Feedback on Scape?

[TysTanks]

Hey guys,

Looking for feedback on a potential scape for my new reef tank. It’s a 45 gallon tank. Kind of an oddball size but it fits well in the area I had.

The towel the scape is on is about the size of the tank and the highest rock on the right will still be 3-4” below the surface of the water. I’ll make sure I leave some space near the back and glass for water flow/cleaning.

Front:


Left side (faces most of the room):


Top down:


Thank you for any advice.



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[jetli1969]

Lol , normally I asked my wife or girlfriend for best opinions!

[CMD2213]

Lol , normally I asked my wife or girlfriend for best opinions!

damn pimpin!!! the wife and girlfriend usually agree on the same stuff? Lol

[Kris]

(I don't think the OP is looking for a girlfriend, but I guess that was a nice thing to offer up.)

The rock arrangement looks fine. What are you going to do for water movement? If the tall stack is in front of a powerhead it might diffuse a lot of the water motion. The stack also looks like it could possibly be prone to tip over in an earthquake?

Are you planning on a fish or reef tank, or combo? There is a lot of nice space to place frags with the 3 dimensional placement you have.

(dibs on the extra rock!) Gl.

[TysTanks]

(I don't think the OP is looking for a girlfriend, but I guess that was a nice thing to offer up.)

The rock arrangement looks fine. What are you going to do for water movement? If the tall stack is in front of a powerhead it might diffuse a lot of the water motion. The stack also looks like it could possibly be prone to tip over in an earthquake?

Are you planning on a fish or reef tank, or combo? There is a lot of nice space to place frags with the 3 dimensional placement you have.

(dibs on the extra rock!) Gl.

I already have the gf. She’s only slightly questioning how much time I spend on this. Haha

I’m looking into a gyre on that side of the tank. Would that be an issue?

This will be a reef tank with fish.

I also plan to drill and put rods/ epoxy the structure before I put it together.


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[sushi]

Does your wife know u have a gf??

Ok just kidding, but those rocks look nice, and the fish will have room to swim around

[Kris]

A gyre and a gf are forces in nature that can move stuff around.

The water motion (currents) in the tank serve to deliver food and nutrients to the attached reef organisms and it also helps move/remove wastes. In general you don't want to put a large current obstruction directly in front of the path of the current generator as that will tend to defeat the purpose of the gyre for making flow in the tank . If the rock is too close to the gyre there is a potential for excessive water movement that could, inhibit coral growth, or possibly topple the rock structure. I can't tell from looking at the towel how that might all work out, just a thing to be aware of.
Gyre good, rocks good, current interaction between these needs to be thought out.

If the stack was on the other side of the tank it would be further away from the gyre, but the stack would then be in the foreground of your view, I think?

[inurmind]

First off welcome to the forum and good on ya for getting feedback with initial stages, even seasoned hobbyists can benefit from a second(+) set of eyes on a project!

Are you going bare bottom or sandbed?

I agree with keeping the obstruction in mind as you move forward but what about putting the gyre on the left and if it does end up creating a dead zone toward the right corner add an additional smaller pump back there to compensate like a mp10 or even a little koralia.

Acrylic rods work great but on that size I'd suggest Marco cement...that stuff works surprisingly well and is pretty strong so you can do some cool stuff with it. I've done some nice bonsai looking structures that have held up through moves.

That's a nice looking structure/arraignment and in time when it's grown out with corals it'll be an awesome little reef!

Good luck and keep us posted on the build!

[TysTanks]

A gyre and a gf are forces in nature that can move stuff around.

The water motion (currents) in the tank serve to deliver food and nutrients to the attached reef organisms and it also helps move/remove wastes. In general you don't want to put a large current obstruction directly in front of the path of the current generator as that will tend to defeat the purpose of the gyre for making flow in the tank . If the rock is too close to the gyre there is a potential for excessive water movement that could, inhibit coral growth, or possibly topple the rock structure. I can't tell from looking at the towel how that might all work out, just a thing to be aware of.
Gyre good, rocks good, current interaction between these needs to be thought out.

If the stack was on the other side of the tank it would be further away from the gyre, but the stack would then be in the foreground of your view, I think?

That’s a good point, thanks.

Yeah, the dilemma is I don’t want anything on the left side of the tank to inhibit the view. What about a different style powerhead that sits in front of the rock work? Then I could point my return (on lock line) down to bottom right of the tank?


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[TysTanks]

First off welcome to the forum and good on ya for getting feedback with initial stages, even seasoned hobbyists can benefit from a second(+) set of eyes on a project!

Are you going bare bottom or sandbed?

I agree with keeping the obstruction in mind as you move forward but what about putting the gyre on the left and if it does end up creating a dead zone toward the right corner add an additional smaller pump back there to compensate like a mp10 or even a little koralia.

Acrylic rods work great but on that size I'd suggest Marco cement...that stuff works surprisingly well and is pretty strong so you can do some cool stuff with it. I've done some nice bonsai looking structures that have held up through moves.

That's a nice looking structure/arraignment and in time when it's grown out with corals it'll be an awesome little reef!

Good luck and keep us posted on the build!

Thank you. I bought a different tank to start but it really didn’t fit what I was looking for so I only had it running for a week.

I’d consider the gyre/powerhead on the left side. I just liked the idea of keeping it open as it’s the side you’ll see from the living room.

I’ll definitely look into the cement. Any chance I can get it locally? I was hoping to work on the tank this weekend.


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[Squid]

Depending on what kinda fish you want to get, you might want to add arches/caves/hiding spots

[TysTanks]

Depending on what kinda fish you want to get, you might want to add arches/caves/hiding spots

Hard to tell, but I did make that piece on the right all open underneath to make sure I didn’t have a big dead spot under that rockwork.

Do you think it looks ok?


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[sushi]

Nice tunnel, it's good for the shy fish or fish that are being bullied.