Aquascaping

[jaffacake]

Does anyone here have a tank that is aquascaped in a unique way? I would love to see pictures of some tanks with arches, hills etc rather than just a stack of live rock! My tank at the moment doesn't have any particular arrangement, I just have the rocks stacked so they are stable and so that they all fit neatly in but when I upgrade my tank over the summer I want to be able to spend some more time organising how this one looks so I'm more content with it!

I'm thinking of having a decent amount of live rock on one side of the tank (nearest to the wall) and then having an arch with maybe a type of pillar next to it with a clearer area so it would be more enjoyable to watch them swimming in and out of the "features" ...yup I'm childish!

This is a basic one I found on the net which would look even better with some coral on it;

I'll probably use reef bones and smaller live rock rubble for it but I'm unsure on using that glue to attach rock together so does anybody have suggestions for this too!

 

[TigerIssey]

I based this on a large tank belonging to Sanjay Joshi, 500g I think. I scaled it down obviously, tank is 39-40g with 13g sump.

How I got there is the journal link in my signature titled Tina's Twin Bommies. Click the link and it will take you there.

 

[jaffacake]

That's a really nice way of arranging your tank, I like the way you have a nice clear area to view the fish swimming past to each rock but the rocks themselves are so full of colour with your coral, I bet you're proud of that tank!
Is that a blue background you have on or have you painted the back wall? That's another thing I can't decide on yet if I should leave it, do it blue or black, I do really like the look of black.

 

[TigerIssey]

It is a blue background, it is not being illuminated properley at the moment, I have bought some stuff today actually to adhere it to the back of the tank properley.

I did contemplate using a tile paint but you could only get it in a large tub and cost £17 for the tin. For the amount I would have used it was not worth it.

I tried black in my old Nano tank, if you click on that link in the sig there are some pics with a black background. I prefer the blue now.

I do really like the way the fish can swim all around each bommie and through gaps in the rock here and there, it gives the illusion that the tank is so much bigger.

Thank you, I am very proud, although it is still not perfect. I keep working at that and obviously I still have a fair amount of space for coral. It is still very much a work in progress and the coralline algae is just starting to take a good hold.

 

[scott133]

wow love the emperor angel can you get a close up pick for me thanks

scott

 

[SkiFletch]

Ugh, forum hiccuped as I was typing this post, lost the original. Let's try this again...

3 ways to make rocks look like that:

First would be to use an underwater epoxy often called milleput. Works pretty well for smaller/lighter rocks. If they get too heavy, or the arch too severe, the putty won't set right and you'll have shifty rocks.

Second is drilling the rocks and skewering them with either PVC or carbon fiber rods. Just do like it sounds. Works great for really long arches but requires careful drilling.

Third, if you have the patience, is to use quick-dry cement. You'll have significant dieoff and long cure-times if you do this, but it does yield the best/strongest longterm look. You can "naturalize" the look a little more by using a 2-1 cement-aragonite sand mixture. Also if you want to go way over the top with cement, you can make your own rocks. Check out garf.org as they have some great instructions on how to build your own rocks in any shape you want