question on "landscaping"????

[Lynn]

There is probably a word for this process other then landscaping, but its the only word that I know of right now to describe it. How does one go about deciding on how to arrange their live rock in the tank. (say your getting it all at once) Are there different plans published somewhere? or is it like your flower garden (just a personal individual thing)
thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I think it is personal. But,I also think that you must leave a lot of spaces between the rocks for water circulation. If you purchass the Reef Aquarium Vol 1 and 2 you can see many photos of the landscape as well as ways to make them. They also have a great wealth of knowledge.

GL

Dan

 

[naesco]

Here is a chance for some of you guys to post a pic to give her some ideas please..

 

[npaden]

I like an open rock work instead of the "wall of rock" look.

I was anal enough to draw out how I was going to aquascape. It is important to set the rocks up so they will remain stable and also so you will have plenty of spots to place corals in the future.

Here are my plans and a pic of the tank right after aquascaping:

Sorry the pic is so wide.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[Lynn]

Awesome looking tank! I've noticed that most of the tanks I've seen have not had the rock up further then about 70% of the height of the tank. Is there a reason for this?
thanks

 

[Carpentersreef]

Awesome?? Did you say awesome? I thought you said you were middle aged?

Keep in mind also what fish, clams, and corals that you want to keep. Give your planned future fish some "obvious" places to go, and a few shelves for your clams, and lots of shelves for possible corals that you have in mind. Any shrimp are going to want a place to hide in the shadows, and any new fish are going to want a place to hide to begin with. Make sure that you are able to see into most all the nooks and crannies, though. You don't want an animal to die and decompose without your knowing of it.

BTW, any luck yet with contacting local Edmonton reefers?

npaden,
nice shot! How'd you do that?

Mitch

 

[esmithiii]

I used a PVC frame to make my liverock go further. Check it out:

This is 270 lbs of fiji, 90 of which was "hand picked" for large pieces. I will probably add another 30 pounds or so to fill in some gaps. I would not have needed so much rock if I had designed the frame a little differently. My rock goes all the way up to 1" under the water in the back! There is still plenty of swimming room under and behind the rock.

E

[ April 09, 2002: Message edited by: esmithiii ]</p>

 

[esmithiii]

The PVC is more than just for looks, BTW. It keeps burrowing animals from toppling large sections of liverock. It really makes the liverock go farther! It is cheap and easy to do also.
I made my wall too steep and too high for my tastes. Also, if you are going to do this, get the little hand cutting tool at Home Depot (or Canadian Tire) that cuts PVC (intead of using a hack saw). This will save you so much work! I didn't even glue mine together!

Ernie

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The second rule of reefing is no matter what you will constantly rearrange your rock trying to find that "perfect fit", and you can never set it up the same way twice.

 

[Lynn]

Too funny Mitch...LOL (if I really was old I'd call you smarty pants) First off... no Edmonton reefers knocking down my door yet..but it is a weekend after all. Esmithiii, I've heard about these PVC stands, but I thought I was putting all this LR in for a reason besides esthetics (the berlin method??) I thought I needed a minimum of a pound per gallon? Gorgeous aquarium!! and kid! ***** for both! thanks

 

[Carpentersreef]

I actually want to try piling my LR high enough so that it sticks out of the water a few inches. It'd be interesting to see what crabs/snails take a breather out of water every now and then. Kind of like a tidal pool.

Hey Ernie, for such a little guy, you sure have a big tank!

Mitch

 

[Lynn]

thank you, anything on the internet??

 

[Tremelle]

I think the word you are looking for is "aquascaping". I kept a couple of things in mind when I aquascaped my tank. First, I made sure there was enough space behind the rock for fish to swim in and out. Secondly, I made enough hiding places for the fish to get away from each other. Thirdly, I made sure the rockwork was stable so as not to be knocked down by me when cleaning. Fourth, I made sure there was good water flow through the rockwork. And last, I made sure it was pleasing to my eye, since I will be the one looking at it the most. With all that being said, I have aquascaped my tank about 4 times in the last 2.5 years.

 

[Tanu]

I used another trick: I drilled pieces of pvc THROUGH the LR.

Here a 'stand' for LR before adding LR

Here the reef pile after adding LR. Here the pile is about 1 year old

Here the complete tank. Here the tank is about 1,5 year old. The tank looks rather dark on this pic. In reality the pic of the reef pile gives a better idea on the brightness

Tanu
www.tanu.nl

 

[Mouse]

Carpentersreef, wont that be a bit stinky having rocks out of the water. Then again after the initial die off it may not.

 

[esmithiii]

Lynn,

Yes, you are adding the liverock for filtration, but you want it to look cool too! BTW I stole Tanu's idea too, but it wouldn't fit in the picture (it is all the way to the right in the tank) and it hasn't had enough time to look anywhere near as cool as Tanu's.

BTW- that's 270 Lbs of LR, which is 1.5 lbs/gal. If I had simply stacked it it would not have reached 1/2 as high in the tank.

The PVC makes the rock seem more like a reef, and allows me to use ty-wraps (wire ties) to anchor certain pieces to the frame. Having rock high up in the tank allows me to place certain corals high up, right under the lights.

The PVC fram allows goo water movement and swimming room behind and under the rock. My tang loves it!

The kid is one of the few things I like more than my reef! Him and my wife. He is 13 months, and is leaving no stone unturned in our house right now. I built the stand up high so that it would be difficult for him to put things in it

We think that Rebecca (My wife) is pregnant, so I am going to have to re-focus on child proofing the fish room! That is something to think about if you have grandkids (or may in the future)

Ernie