Davids tank

[459b]

As you may have read i had a tank crash over the Christmas holiday. Although the thought of packing up for good did cross my mind, i cannot give up this wonderful hobby cause of one smallish accident. Im going to take my time with this tank and do things properly. Still deciding what to keep and what fitration to use. So far all i can report is that the display tank is 1300 X 500 X 650.
My tank used to be one filled with too many aggressive fish. To try and stem the fighting i had way too much liverock and far too many caves. I had problems with fish knocking over rocks, digging holes and knocking over rocks, fighting and knocking over rocks...just generally knocking over rocks. This time round i want less rock in the tank to allow for better water movement and more swimming space. Also glued all the rocks together. Here is what i have come up with....

front view:

right:

left:

top:

What you are looking at is about two kilos of liverock, the rest being cable ties and pratleys putty. Going to banish the rest of the liverock to the sump.
Im not going for a natural look - i rather want to use the rock work to show off a few pieces of nice corals (rics of course, maybe some SPS?) and have plenty of swimming face for fish.
New stand arrives this week so cant do anyhting till i get that. Will be getting new sump spo totla water volume will be around 500l.
Your thoughts/comments/suggestions will be much appreciated.

 

[archiecrain]

I like your scaping thus far! Minamalist effect will look stunning with corals!

What did you mean by aggressive fish? you not going to keep tangs this time round? Or just be cautious with stocking?

 

[gaboon]

Nice scaping, will look great with some nice SPS colonies. Good luck with the build. How much LR is going in the sump?

 

[459b]

thanks!

What did you mean by aggressive fish?

i had a brown surgeon and large maroon clown that tried to dominate the tank. Just for good measure i also had a breeding pair of devils blue damsels. During spawing they would become more aggressive than normal.

Im going to be very cautious and selective with stocking. I made the mistake of taking anythign that had the word "free" attached. Will sit down and draw up my a list of fish i want and then decide which are suited for the tank and can live together peacefully.

 

[459b]

How much LR is going in the sump?

not sure yet. Besides whats you can see i have about another 30kg i can use but alot of it is small pieces that will prob do nthing more than trap detritus. Might look at replacing the small stuff with high quality large pieces.

 

[AfricaOffroad]

Very nice, I like !

But isn't it going to be very difficult to attach corals to those rocks?

 

[459b]

Very nice, I like !

But isn't it going to be very difficult to attach corals to those rocks?

thanks. Im not going to have many corals and if you look closely (didnt come out too well in the pics) but i stuck on bits of liverock to form small shelves on the pillars to help with attachment.

 

[leslie hempel]

nice to see you back on the horse dave all the best

 

[Anemone]

I really like the aquascaping!

 

[xtreme]

Nice Dave, think it's the best just to stick the rock together, I know the feeling, and about the just adding fish, lol it's so difficult to resist the stunning fishes

 

[clown]

I am happy to see you fighting back.

Like the land scapping.

 

[dallasg]

David good to see you getting back into it...
i have a ric and some shrooms with your name on it...
once its ready will post

 

[459b]

nice to see you back on the horse dave all the best

I really like the aquascaping!

Nice Dave, think it's the best just to stick the rock together, I know the feeling, and about the just adding fish, lol it's so difficult to resist the stunning fishes

thanks for the comments.

 

[459b]

I am happy to see you fighting back.

Like the land scapping.

thanks. Told you it was going to be different to my previous scaping.

 

[459b]

David good to see you getting back into it...
i have a ric and some shrooms with your name on it...
once its ready will post

Was never really out of it. Been planning a new setup for a while, no i get the opportunity to do it sooner.

Thaks for the coral offer. Will let you know when tank is ready.

 

[Slagter]

The scape looks fantastic! I'm sure it's going to be an absolute stunner when it's back up and running! Keep the pics rolling!

Super start. I am very glad you didn't quit man!

 

[Dane]

Yes! David! What a stunning scape! So much better than the old one!

I love the amount of space between the two pinnacles... This is going to be fantastic once its running! Congrats bud

 

[Keanan]

Cool scaping.

 

[459b]

So much better than the old one!

didnt take much to improve on the old scaping

Thanks for all the positive comments.

Im still undecided on the substrate. Thinking of going for black.

 

[Dane]

Black you say! I am undecided on that one... Half of me says ZOMG thats amazing, but the other half says ZOMG thats awful. Hahaha Why dont you PM guys with black substrates and try and get their honest opinion on the difficulties etc.