got the design last weekend, have to catch-up on two projects for a store in calgary for their display tanks than it is on to your sumps, hopefully in about a week and a half

thanks dave

Let me know, can't wait to see the finished product

Well I put in the base rock, placement is not final, and I'm looking for opinions. I don't think I will be adding much more rock than what is in there at the moment, maybe another 60-70 lbs to seed. I figure there is about 150-160 lbs in there now.
Please, let me know what you think, be honest, I am open to suggestions. I think the highest the rock goes is about 12" off the bottom, leaving about 10" of free swimming room around the centre overflow. There are a lot of open spots in the sand as well, I think I have a decent base to work with, but sometimes someone else has a better idea. Thanks.
South View
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...9/IMG_2123.jpg
South east
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...9/IMG_2122.jpg
South west
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...9/IMG_2121.jpg
North east
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...9/IMG_2120.jpg
North west
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...9/IMG_2119.jpg

very nice im jealous

I'm sorry if I missed it but when you made your overflow rock formation what kinda foam did you use? I have made one the same using rc as my reference but everything I put in there dies. Are you planning on soaking it for a bit or doing any kind of waiting period etc? Thanks and nice tank.

Cool. Are the rods going to be exposed? Or do you plan to cover them with rubble or something?

Interesting idea Bob with the acrylic rods, but am I the only one that can't see any sand?!?

Looks really cool, can't wait to see mire.

I like the display:biggrin:.very interesting I would place some sand to cover those acrylics.I think one or two more rocks to make a cave on the right side of this photo.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...9/IMG_2122.jpg

Ya Bob where is the sand you are talking about I dont see it either :lol: I think it looks cool & a great idea. I also wondering about the rods? I would think that with water in the are almost un-noticeable.

you guys dont see the sand?? i do theres got to be about 5 inches in there lol looks good bob buddy:):)

Are you still snorting dry wall dust for fun Denny ?:lol:

bahaha i am indeed lol these days i sell it to kids in the back alleys of calgary...stupid kids dont even know its drywall dust....supports my hobby i guess lol :wink:

that will look sweet. i really like the shelf piece

As piles of rock they look nice ;) my concern is how close they are to the glass. Any coral mounted on the perimeter rocks cannot spread it's wings too far from the looks of things?

I think it would look better with water... and in my basement but what do I know.

Aquascape waterfall foam-from what I was told, once it has cured, it's fish safe and ready to go. The guys I know that have used it have had no problems.

There will be about 2-2.5" of sand so a very small portion may be seen, I was going to Cover the bottom couple inches of rod just in case anyway.

I thought about this as well, the closest the rocks get to the glass is about 3 inches or so, I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of room. Nothing is final yet, but I will keep this in mind.

Ryan, you have to use your imagination on this one.

I still have about 150 lbs of live rock in the back, so a couple of spots will be filled in.

So let me get this straight.......missing sand, exposed acrylic rods, and pile of rocks(that kind of hurt, Brett).
Alright, I will attempt to correct and post new pictures soon. Thanks, keep it coming, it's easier to fix while it's dry.

Always a smart ass comment eh?

They are harder to see when water is in the tank, but once the coraline algae hits them they are hard to miss. I used rod in my other tank, and wish I would have used something to cover them as I noticed them easily after some time.

Oh come on now =)

You won't see your rocks someday so the scape to a certain degree (imo) doesn't even matter. I actually complimented you on your rocks as they look now lol. I'm just concerned about proximity to glass. 3 inches is crazy close I think...

Sorry piles of rock should have been called artfully crafted rocktographic masterpiece =)

Ya, I'll look at the distance again tonight. I always think of corals growing up not out and overhanging.
Good point, this is why I asked for suggestions.
I would appreciate if everyone from now on would use "artfully crafted rocktographic masterpiece" when refering to any aqua scaping.

First off, it looks awesome!

My biggest concern would be if you ever got something in the tank that would move the sand around some, the rods will be exposed. This would cause a big eye sore. My engineer goby's would have them exposed in about half an hour. If you aren't considering ever getting something that may do this, then it isn't a big deal.

The other issue I could see with perchering the rocks up on pegs would be anemones. They may get underneath the rock and shift it around. They may even topple the rock on themselves. While it would be difficult to do, I've found anemones that live in the sand extremely powerful. If you aren't looking at this type of creature though, you have nothing to worry about.

The rods will be epoxied with sand so that will be taken care of, as for the rocks. I would say the lightest one in there is probably about 20 lbs and the rods are glued in place on the bases, I will also use a small amount of epoxy or silicon to "pin" these bases in place before I fill with water. Trust me, they will not move. The only problem with this is, the rock will be a permenent structure. All in all, this might not be a bad thing, it will prevent the "lets just move this one rock senario".

I like your concept, it's different! I'm interested to see how it looks when the tank is "broken in". :D

Well I hope it all works out. I've done a few things that have been questionable, and some times I think I should have just gone with something a little more traditional. But I'm commited now and happy with the progress, if it works out the way I have it in my head, I know I won't be disappointed. I have a few things planned, that should work out to my favour by the design of the centre overflow, but I have been wrong before..........

yeah all my coral directly under my lights have grown out and up. my scape is like a tower and all the stuff on the face of the tower is now light-starved. next one's going to have more of a rolling hill look to the underlying structure.

equal light for all!

I just read 23 pages of posts....not sure how I missed this thread but will now follow to the end....it looks fantastic.

I did that in the old tank, the problem to that is the rock structure usually ends up higher than than expected. I want to attempt to keep at least the top half of the tank empty.
Thats another thing to consider though, how the lighting will be placed.

You're going with LED so chances are you'll have diodes spread all over the place. The 'dark tower' problem is likely made worse with my halides. Still tho... the corals will def grow out. You could just mount them away from the outer edge of those rocks I suppose.

... or just be breaking off frags constantly while cleaning the glass. If I know Bob you will want those broken off frags as they will be from stellar colonys. :wink:

Well what I was thinking in some cases was to keep the high light sps on the centre overflow, to let them grow out and up. I can keep lps and low light sps in the lower sections of the tank, Placing is going to have to be thought out regardless.

Thanks Ryan, I might cheat a bit to begin with. Instead of lots of smaller frags, I think I will just start with 8-10 larger colonies in the tank. I also plan to have a bit more of mixed tank, I really liked when I had the lps, I think it added more to the overall look of the tank.

I think it looks great.

I agree with this though too. Don't sweat things too much, it looks great and it will look fantasticer when things fill in.

Hey are you going to silicone the acrylic bases down to stop sand and other debris from getting under them?

Holy smokes Bob!!! You're outdoing yourself. She looks amazing! Sorry for missing this, but what are you using for lights?? Radions? How many?