Aquascape rock

[KRAMER30]

Hi,

 

Need your ideas and suggestions for aquascaping my 130 liter Red Sea Max.

My problem is the rocks are too big (please dont tell me to break them- its get ugly).

Is there too many rocks?

Pictures of beautiful rock aquascape (preferrer without corals pls) will be more than welcome.

 

picture of what i did (im not pleased at all):

 

 

Thanks a lot and have a nice day!

 

Benny

[bluesky]

Welcome to the RSM club =) You can checkout my signature link to see my aquascaping ... not the best ... but I enjoyed it ...

 

Honestly, looks like you just toss the rocks in ... without much "scaping" ... may be try to add some tonga to stack it up ... ?

 

Also, using a screwdriver and hammer to break up some of the huge rocks is not a bad idea ... I do that all the time too ...

[tinyreef]

try placing the flatter rocks toward the bottom and the more convaluted ones towards the top. you can mix that up as you see fit, of course.

 

are you going to use sand? that will also affect the overall presentation and placement recommendations.

 

i'd also consider stacking the rocks so that it's not a 'center peak' but either sloped to one side or even lower. the top will be a showcase area for your corals, so it should be more visible imo. i do think you have one or two too many pieces though but how you arrange it (and pers pref) will really determine that. hth

[KRAMER30]

Thanks for the suggestions, your tanks are looking great.

tinyreef i have carib sea live sand and the saleman told me to add it after i'll put salt

in the water, is it true?

in second thought i'll try to break the big rocks.

 

Sorry for my english.

 

Benny

[tinyreef]

yes, i would definitely make sure the tank is saltified <--(that's a made-up word btw ) before adding the LS. i thought it was already salted though, i guess those rocks were dry rocks then.

[KRAMER30]

Yes the rocks are dry. (in the picture the tank is empty of water)

 

Benny

[tinyreef]

and here thought you just had really really clear water.

[KRAMER30]

 

Benny

[Mr.zissou]

has potential

 

like the cutting board bottom to

[willieb18]

I think your rock looks good. But here is a pic of mine.

 

[airangel]

Since rocks are dry you have it easy...if was me, I'd rearrange them on a table to see how to stack w/o worrying about them falling and breaking the glass.

 

Flat ones go on bottom but it looks like you have a lot of rock. Are you going to have a sand bed? They do look like they were just tossed in, vs stratigically placed. I would play around with them outside of the tank till I got something I could live with.

 

The rocks are big, I fully understand about not wanting to break them. I was the same way with mine, today I finally took the rocks out of my display and after 45 min, broke one HUGE sucker into 2 much nicer pieces. My rock was huge, heavy and I used 2 screwdrivers and a hammer before it finally split in half.

 

I have a 24gAP and after about 3 months, decided I hated the aquascape so much, that I'd remove everything and redo it. Tank is still fuzzy so will add pics to my thread tomorrow.

 

Will be following your thread to see what you finally end up with.

[hollow]

My only recommendations (after doing my own RSM) would be

 

1. Don't be afraid to break apart gigantic rocks. I wish I would have done that with a couple of mine.

2. Use lots of aquamend putty to stabilize everything.

3. Try to get your rocks stacked up to the bottom of the filter grate on the RSM. Mine doesn't come close and I wish it did

4. Leave enough room for your mag float to go around on all sides without getting stuck.

5. Try not to have too many rocks hit your back glass so theres no dead areas for flow.

6. Don't overthink it. Just let the rocks flow.

 

 

Here's my current algae infested aquascape.

 

[KRAMER30]

Tank you all for your great ideas and inspiration .

I took a hammer and a screwdriver and break the large rocks and it looks naw much batter than before.

 

 

 

Any suggestion? should i add more rocks or put out? I hardly wait to start cycling

 

Benny

[hollow]

Tank you all for your great ideas and inspiration .

I took a hammer and a screwdriver and break the large rocks and it looks naw much batter than before.

 

 

 

Any suggestion? should i add more rocks or put out? I hardly wait to start cycling

 

Benny

 

Looks good

[airangel]

Benny

Looks great!!!! Much nicer....less bulky. I redid my entire tank last nite. You were smart, did it BEFORE you got started. LOL

[greeneyes]

I like the new look.

[bluesky]

the new look is much better ... you may want to try some tonga branch to push up your rock work.

[mayoarceo]

nice!

[fishwish]

Well done! Looks great to me...

[KRAMER30]

Thanks guys! so i guess i can start fillilng the tank and start cycling

 

bluesky what is ''tonga branch''?

 

Benny

[snatchbak]

nice scape.

[xbwolfx]

Looks awesome. Are you going to put some live rock in there, or just wait for the dry rock to complete a longer cycle? Also, where did you get the rock - marcorocks.com, perhaps?

 

I'm upgrading my 12 gallon to a 30 gallon and I think I'm gonna start will all new rock. I'm considering using mostly dry rock and maybe 1 piece of live rock to seed the tank in the hopes of avoiding unwanted pests. My 12 gallon currently is full of digitate hydroids, predatory whelks, and eunicid worms. I liked it better when my old tank was full of aptaisa b/c that was a lot easier to deal with than the hydroids, whelks, or eunicids.

 

Good luck with the tank - it looks great so far.

[KRAMER30]

10ks

I will wait a month+ after finshing cycle and than add 1 or 2 live rock.

The rocks are Indonesian dry coral (im sorry i dont remember the name of the coral) i got them from

a local sore.

 

Good luck to you too with the upgrade.

 

Benny

[HankB]

I like the arrangement and that is interesting looking rock. We tried to slope from one side to the other too but put the high side on the right. I wonder if it makes a difference WRT flow.

 

-hank