Redesigning aquascape on established 220g tank

[Dkray944]

Ok, this weekend I'm on daddy duty which basically means I have all the time I want to screw around with my fish tanks as the kids are sleeping. I have a crazy thought I've been kicking around for some time now on redesigning my 220g aquascape. I want it to be more open and better laid out. Right now it's seems like it's just a bunch of corals put in the tank in such a way so that they don't harm each other. Any thoughts on the best way to redesign a tank that's full of stock? I was thinking about making some kind of moveable tray thats the width of the tank that I can slide back and forth depending on what side of the tank I'm working on. The trouble Ive had in the past is a crazy battle of shifting the coral around as I restack the rocks. I also have a 40g breeder that will be set up and running by this weekend I can use and house stuff in I don't want to out back in the main display.



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[Dkray944]

I also want to clear up the sand bed

[quicksilverz]

wow jealous.

[Dean]

When I've done this in the past I use those big rubber maid tubs to put rock and coral in to get it out of the way. Just fill them up with tank water and throw some water circulation in there and they are good to go for several hours at least. I also thoroughly cleaned the sand but my bed is only ever 2-3" deep. You are very likely going to stir up a bunch of detritus from the sand and rock so a good water change would be in order as well. Mike and I rescaped his 90 about 5 or 6 months ago and had no issues with the stock afterwards. The same in my 65 about 8 months ago.

[quicksilverz]

He helped me works like a charm But I would add a heater it gets cold fast.

[Dkray944]

I'll be sure to pick up some extra heaters. How did the sps handle it? The lps I think will be ok the sps I worry about pulling them in and out of water.

[quicksilverz]

All my SPS did great we were screwing around in there for about and hour so no harm.

[Dean]

I'll be sure to pick up some extra heaters. How did the sps handle it? The lps I think will be ok the sps I worry about pulling them in and out of water.

SPS did fine the times I have done itaccept for some accidental fragging. Lol.

[Dkray944]

Ok, I think I have a plan. I'll get a couple heaters and everything that can hold water. I'll place the stuff I plan on clearing out in my 40g breeder frag tank. I'll then make sure I have enough water on hand for a large water change at the end. I can produce up to 90g pretty easily. I'll then place corals in large containers with water flow and heater. Maybe separating them out by type sps, lps, etc. I'll then clean the sand bed, reset the rock, fill it back up with the 90g pre made water, add corals, discard old water in containers.... I think I might need to break out the bathing suit.

[Dean]

Man I wish I could come help but I will be in Austin most of the weekend.

[Dkray944]

It's all good... I appreciate the offer. Hopefully the rock gods will be with me and everything will be perfect early in the night.

[Justin]

Were you planning on adding new rock features like caves and over hangs? Where do you live? I might be able to help or at least check it out this weekend. I'll be out near Mike to help with his stand build and can probably swing by to check out your setup. I should, considering you have been slowly taking away Aqua SD's inventory!

[Dkray944]

I would definitely like to include more over hangs and open caves I'm just not sure how I could do it with limited time to make the adjustments. Theres done really big rocks in there so I might be able to pull it off. My vision is to clean it up by taking some of the zoas, mushrooms, and acans out and using them in my 40g breeder frag/backup tank. Then create more of an open sand bed with mainly only euphyllias in and around the caves. The challenge is going to be making it more open but accommodating most of the corals and giving them room to grow out. It's a 220g tall so I think I'll just have to build it up a little more. I'm open to ideas.

[Justin]

Look into possibly going more into the Bonsai side of things. I would put whatever leftover rock you have in a sump and plumb into the system so that you don't cause a mini cycle with the loss of bacteria. THe main thing is to just start with some ideas with the rocks that you have. I would probably look at the corals you have and get a feel for the flow they need and then bunch them up by groups that get along. From there, you can start eye balling your rocks to get a feel for some structure that can house your corals. Since you are planning on redoing everything, why not go with a full SPS tank and put all of your zoas and LPS into a different tank. LPS require some vastly different flow patterns than say SPS, and by getting rid of their needs, this should open up your possibilities.

Do you have some FTS shots we can use to give you some ideas?

[Dkray944]

I would definetly like to have a bonsi style setup with a few exceptions. There's a couple high end euphyllias I would like to keep. Other than that I could definitely see taking out a majority of lps and zoas and relocating them to my 40g breeder set up. What sps corals do you think could get along well? Should I seperate them out by subtype. There's a lot of nice encrusting monti's(10 or so), all types of acros(50+ frags and colonies), and 10 or so euphyllias(wall hammer, branching hammer, branching torch, etc). It's always changing but here's a couple shots of the tank. Since these shots I cleared out one of the large hammer colonies to the right. I still have the really large frogspawn colony in the far back right.

[Dkray944]

Couple more shots.... http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/28/67f55634bf85b9c3500cc20f3c8331ee.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/28/2b45bfc0279a7259c7b990cbfb23e04c.jpg


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[Justin]

First of all, this is an amazing tank with so many nice sized corals in it that I am seriously "jelly"

These are just observations and my assumptions:

The problem with your setup is that you have a tall tank and with it a lot of negative space on the upper half that makes your eyes search constantly around the tank and gives us (mainly speaking for myself) an uneasy filling and one of "clutter."

If you were to clean up the LPS and Zoas that are secondary tier (first tier still being in the tank but showcased in some way) you will free up some space. The center looks a little busy and I think if you were to slowly consolidated everything toward the overflow and leave the center a channel for your Euphyillia's to populate, it will help clean it up.

I talked about the Golden ratio and aquascaping in an article on the newbie format with several links that give a lot of info and examples to help you out. With your tank I would suggest the following main points:

Remove any excess corals like LPS and 2nd tier zoas that you do not want to display in this tank
Build your rock work up and to the right but leave the cave you have on the left alone. Try to imagine building a focus point from the top right of the tank that angles down to the center channel I talked about earlier.
Create "ratio lines" along the focus line you created and put the corals you want to highlight the most along this line. This will draw your eye to them and also down the imaginary line to your "channel" and your other island.

I hope my rambling made sense

[Dkray944]

I appreciate the advise. I would agree. The middle section is the part I don't like the most. I'll be sure to read your post. It also might not be a bad idea to stop by if you get a sec. I live in Indian springs up 281n outside of 1604. Ill probably start the process Friday night after the kids go down at 8. I might even put it off til Saturday depending in the procress of my 40g breeder I'm setting up.

[Justin]

Sounds like a plan. I love to check fellow reefer's tanks. Ill check with the wifey and i will let you know