Help! Why does my aquascaping always suck?

[Corndork2]

I am simply never satisfied with my aquascaping. It either doesnt allow enough room for the fish to swim, or it looks unnatural. Can anyone give me suggestions on some aquascaping tricks? Or does anyone have any layout suggestions? Thanks for the help

[sruiz]

i know how you feel, there will always be those times that you really love how it looks then for some reason you move a small piece then another smaller one and before you know it you moved everything around.I could sit here and tell you what i think looks good but you might not like that look.
One thing im sure we can agree with is that we both want to make it look good, but many times i like to build around my water flow.
One thing i have tried before is to stack my rock in the middle like a wall slanted back a little. but enough space for me to clean all sides of the tank with my magnet. Another thing that I noticed after moving my rock so much is that i try to re arrange my rocks so that most of them get direct light by this i mean that i try to stack my rocks like a puzzle but i make it so that no piece blocks the light from another. Moving your rocks around and putting them in the right spot actually can make your aquarium brighter. you should try to light up as much surface space of every rock that is visible. Hope you understand what i mean.

[steven_dean17]

If you find an ugly spot in your tank, cover it up with a piece of coral.(instant beauty) If you find yourself wanting that little something extra, add a piece of coral.(instant satisfaction) If your buddies tank just won tank of the month.....add a S*** load of coral.(Better luck next time)

[dannyfromholland]

The best way to aquascape a tank is when ther is no water in it. You can use epoxy to glue the rocks. Or use PVC tubes to make piles or bridges. To get some depth make small pile off rock near the front. Try to avoid that the rock is piled against the back wall be sure that all sides are free for better watermotion. For parts off the reef which are hard to reach, you can drill some holes in it so that at a later time its more easy to attach some coral.

If you follow this link you can see some great pictures off aquascaping they even attached some rock at the backside. ( the text is in dutch but if you have questions I'll try to answer them)

http://www.marineaquarium.nl/juni-2006.php

Good luck.

[CleveYank]

aquascaping.

think of things in this light.

if it grew there into place what is the natural growth habit?

if it grew somewhere else and fell there///where would it fall or how?

And rules of 3's and 5's work better than any even number most of the time.

And 2 large and 1 small converging peices or 1 large outcrop in a fallen orientation will look better than lining up a rock work plopped right dead center in the tank. And anytime you can have an outcrop that appears to suspend and or network of some caves or overhangs that again fell there and does NOT look like brick or symetrically stacked work are good ways to look at aquascape.

Otherwise get a 12 pack and invite the most creative person in your local coral/saltwater club over to help you.

[hybridgenius]

Im that creative artistic person hes talking about. But unfortunately you live a bit too far away. Sorry buddy.

[acrylic_300]

Just when I thought I had mine perfect....two caves and a ledge started looking very much like a giant smiley face mocking me to tears.




I'm living with it till that one eye grows over with orange cap..

I did shove some rocks in its mouth though...now it looks like a smiley face eating rocks.

[acrylic_300]

Here you can see the hippo tang swimming on the left eye

[Justinandkrista]

lol thats funny you caught that. Cool tank

[demonsp]

Relax,this is the fun part. I used pvc to create a shelf in the middle and place rock on it.Great spot for larger fish and plenty of flow.
You want good flow and ledges and caves. And any configuration you come up with now it will have changed a yr from now. You can also use epoxy to extend coral or hold rocks in place.

[CleveYank]

acrylic_300, smiley face or not. You've got a decent aquascape there. If you leave it be and let it grow in that's going to look very nice down the road. You could always put 6 inch clam around part of the mouth and noone will even notice "smiling rock man" hiding in there.

[acrylic_300]

I didn't even notice it for a month...that's an old picture though. It looks a little different now.


Anyway the point is that it is hard to make your rockwork into a non-objective sculpture of a reef. Seems the longer you look at it the more little things start popping out.

To me the whole structure looks like a giant dragon skull sunken in the sand (may have to scroll right to see it). The negative space above the rock looks like an eagle taking flight.

The more creative you are the more screwed up it looks I think

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement though.

