Vote for Which Aquascape You Like More

[Rhapsody Reef]

I'm working on an aquascape for a new tank and have been playing around with different combinations and placements for the rock structures I made. It doesn't come across from the photos, but the rock structures have plenty of habitat/cavities for fish and flow. The new tank is a Waterbox 175.6 Infinia Frag, measuring 6ft by 2ft by 18". I'm planning to make this tank more artistic than my first tank Rhapsody Peninsula, incorporating more negative space and minimalism. This new tank will have more of a design concept, as opposed to my peninsula which is more of a one-of-everything collection rather than a cohesive design. For the new build, I'm aiming for a collection of blue corals (mostly acros) with more intention given to coral placement to maximize colors and textures while sticking to the theme. Anyways, more on that in a future build thread...

So... which do you like more, Option A or Option B? Option A is the rocks arranged as / / and the first two images, Option B is the rocks arranged as / \ and third and fourth image.

Option A: Front

 

Option A: Top

 

Option B: Front

 

Option B: Top

 

New Tank: Waterbox Infinia Frag 175.6

Edited August 31, 2023 by Rhapsody Reef

[CuttleFishandCoral]

A

[Lexinverts]

I would probably choose B, since your rock is more spread out and you are growing sticks that will reach out and touch each other. Both options look great.

[Jeff.Tichenor]

I think you can do more with B. 

[islandVib3s]

I prefer b. But spread out a little more to keep the space for flow and growth.  

[obrien.david.j]

I prefer the // effect of option A.   But, could the two rocks be pulled slightly farther apart - but still maintain the canyon like view?

[Rhapsody Reef]

Thanks everyone for the votes/comments so far, keep them coming! I initially designed the aquascape with option A in mind, but now I'm torn!

 

9 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

I prefer the // effect of option A.   But, could the two rocks be pulled slightly farther apart - but still maintain the canyon like view?

I think I have enough room to space them out more, I'll play with that tomorrow and maybe post some pics!

[Lexinverts]

To give you a sense of what happens with space, take a look at my aquascape 3 yrs ago, and then today.

[Rhapsody Reef]

31 minutes ago, Lexinverts said:

To give you a sense of what happens with space, take a look at my aquascape 3 yrs ago, and then today.

That’s good to see, thanks for sharing! I was thinking I might need another small rock island but I’ll definitely stick with what I have since that will already fill the tank nicely with time. 

[DaveZ]

I think it depends largely on what the long term goal is for the corals of this tank. 
 

If you were going with LPS and corals that encrust / grow close to rock and do not require much flow, then I think you’re good with either of these.
 

But since you said the goal is to go with SPS, it is really important to keep in mind that these branching style corals take up a lot of water space over time with growth. You don’t want rockwork of aquascapes for sps to take up much space from the start as the corals themselves become the aquascape over time….as you can see from Lex’s picture examples above.
 

IMO the goal for SPS dominant tanks should be as little rock as possible. More rock distracts from acros and can really break up the cool shapes of growth patterns found in acros. Plus this wall of rock style scape as the corals grow I think will cause big flow issues annd dead spots over time as the acros grow in. If you want SPS with this scape, I’d go with minimum of 6 pumps in this setup. 
 

I will post some pics of my mixed reef (that’s become acro dominant) that had a scape not designed for acros and then my new Tonga scape for I am making for the 75g Acro only display that’s tied into my 250g acro grow-out system (fyi, I’m going to be throwing 4 MP10s and 2x gyres when I get corals in there).
 

 Hopefully this can give you some ideas. 

[obrien.david.j]

Here's a two year view of my rockwork.  (this is the 36" end of my 6' long tank)  A couple of colonies have come and gone.  And a couple of colonies have gotten Big.   I'm starting to think about when and where to prune again.

Dec 2020

Sept 2021  (Yes, Dino's!)

Aug 2022

  

June 2023

 

 

 

 

 

[Rhapsody Reef]

21 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

I prefer the // effect of option A.   But, could the two rocks be pulled slightly farther apart - but still maintain the canyon like view?

I lose the canyon effect when doing that, but I don’t hate the look. In person the rocks seem better in Option A, likely because that is what I had in mind when making it. When flipping it around for Option B, the 2D is more interesting but the rock might need some more work for better coral placement. 

[Rhapsody Reef]

I should have mentioned earlier… I’m planning on this tank running bare bottom so if it seems like I’m having more rock than normal it’s meant to hold some bacteria and microbial population that a sandbed won’t have. I’ve also done a fair bit of research on the NSA aquascapes and many people seem to regret them as fish stress more and become more aggressive because they don’t have places to escape. I’m sure once the corals grow this is less of an issue, but it’s something I’m keeping in mind. 
 

Now to mix things up: here’s Option C. It adds slightly more rock, another small island that I made previously and was playing around with working in. It’s probably too much rock but fun to play around with!