd try to glue a piece of zoo onto the pvc frame of that table on the right...then once its completely covered, it would look way cool

 

[Zoos]

The right side is cool, will look nice when it is covered up.

 

[weekendplayer]

Thnaks for the comments. I was alittle concerned about the right side. I might try your suggestion and get some corals to grow on the PVC never thought of that.

 

[weekendplayer]

bump

 

[ACBlinky]

The light rack is great! The PVC showing looks a little raw right now, but keep in mind most corals you buy will come attached to some rock, so there's another opportunity to cover it up a bit. You could epoxy frags or rubble to the PVC as well. The overall shape of the aquascape is much more pleasing to the eye, the tank is going to look great in a few months

 

[jasob]

I've been considering change my aquascaping to something similar to your setup as well. I've always thought if I use pcv racks I'll use something to cover up the pcv. Maybe small peices of rock attached to it, or aragocrete (sp?) covered pcv.

In the long run pcv blends in eventually, I just lack patience, I think everything you've done is a great upgrade, especially the light racks!

 

[sir_dudeguy]

well i know of a local guy that has made that diy rock stuff (might be that aragocrete...idk what its called...just diy rock lol) and he put it around pvc pipes and you cant tell the difference. He also put it around other odd stuff, like beer bottles, little toys (lol, weird i know) and other stuff i cant remember, but it all looked cool actualy. It wasnt all fake looking like you would think (mostly cuz you couldnt tell the shape of the toys and stuff anymore).

Also, theres this black foam stuff...i cant remember the name, but all the locals by me use the stuff so if you wanna know i can find out. But you basically just spray it on and it bubbles up and looks way real. Like rock. Some of them use it around their pvc for that purpose...and then like every 5 inches they've drilled holes in the pvc (and foam) so that they can have a powerhead pushing water thru the pvc and make it like a spraybar thing...way cool. But most just use it as a background thing and after 3 months, you seriously cant tell the difference between the foam and the actual rock. Just dont get an urchin cuz they eat off all the coraline on the foam and then it will peal away bits of it and make it look weird.

 

[weekendplayer]

Thanks for all the nice comments. It makes me feel better about the PVC. I think I'll just wait until I either get some more coral or the coraline starts to grow on it.