Aquascaping is hard!!

[Cearbhaill]

Actually- that would describe my entire reef experience- hard!

Understanding the setup options was hard.
Deciding what equipment to use was hard.
Coming up with the cash is hard.
Plumbing is dang hard!
Lifting the blasted rock is hard.
Understanding water chemistry is hard.
Choosing lighting is hard.
Choosing stock is hard.

The whole experience is a challenge. Sometimes I wonder if a nice cruise wouldn't have been a wiser choice- sure would have been cheaper that's for sure.

Anyway- aquascaping.
This is the hardest yet. It is not entirely an artistic expression as I am repeatedly limited by the size and shape of my rock. You think you have a plan and the **** thing won't balance, or a favorite organism will be crushed.

This is the best I can come up with given the shapes of rock I have- and this took the better part of a morning.
It looks terribly precarious I'll grant you- but is not. You can shove on any rock and get no wiggle- it is very steady, and I can still reach all of the glass with my algae scraper. I had to take a hammer to a few pieces to ensure steadiness (and hack off several bivalves), but the raw edges should algae up fairly fast.

Think this will do?
I am a bit concerned that I have too many shady areas? I was trying to provide lots of holes for fish to swim through or lurk in, but is this too much shade?
I'm installing my new 8 bulb t5 Tek Light today- I guess that will tell the tale.

http://www.cearbhaill.com/DSC02010.JPG

[OrionGirl]

I don't think that's too shady at all. It should actually give your fish lots of places to hide, without being so hidden you never get to see them. I think it looks nice!

I always enjoy changing the rock around--kind of fun. Not as tedious as painting a room or pulling down wall paper, cheaper than new carpet.

[wayne]

Looks ok but I'd probably have done something different with the L side of the upper tier. I have just scaped my tank, using milliput and zipties to keep everything together in about 3 big, easy to move structures

[mogurnda]

I think it looks very nice. I can't remember whether you plan to add a lot of corals, but your current arrangement gives lots of opportunities for corals with different lighting needs.

[Guy W]

I think your having some problems because of the size of your rock. It appears to be quite large, in comparision to your tank size.

What I like to do is setup the larger rock as a base foundation, then stack up smaller rocks ontop, creating outcroppings and caves.

For example, and this might be difficult to understand.

Take 3 rocks, place them in a triangle shape at ground level. 2 rocks in the the rear of the tank, 1 rock in the front of the tank, almost taking all the room from the front to the rear. Then you can build on top of that with smaller rocks. It will make the structure more stable and start to form a pyrimid shape. From there I set 2 rocks to the side of those 3, still at ground level, but a few inches away. One of those 2 in the front, one in the back. Now you can bridge over from the first 3 to the new 2 and you will have an overpass type thing. Then just keep going with it, being creative as possible.

I don't think yours looks bad at all however. I like mine to look a little more dense. But if you have larger fish they will enjoy the larger openings, just make sure the structure is stable. My clownfish forexample likes to dig up the stand, and after a few days of his tail flinging sand the rocks will start to tumble.

Just a few ideas. Your looking good.