Reef nutrition

Your "method" for aquascaping.

VietNR1

VietNR1

Guest
BARcard
Hey Guys,

Its about time I go and aquascape my 135. I was wondering if anybody can give me tips to make it easier (if there is such a thing). I'm thinking:

1. Remove all corals into moving buckets
2. Pull all rock? 200+ lbs!
3. Aquascape outside of tank to get an idea (which is gonna suck too)
4. Try to mimic outside design inside tank?

5. Or should I just try to move the rock around underwater?

I see you guys use acrylic rods and zip ties to hold things together and create unique shapes. Any suggestions or cautions I should know about?

Last question, anybody want to help? Got a Candy Cane colony I can pass along of or maybe you can help me frag my chalice? Good old 12 pack? Let me know...thanks guys.

Viet
 
Hey Viet. I don't assemble outside the tank... it's nearly impossible to copy the same structure inside with water, ime.

If you want to get serious about aquascaping, go with zip ties, pvc frame and/or acrylic rods and drill. Put some time up front to make an attractive, stable structure and it will save you a lot of headache later on.

If you want to frag that chalice, call me this weekend. I was fragging some stuff on my own, so my band saw is out and ready to go.
 
As Jason said, I wouldn't assemble outside, unless you had some rod system in place, heck if I remove one rock from my tank to frag something (small one too) I'm usually lucky to get it back to kinda/sorta where it was.

How are you going to be doing this aquascaping? New rocks? Old rocks with corals attached? Is this a re-aquascaping or moving existing life to a new tank?

Depending upon what you're doing might dictate how to best go about doing it. For instance if this is rock with no corals attached going into an empty tank you have many more options than if the rock is heavily encrusted with corals and its not moving into a new tank at all.

As to what style you should do? Eh, that typically is a personal preference that changes for everyone, and most often it turns into a "Grass is greener on the other side..." thing where what you have doesn't look good to you but someone else might think it's great.
 
thanks guys...i'm not too worried about style. I have a good idea of what i'm trying to do. i'm stealing Jason's anemone island concept so far its been working pretty well for me.

I just wanted to know if there was a process that you guys use/do to make things "easier".

So from what it sounds...i'm going to take all my corals out and jus slowly work the live rock into the shapes/structures I want. My biggest problem is I have A LOT of rock right now.
 
Feel free to not use all the rock too, toss some in your sump or something if you want to keep it live. I think I ended up with about 2 bucketfuls when I went from a 100g to a 180g tank.
 
I went through a similar dilemma when I moved to my new tank. I had so many pieces that had been with me for a long time and it was hard deciding to not put some into the display. As Mike says though, you can find places for the rock in your sump or sell/give it away. Less definitely is more.
 
Yup. When I upgraded from a 20g to a 40g, I ended up with a few extra rocks. I'm going to re-scape tonight to open up some more sand bed, which means I may or may not end up with another extra rock. I usually move most of my corals off of my rock to a safe side of the tank, or to a tank set up with some tank water (always do a WC after rescaping a tank) and then pull one or two rocks out to free up some open space. Then the rest of it I just start figuring out where to go. But before everything, I usually sit in front of the tank for a day or so and contemplate how I want it to look (general idea) and some ideas about putting specific rocks where. It helps that I've had all the rocks for basically all of my reefing career and have been through multiple tank moves and upgrades/downgrades so I know most every rock "intimately" ;) Wish me luck, bout to go do the deed....
 
My tip: don't try to make secure connections between rocks with epoxy alone. Inevitably you'll think it's stuck well and cured enough but then you'll put just a little too much force on it and it will come apart. Instead, secure everything with rods, pvc, and zip ties and then fill in the gaps with epoxy. IME it works so much better that way. For the most part I drilled small holes and used zip ties to connect pieces together. For the really large ones, I used a hole saw and PVC.

I also drilled all my rocks for frag plugs this time and so far I really like it! I can just stick a frag almost anywhere without worrying about how to attach it.
 
:lol: You guys are so like it it's not even funny. When I up sized I ended up with half of the OG rock in a bucket. It seems when you first get into the hobby you go the rock wall route and as time goes by you wish you'd have used less :)
 
29g brute full of rock!? Geeze....I don't think I even have enough to fill that and I had a 90g before.....must've sold some pieces somewhere along the way. Finished my rescape- definitely not quite happy with it, but I have to wait for my macro/seagrass/mangroves to arrive on Tues and start planning on how that'll look. Too bad it's not like FWP tanks where you can plant once for a nice looking tank while waiting for things to grow in, and then replant again with expectancy for the mature tank....
 
thanks for all the tips guys....i think i'm gonna start the endeavor on Wednesday when I have a day off. whoohoo Veteran's Day.

I think I'm going to move my corals into a holding bucket(s). Then remove a few rocks and jus slowly go at it.
 
speaking of which...is there a list, chart, graph somewhere that shows which corals like high water movement, low water movement, high light, low light?

Like with Zoa's...the higher I put mine the faster they grow...the lower I put them the fatter they appear....which is better if there is a "better".
 
VietNR1 said:
speaking of which...is there a list, chart, graph somewhere that shows which corals like high water movement, low water movement, high light, low light?
Click to expand...

Julian Sprungs Coral Book. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top