your opinions please

[porksnorkel]

my second 125g w/ slate backround. set up on acrylic w/ styro spacers. made some design errors, but curious to know ur opinions anyway. this is supposed to be a waterfall backround using a bubble wand between the 2 outer sections of the backround. it is intended as a malawi cichlid tank.

so the questions are...
A-should i remove the large piece that spans the 2 rockpiles
B-should i take all the rock piles out and choose a different type of fish that doesn't need hidey holes
C-swap the white sand for black...even if it will cost 8 or 9 times more money
D-yank the whole thing out and start over
i'm looking for aesthetic opinions folks.

 

[fijiwigi]

I like the look. Have you thought about using some driftwood? White sand has a nice appeal better than the black with the look your going for IMO/

 

[CatatonicBug]

I'm no expert, and tend to go with what I think looks cool, but I'm rather impressed! I can imagine that setup with a bunch of moss and other plants growing in/around it. I would be interested to see the waterfall effect too. I really like the natural effect of all the rock.

 

[roka64]

I think you have an awesome concept. On the 2nd pic, can you make a curved rock facing to hide the styro (on the side)? I'm not sure how much water movement is needed in FW but I think it might be cool if the right side (facing the tank) would have an upside down "v" or "w", to split the water flow. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but the waterfall effect would be pretty cool (gotta stick this in, IMO).

 

[pitt420dude]

A. NO, its awesome!
B. No, it/they're awesome!
C. Ehh, it's a matter of opinion. B/c you asked I assume you'd prefer black? I have a black substrate and love it. Moreover, it does not have to be more expensive. Check out Tuface MVP or Pro's Choice SoilMaster Select, both come in charcoal and you could get 50lbs for around $15, maybe you'd want 100lbs for your tank size.

Do you anticipate you might want to have live plants? If so, those substrates are great for that too. Might want to check out Black Onyx sand, but it's pricey.

D. Heck NO! You've got a great thing going IMO.

 

[Karegg]

I love the look of the rock. Freakin' awesome. Personally I think the white sand is a nice contrast to the rock, but if you put in black sand and brightly colored fish, they will really stand out against the rocks and sand. I can see it in my mind already and I think it's totally BA.

 

[porksnorkel]

ty for the replies guys. i've come up w/ an idea that i think i will like. it will basically be the same thing but have styro stacks in between the horizontal pieces.
[foreground rock stacks] i'll cut some caves into the styro then cover the styro w/ small vertical pieces. this will give me the more natural look i was hoping for. should take a few weeks to do, so hang in there and i'll post pics of the progress and final set up.
i will also be hunting for cheap black sand to bring it all together.

 

[melosu58]

What kind of lighting will you have?

 

[porksnorkel]

48"- 32w dual actinics, from zoo-med, in a "Extreme Wet" lighting fixture from home depot.

 

[porksnorkel]

this weeks progress is going well so far. i bought a roto zip tool w/ a diamond blade to cut the slate. whoa what a mess. talk about dusty. i don't recommend doing this inside,lol. i actually moved my workspace outside for the day, and still made a mess!:wallbash:
so i started the other day by cutting the styro stacks up. i made sure to make plenty of caves, and the caves are big enough to house the fish when they grow, i hope.

here's the left side

the right

and the whole thing dismantled after a good rinse. hopefully i will get to paint the styro tommorrow.

 

[Zagz]

Looks great. I can see brightly colored mbuna swimming around in there in my head already.

 

[porksnorkel]

ty anne

 

[mom2reds]

I can't wait to see this tank up and running. IMO it will look amazing.

 

[pitt420dude]

WOw, very cool hardscape. One of the best hardscape preparations I've seen.

 

[porksnorkel]

today's activities include epoxy painting styrofoam! sticky mess this is,lol.

 

[neilanh]

That's quite the project you have going there. Anxious to see how it turns out!

 

[FishEggs]

Don't get any epoxy paint on the car. lol
looking good. cant wait to see it flowing.

 

[porksnorkel]

Don't get any epoxy paint on the car. lol
looking good. cant wait to see it flowing.

oops...that's what i've been wiping my brush on,lol.

 

[porksnorkel]

sunday update...
rocks glued to flat cave front surfaces

i was going to leave the sharp points alone, figuring they would be fairly invisible, but after looking at it i decided to play it safe. these were tough to glue rocks to and keep in place, so i used nails and clothes pins to keep the rocks set.

i modified a 280 also, mostly due to lack of foresight. it now has clearance over the foam of the back round. i'm going to epoxy the cut piece back on in a horizontal position, to allow water flow over the acrylic.

ohhh...i also vacuumed out all the white sand, to be replaced w/ black.

 

[porksnorkel]

tuesday update...almost done folks!
the slate slabs are glued to the tops of the styro...but not glued to each other to allow for install and removal. this way i can lift it out in sections, and still control the bouyancy.
all right side slabs drying on the floor.

left side stacked up.

shot of the side of the left stack

i'll put them in the tank tommorrow, and prolly fill it next week.
sand is now my fave tahitian black moon. i skimped on it, due to cost. i went this route cause i found an extra pale left over from an old tank. total will be only about 60 lbs. i put in just enough to fill the eggcrate. this will keep the styro from sinking into the eggrate, and provide some stability, instead of uneven sand. u can see the two black airstones that will create the waterfall effect. they'll be run on a tired old whisper 60.

the emp 280 mod came out nicely. i basically cut off the bottom lip of the spraybar, and reglued it horizontally w/ plastic epoxy. there are a couple of acrylic braces there to help support it. seems very strong so far.