[dendro982]

Permanent problems with aquascaping IMHE (yep, me too) seems to be connected to:

- individual capabilities (one can run, other can do better heavy lifting),
- shapes of LR (not everybody is ready throw away LR and buy another, more suitable for space pieces),
- relative sizes of the 1) tank, 2) required amount of rock - for denitrification, 3) and the size of fish (too big fish requires space to be able freely turn, have place for exercise and rest).

Then the biggest fish is gone - much easier, no need in keeping half of tank almost empty. Bigger amount of rock keeps nitrated down. But nothing can be done with rock shapes - other, than make a big pieces of the rock smaller

Arches, caves, 45 degrees aside curved slopes make the view more tolerable. Pillars, if suitable for a tank shape - too. Covering aquascape by corals masks the rock, and draws attention.

Idol tank , cube, narrow space .
HTH.

[natan]

Just my 2p.
A problem of "not enough spase for the fish to swim" sound to me more like "wrong fish selected for the tank". Being their (and still am with my longnose butterfly). Some fish live in the waters ABOVE the reef, decending from time to time to feed and/or hide from predators. These are long distance swimmers, and any but the largest tank will interfear with their swimming pattern. These fish will nearly always look like they dont have enough swimming space (which is why i will never keep any of the tangs). Other species are "creepers", swimming close to substrate looking for food (mandarins, wrases and similar) or living in a small territory around a small shelter (gramma, dottybacks, damsels, clowns). these will be able to behave naturally even in a smallish tank. Just choose right for yuor aquascaping.
As u can guess, i'd only keep creeping fish (if it wasnt for my mom who fell in live wih a butterfly), and perferre to go with as many rock and coral as i can in the aquascaping (which the appropriatly chosen fish would enjoy).
1 last word: a chisel is my best friend, may i recommend him to you)

[samtheman]

Whining won't fix it!

[samstersam]

Originally posted by Corndork2
I am simply never satisfied with my aquascaping. It either doesnt allow enough room for the fish to swim, or it looks unnatural. Can anyone give me suggestions on some aquascaping tricks? Or does anyone have any layout suggestions? Thanks for the help

I think it all has to do with how much you played with legos when you were a kid.

[TomZogas]

About 7 years ago i started working with bonsai trees, and it has really taught me a lot about aesthetics. One thing that i find very useful when building live rock structures is to keep depth and perspective in mind.

In the picture above, linear perspective is used in the stream (or gravel path) by making it thinner as it recedes. It is also commonplace to use much shorter trees at the back of landscapes, to make it seem like they are far off in the distance.

The rule of using odd numbers is also very reliable, but pairs are just as acceptable as 3's 5's and 9's. Every other even number should be avoided.

[dendro982]

A problem of "not enough spase for the fish to swim" sound to me more like "wrong fish selected for the tank".

Sorry, the tank was selected for a fish
And the real problem was - not enough money for a bigger tank and a bigger house for a bigger tank. I didn't know then about price jump for a tanks, larger than 90g. And this became known only during shopping. BTW, it is the maximal size, that fits the door too

[sayn3ver]

pick up any of the planted tank aquascaping books, page through Amano's (ADA) tanks, the nature aquarium series. Lots of art books may also help, ones that deal with color, line, weight, composition, etc etc. You would be surprised how the human eye/brain is persuaded by such simple things.

I think the easiest rule one can remember is th rule of 3rd's(take your tank, divide it into 3 equal sections length wise. This would require you to draw 2 invisible lines. create a focal point at one of this locations. You can also go further and divide the height of the tank into thirds as well. I am not to sure how it would work for depth, but I'd imagine it would apply there as well.

My favorite tanks on this board either have a large defined cliff/outcrop or a bridge/arch somewhere in the design.

I also think a lot of reefers do not scape with an end in mind. It would be easier to know what corals you have/will be keeping and how large they will grow, what color, etc and then scape the rock with that in mind, so when they grow in and the tank matures, your scape will as well. I think too many on here on more concerned about initial looks rather than a mature tank. Just like in planted tanks, collectoritis gets the best of people and the constant shifting, moving, adding, rearranging all subtracts from any creative scaping you did in the beginning. Its harder than planted tanks because corals take much longer to grow out and its difficult to have patients in the beauty area when you've already had to have so much in the beginning. not to mention there is such a variety.

