Ideas & Techniques for aquascaping my new tank..

[MarineBoy]

Hi,

I have been racking my brain for ages on some 'clever' and 'effective' aquascaping for my new tank. The tank is an Orca 550 and its taller than it is wide so there will be the involvement of stacking LR. If there are any techniques for aquascaping and stacking LR please let me know as i am a total beginner.

I understand that its a personal thing for each tank but i just need a little inspiration, your help would be much appreciated - maybe even some pictures?

I would love a overhang but are there any proven techniques to make this safe?

Cheers

 

[Ziggy953]

Well I have an overhang in my tank. You are working with a smaller space but I'm sure you could manage it.

 

[cmor1701d]

I would stack rock in the center with flat pieces sticking out to the sides to make ledges and overhangs. I would lay out the rock and get it looking just right, then epoxy the rocks together. You couild also drill through the rocks and put a couple of dowels through them to keep them in place. That does give you the option of changing things around should the mood strike you later.

 

[roka64]

You can also use PVC and attach the rock with plastic zip ties.

 

[CluelessInNY]

You should NOT tape the pieces together.

That is my contribution as a guy who knows next to nothing.

 

[austinsdad]

Don't be afraid to lean rocks against the back wall, but leave enuf room on the sides to clean IMO. If you hand pick rocks, choose some that can lodge against each other like puzzle pieces, hopefully providing swim throu holes between them and overhangs. HTH.

 

[MarineBoy]

thanks for that i suppose there are many different safe methods by the looks of things - i will probably try carefull selection of rock for a balanced free standing structure and just make sure i have some weight pinning the overhang down safely. if this fails i can always move on to permanently attach or drill the rock.

i have 1kg of rock at the moment but adding another 4-5kg of LR at the weekend! i will try to leave some areas for corals to take a hold in the near future.

if i stacked rock against the back of the tank would there likely to be dead spots? i have been advised a small korallia pump would be a welcome addition in the Orca 550?

thanks for your advice - bring on the live rock !!!!

 

[cmor1701d]

Ditch the bioballs and replace them with LR rubble if you can. 48w of lighting is not very much for corals. You will be limited to some lower light stuff, but there's still a lot out there. The filer sponge should be cleaned at least weekly too to prevent nitrate buildup.

Don't worry about stacking the rock against the back. But do get a power head. The Koralia's are my new favorite. The push a lot of water, but in a wide flow instead of a narrow stream.

 

[roka64]

I 2nd the Hydor Koralias!

 

[MarineBoy]

so the bio balls are to be removed should the bag of media be removed also?
I assume the filter pads sit on top of the filter pads?

Looking at adding a small korallia asap.

My skimmer creates alot of bubbles in the water which I have heard is a common problem with the orca tanks. Can anyone suggest how I can get rid of the bubbles as they are spoiling the quality of the water. My tank is currently only holding 1kg of live rock at the moment is this why the skimmer isnt skimming properly?

Any help on the skimmer would be great

Cheers

 

[MarineBoy]

Sorry filter pads on live rock!