Building with tonga toys: Have you ever used branch rock in your aquascape?

[nano reef]

Someone sold me me a brute trash can full of tonga for 20 bucks! SCORE!

I have been having a hard time decorating and thats why my tanks is so bare.

I have a huge order coming in and recently as well been buying encrusting corals so I think I wIll put them on some of the tongas separated by zoas.

I think I may dedicate one to chalices. Problem with that is I am hoping they will plate but not sure if they will encrust and I dont want a ton of encrusting rock on the back.

Appreciate any suggestions. Blastos maybe? The problem would be feeding them and I also thought of acan sense both blastos and acans get along but then the feeding problem since they would be growing vertically.

The branch at top is going to have some sps

 

[MoshJosh]

Yup:

 

[ygbsmww]

I build mine with ceramics using pics of the real deal found online.

Build yours? Interesting idea. Details please.

 

[specsgirl]

 

[jtf74]

Build yours? Interesting idea. Details please.

I have access to a kiln and I just buy clay and shape it and fire it then pop it in with the live rock and give it some time. Branches are the easiest really. I like clay because you can build large structures with cavities that are much lighter than an equivalent sized rock and have large caves for fish. I poke a lot of holes and crevices for bacteria and critters. Been using ceramic for several years. I am going to glaze a few for use in QT tank as abs pipe floats too easily and the glaze should prevent absorption of copper or other meds.

 

[BYU]

Part tonga part reef rock
Before and after pics
Added a ton of real reef branch rock later

 

[Bluegrass Reefer]

I am currently working on my second reef scape using branch rock. When I purchased my current 110 gallon, I bought a box of the Caribsea Belize Branch rock from BRS. The pieces weren't very realistic or particularly interesting, so I purchased a 30 lb box of the Real Reef Fancy Branch from Saltwateraquarium.com. The Real Reef Fancy Branch gave me the look I wanted, and I couldn't be more pleased.

I used the Caribsea Branch for the lower-level base, and then added the Real Reef to create my primary structure. I used E-Marco 400 to bond all the pieces together.

The first pic is just the primary structure in the tank before water and getting everything else set up. The second pic is from the end of 2023. As you see, I layered in more pieces to get some additional height and depth to the reef scape.

While I love the aesthetics the branch rock provides, I also find that I get much better flow because of the openness of the structure.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Branching rock broken up and stuck back together!!! I used a brand that was almost flat to make the base

Takes up less room then putting the hammers in the sand

I did get everything glued don’t have a day time photo but here is one from before the lights cut on

Disclaimer - corals are cranky creatures lol