Also remember beauty it subjective.

i would check out plantedtank.net and go to the forum and check out the gallery forum. A lot of them are so so, but others are really good. I know they aren't coral, but a lot of the same principles apply.

You might also want to shoot Tom Barr a pm. I'm not sure of his RC name, but Google his website. I know he keeps salt as well and can often find him posting in the macro algae and marine plants section on here. He has been trying to get reefs away from the "corals on a shelf" look for awhile.

[fantastic4]

What I have learned:

View as much Reefcentral aquascaping pictures as possible.... do this for days or hours.... when you see a tank aquascape you love, save the picture. When your done, review your pictures and decide what look you like best.

Keep large LR round/solid pieces on bottom/back.

Reserve choice LR pieces for top or front.

To much LR may not be a good thing. Sand can be used to illustrate depth.

Work with what you have. Lay out your live rock on plastic, all of it. Then carefully decide where your pieces should go.

Don't be affraid to use a chistle and break up live rock.

and leave enough room for maintenance between rock and sides. In my case I need to be able to slide my hand down all sides, to clean glass without cutting hand or disturbing rocks.

For my 33g cube I wated a tunnel at the bottom and mountain shape center.







For my 90g I wanted a backdrop with tonga looking spikes and some depth in the center with swimming room. I'm not happy with the 90 yet, I need more room, thinking of getting a cubish 225 to perfect the look I'm after. When I get my 225, I will drill my LR and have plastic pipes inserted to achieve the look I'm after. You will need to visualize the tank without the green hair algae, I'm fighting high nitrates at the moment in my FOWLR.

[lhoy]

Here are some shots of my aquascaping I just finished a couple of days ago. I used acrylic rod 1/2" and drilled the rock with masonry bits. I wanted a couple of tall pillars and one shelf.

FTS:


Left Pillar:



Center:



I actually wanted open sand along the back to place corals to make it more intriguing to see some of my stock and here it is:



You have to look at other tanks for ideas, get to know the live rock you have and what options they present, what the shape of your tank is and how you can best maximize space for corals to grow and fish to swim.

It frankly is one of the most fun aspects of reefing. Oh and remember, there is no right or wrong.

Lee

[fantastic4]

lhoy, your tank is SWEET! Very nice. Did it take a long time to drill?

[lhoy]

Fantastic4: Thanks for the compliments. It means a lot after all the work to get it up and going. I will start a tank build thread soon in Reef Discussion. Well, only two issues with drilling, but to first answer your question, not really.

1.) Don't drill with still slightly wet hands. After I was shocked by water dripping down my arm on my drill I had a metallic taste for about 2 hours, a very upset wife and two of my fingers tingled for a while.

2.) I tried to use existing holes as much as possible to start drilling on. I had a 1/2" masonry bit that was 12" long and it worked great.

The challenge for me was that some of my liverock already corals on them since this was an upgrade so I had to work faster than if I was just starting a new tank with totally new liverock.

I love the way it appears some rock is just hanging there. I hope to find some corals I can mount that don't need as much light on the underside of things. I actually have a live rock that has some Pavona on it upside and so far the Pavona is doing well even on the bottom of the rock.

Lee

[lhoy]

And BTW, I LOVE your tunnel in your cube. Cubes give great options for aquascaping in unique ways IMO.

Lee

[NirvanaFan]

Originally posted by acrylic_300
Just when I thought I had mine perfect....two caves and a ledge started looking very much like a giant smiley face mocking me to tears.




I'm living with it till that one eye grows over with orange cap..

I did shove some rocks in its mouth though...now it looks like a smiley face eating rocks.

Does it now look like a pirate with a patch over its eye? lol

here is a crappy pic of my aquascape. It looks a little different now, but pretty close. I want to get bigger pieces of rock to replace some smaller ones.