Looking for advice/criticism/tips (first aquascape)?

[scoles_b]

The tank is 90 gallons, I have a 20 gallon long sump/fuge and a 20 gallon long frag tank.

I put the water in the other day and all was well until the last 5 gallons... BOTH bulk heads started leaking.. so currently not running the overflow/return until I get the new ones in the mail.

There's the background.. I received my 50 lbs of dry (Florida Reef) rock today, so I went ahead and put it in the DT.. have more coming and adding more to the DT as well as in the sump & frag tank as I will not be fragging any corals any time soon. (Is 100 lbs of rock for this system OK? I plan on running Chaeto in the fuge as well as my skimmer, also have a DSB)

Well I stepped down from my ladder and looked at my "masterpiece" and it is totally off center- but I'm okay with that I only put in the large pieces, I still have to stick in the little ones here and there so it looks flush/natural. I made sure I left lots of holes for water flow and tried to keep as few as I could from touching the sand. Just looking for some tips/criticism/advice on how I placed the rock.

Also, REALLY hoping its okay to leave the water as it sits until my bulkheads get here. I have my power heads running in the DT and the skimmer in the sump for now. Will it be okay like this for the next week? Or will both tanks begin cycling and something drastic happen when I finally get the plumbing up & running?! Frag tank is empty as of now.

I'm attaching a few pics of the rock, hoping I did this right. Also, This is my first SW tank.

This is as STURDY as I could possibly get it. Do you think this will be okay for future SPS? I reallllyy want a good amount of SPS, but having no experience, I'm not sure what the best layout would be.

Thanks for ANY input guys!

 

[Bectan01]

I would say that's ok with the power with the power heads running. Nice scape! My only question would be did you do rocks then sand? The rocks on the bottom should be on the glass, just incase an future inhabitants are diggers, you don't want any falling rocks later down the track! Looking good tho

 

[scoles_b]

Thank you!!! No, I very well may have done this completely backwards. I added sand, then water, then rock . But I did make sure the bottom pieces of rock were completely nuzzled down into the sand and on top of the glass, will that be okay???

 

[Bectan01]

That's ok! Just make sure they are really secure and remember there is no such thing as a stupid question so keep em coming! You can never do TOO much research

 

[Gti_Leo]

i would leave the DSB out of the fuge, the area is to small to have much of an effect, just keep chaeto in there maybe a bit of calurpa in the fuge. i would only put a DSB in the display tank or in a large sump.

some believers in refugium miracle mud put some of that in the fuge and then a bit of sand on top but from what Mr.X told me about his experience with it it was just dirt from soemone yard and his had pieces of brick in it

 

[scoles_b]

i would leave the DSB out of the fuge, the area is to small to have much of an effect, just keep chaeto in there maybe a bit of calurpa in the fuge. i would only put a DSB in the display tank or in a large sump.

some believers in refugium miracle mud put some of that in the fuge and then a bit of sand on top but from what Mr.X told me about his experience with it it was just dirt from soemone yard and his had pieces of brick in it

Sorry I probably worded that wrong. The DSB is in the display tank, not the fuge. I never really gave any thought to the miracle mud... Seems like crap to me, lol. I think once everything is up and running I SHOULD be good filtration wise. With the DSB, good skimmer & the rock & chaeto for now. At least I hope!