The Force is with me...

sg1838

New member
Well, so far I don't think I've posted any pictures of my tank, and it is still a far cry from many of your tanks on here, but I thought I would post a few pictures, especially since my rock stack has been infused with The Force from the Jedi Master himself, Stephen, from The Ocean Connection. So here's a before and after picture of my tank, along with one now without a flash so that you can really see what it looks like:

Before (I really didn't like my old rock stack.)
aquariumbefore.jpg


After
aquariumafter.jpg


After without the Flash
aquariumafternf.jpg


What's really amazing (and doesn't really show up so well in the pictures) is how much more DEPTH my tank has now than before. Before I had a mound of rock - functional, but not exactly aesthetically pleasing. Now I feel like I have a reef, with caves and crevices that the fish and inverts can go in and out of. I just LOVE my new stack, and can't wait to populate it with beautiful frags from all of your tanks! :D

Of course, there is a downside...with all these caves and crevices, things disappear, and being the worrywart that I am, it causes me some undue stress when my fishies go missing for a few hours. BAD FISHIES!

:sad1:
^^^^^^^
That's me pacing back in forth in front of my tank waiting for one of my lost fish to reappear.

Anyway, if any of you are less than artistically inclined like me, I wouldn't hesitate to give Stephen at The Ocean Connection a call.
 
A couple of more of some of my new additions to the tank, while I had the camera out:

Frogspawn
frogspawn.jpg


Anemone
anemone.jpg


Hammer
hammer.jpg
 
we should all remember.....lets not put personal ideas above anything else If he has the RAC STAK Sweet but remember there are several others in the Rochester area that can do the same
 
it's better than before but it looks too symmetrical IMO. I would personally remove a couple of the pieces that are connecting the pillars together. or maybe remove some of the rock on the right side altogether to reduce the height and make more of a gradual slope.
 
we should all remember.....lets not put personal ideas above anything else If he has the RAC STAK Sweet but remember there are several others in the Rochester area that can do the same

You have obviously missed the point of this thread. The OP was saying thank you and showing off the nice work another member has done. He is obviously excited and wanted to share his tank with us. This is the second thread recently that someone has thanked Jedi for redoing thier rockwork and you take the wind out of thier sail with your negative coments. Whatever your issues are with Stephen or The Ocean Connection leave it out of other peoples threads. This person wants to talk about how his tank has improved. Leave it at that and let him enjoy the excitement he has.

SG1838, your tank looks nice keep up the good work.
 
Hey, don't be bringing your Jets crap in MY tank thread! This is a Bills only tank thread! :D

You probably rigged my rock work to collapse the next time the Bills beat the Jets!

As for the other comments, no offense is taken. To a certain extent, your rock work is all about your personal preference. What some may like, others will not. As long as it does the job (provides natural filtration and hiding spots for the livestock), how you have it arranged appearance-wise doesn't really make a difference as long as YOU like what is in YOUR tank.

As I've told others (including Stephen), one of the reasons I don't like constructing the rock stack is there is no "right" answer. But, Stephen was able to put together something that was right for me, given the criteria I gave him:

1. I wanted more open spaces for better viewing angles and so that the fish would have more places to retreat to.

2. I wanted the rock stack to be tall. I personally don't like the minimalist look, where the rock only takes up the bottom half of the tank. That doesn't mean it's bad, I just personally don't like it.

3. Keep the rock away from the glass so that the glass is easy to clean.

4. Give me more places to put corals.

All four of those criteria were met, so I'm happy for the moment. That doesn't mean that I won't potentially make changes in the future as I see fit. But, if nothing else Stephen has given me a great starting point.

Thanks for the comments / suggestions / compliments everyone!
 
You have to give Stephen credit, I would never have thought about doing a formation/stack like the uppper left section of the tank! Is that thing held together with something?

Looking great
 
Nope - not held together there. I was skeptical that it would stay there (and in the center), but he knows I have kids, and he actually shook the tank pretty well to prove to me that it would stay. I honestly can't believe that the rock with the Montipora on the far upper left doesn't move, but it doesn't (I've actually played with it a bit, and it's pretty solid). The tank has been set up like this for just about a week now, so if it was going to fall or be knocked off with what I have in there, it probably would have by now.

The brighter white flat center rock did fall, but no big deal. Don't tell Stephen, but I put a couple little dabs of Super Glue on it to keep it in place. Same with the ledge rock on the far lower right. I knocked that one off when I did my water change / vacuum this past weekend, and figured that if I didn't glue that one in place, I'd just keep knocking it off. Again, no big deal.
 
1. I wanted more open spaces for better viewing angles and so that the fish would have more places to retreat to.

2. I wanted the rock stack to be tall. I personally don't like the minimalist look, where the rock only takes up the bottom half of the tank. That doesn't mean it's bad, I just personally don't like it.

3. Keep the rock away from the glass so that the glass is easy to clean.

4. Give me more places to put corals.

All four of those criteria were met, so I'm happy for the moment. That doesn't mean that I won't potentially make changes in the future as I see fit. But, if nothing else Stephen has given me a great starting point.

I agree with you SG1838...I presented Steve with just about the same criteria and he didn't let me down. To his credit, i caused my original stack to collapse and he he rebuilt it in less that 10mins, coffee wasn't even done brewing and he was done. Congrats on your new stack and I'm also looking forward to it it filling in.
 
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