Okay, now I'm going to show you the progression of our aquascaping. I truly think this is one of the most difficult parts of the hobby. You can have all your parameters in check, have the most amazing equipment, and even corals and fish, but if you don't get the aquascaping right, the entire picture doesn't look quite right.
This tank is first of all NOT easy to work in. I have to wear a mask in order to get to the bottom, and my husband is wet up to his neck if he has to reach in. And it's back-breaking work....we have to take breaks every hour or so when working in here. So....bear that in mind.
We started out with these beautiful rocks:
We first thought we could use PVC piping to somehow construct some towers:
but...we hated how that looked. It worked in the old, smaller aquarium, but we quickly realized that we were going to have to do something in a totally different scale!
After dumping in all the rocks, frustrated at not having enough to anything! (October 2007)
We then rearranged the piles of rock to slowly begin to cover up the overflow. This was when we realized that the 50kg of live rock were only a fraction of what we were going to need (although the stones from the old tank aren't in here yet!).
We then proceeded to rip stones out of the old tank, little by little, along with the existing corals and fish, and eventually came up with this design.
But, we soon realized that we needed to beef up the left side of the tank with another arch (this had 3 versions! that I didn't even bother to photograph).
And then I left for the US about 4 weeks ago. My husband obviously found some spare time on his hands, after taking care of our daughter, niece, dog, household, etc., and bought more rocks for the front middle so that we could view some of the corals more closely.
I think the aquascaping is still far from over....but, at least we can now start to let the many corals grow and find their niche. The next goal is to figure out how best to cover up the overflow, whether it be with more stones, or whether we glue corals to it...or whether the corals on the rocks grow up to cover it.
Okay, that was a lot for today, so I think I'll sign off and try to attach the coral images over the next few days. I'll let you guys first absorb all of these pics!
Yea, we finally get up close and personal with Christi's big reef build.
Subjects of post randomly chosen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reefbaby
I'm quite anal about everything being organized and having its place. And nothing irritates/annoys me more than cables and plugs sticking out every which way.
Oh sure, first off she has to show us this neat wiring apparatus. I think I'm going to be sick. I can't stand all this organization. What's a fish room without a tangle of wires??? You'd never put up with my fish room. (Actually, Christi, I'm insanely jealous over it. Wish I had those skills.) Georg is a power lifter, in my opinion.
OK, I'm confused...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reefbaby
After all the ruckus of the 6 ft. skimmer, we decided that it took not only too much space in the sump, but also used way too much electricity with the three pumps.
Are these pictures of the same skimmer, or did you change something. They don't look the same.
This is good looking skimmate, though. This thing kicks butt.
I'm going to post this and then run. I have to get some routine blood work done this AM and I have to be "fasting". Since I don't "fast" well, I'm going in as early as possible, want to be there by 7:00am when they open. That way I can stop "fasting" as early as possible. God I am spoiled!!!
More later.
Dick
__________________ Amphibious
Reaching my 70th BD, I realize that I cannot help but grow old. However, I refuse to grow up!!! My wife would tell you, "He may be 70 but, He's going on 17". Life is wonderful with a woman like that.
OK, I'm confused...
Originally Posted by Reefbaby
After all the ruckus of the 6 ft. skimmer, we decided that it took not only too much space in the sump, but also used way too much electricity with the three pumps.
Are these pictures of the same skimmer, or did you change something. They don't look the same.
This is good looking skimmate, though. This thing kicks butt.
Thanks for the compliments on the wiring...I'll be sure to let Georg know! I was so proud of him - it was his first electrical project - and he's about as anal as I am when it comes to perfecting things!
You are completely right! There are not the same skimmer! We originally had a large, 6ft AquaMedic powerhouse skimmer - it's a great skimmer, don't get me wrong....and more than capable of skimming this and much larger tanks - but, the thing was a monster, was loud, and needed three huge pumps to run the thing. We decided that although we had gotten it for free, it was going to slowly eat away at our electricity bill. The second reason we decided to buy a new skimmer was simply a space issue. Although we have the tank room behind the aquarium, we built quite a bit of counter space for working and for holding a fuge and quarantine (still yet to come), so there wasn't a huge amount of space for a large, spacious sump. With the AquaMedic in place, there was barely room to get the return pumps in the sump, let alone do any maintenance or add anything else in the future.
Since it might be kind of difficult to see from my pictures, here's some shots from Thomas' website:
We've been super super happy with this skimmer. It skims like crazy - either wet or dry - is extremely easy to clean, and the pump and components are very easy to remove, thus also easy to clean.
Thanks Matt. He was quite proud of himself (as was I). It's been a great trick to get him involved in the hobby. He's now just as excited about the tank and involved as I am!
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