Minimalist Aquascaping

[Ashish Patel]

heres a better shot

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

Please save yourself some trouble and never listen to these horrible recommendation.. As long as you have enough surface area for beneficial bacteria thats all you need to worry about. More rocks = more weight, less water in the tank, more room for detritus and pest.

What size aquarium do you have? Focus on removing all bottom rock and keeping it off the sandbed.

I have a 54 gallon corner tank.. so you saying that it is actually better to have less rock?

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

You could use some of it in your sump. That would give you some more area for beneficial bacteria.

I had not thought about that. I suppose I could put a few small pieces in there the get the LR support without the LR clutter..

 

[rgaston]

By the way I like what your doing with your aquascape.

 

[gpwdr]

So I am really wanting to take a minimalist approach to my aquascape. This is gonna be my first reef tank so i do have a few concerns. The first being that I was told I need a pound of rock per gallon of water in the tank, but if I put 50 lbs of rock in the tank it will be way more than minimal. LoL, second is if I use less rock do I need to use more sand to make up the difference? Any help would be appreciated... Thanks guys..[emoji106]

With 1 to 2" of sand you can get away with no rock at all. The nitrification and denitrification process happens in the sand bed just like with the rock. I always wanted to start a reef tank with just sand and build the reef with hard corals.

 

[Dainese954]

I converted my tank to a minimalist tank last May. I only used about 30 lbs of rock and 1 to 2 inches of sand. I have a SR60 Innovative Marine all-in one tanks. The display is the size of a 40 gallon breeder. Everything has been fine and my parameters have stay right on. As a matter of fact my phosphate and nitrates have stay at 0 which is really to low.

Could you show us a pic of your tank?

 

[Ashish Patel]

I have a 54 gallon corner tank.. so you saying that it is actually better to have less rock?

I believe so but this is up for debate. Older hobbyist used to add 1-2LB per rock but after 2+ years is when the problem happen. Lack of flow behind the rock, increased nitrates, more nitrates,phosphates, more algae growth. I've done it myself but I end up removing rock but after having some success my goal in my new setup is to see no rockwork and let the corals become the rockwork - in this regards id love to have the 1-2LB of solid coral rock

 

[Ashish Patel]

besides it depends on what kind of rock you have. some rock is very lightweight and porous - some rock is like a brick. The quality of the Rock is most important I added a large marinepure block in my sump as I have only about 40LB in my 130gallon system.

 

[Dainese954]

Here is the IM Nuvo40 I just sold. Cycling the SR60 soon.

 

[gpwdr]

The container picture below contains rock that was left over. Is difficult not using it but my tank I consider pure minamalistic

May I suggest you cure that rock in a covered bucket outside of the tank? Use a power head and a heater and when the water smells like hell put a bag of carbon in the water to remove the smell. After the rock is cured dump the water out and put the rock in your tank that has the new water in it.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/howto-curing-live-rock-for-saltwater-aquariums/

 

[Fugs]

I tried to keep it simple. Allowing plenty of swim room and potential 'grow' room for SPS.

 

[gpwdr]

So I am really wanting to take a minimalist approach to my aquascape. This is gonna be my first reef tank so i do have a few concerns. The first being that I was told I need a pound of rock per gallon of water in the tank, but if I put 50 lbs of rock in the tank it will be way more than minimal. LoL, second is if I use less rock do I need to use more sand to make up the difference? Any help would be appreciated... Thanks guys..[emoji106]

May I suggest you cure that rock in a covered bucket outside of the tank? Use a power head and a heater and when the water smells like hell put a bag of carbon in the water to remove the smell. After the rock is cured dump the water out and put the rock in your tank that has the new water in it.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/howto-curing-live-rock-for-saltwater-aquariums/

 

[gpwdr]

I tried to keep it simple. Allowing plenty of swim room and potential 'grow' room for SPS.

I use Kessil Tuna blue too, but I added the Kessil Tuna Sun with the Tuna Blue. It made the tank really sparkle.

 

[Ashish Patel]

May I suggest you cure that rock in a covered bucket outside of the tank? Use a power head and a heater and when the water smells like hell put a bag of carbon in the water to remove the smell. After the rock is cured dump the water out and put the rock in your tank that has the new water in it.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/howto-curing-live-rock-for-saltwater-aquariums/

No need to cure I purposely got Reef saver rock so I don't have to deal with curing and possible phosphates.

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

I use Kessil Tuna blue too, but I added the Kessil Tuna Sun with the Tuna Blue. It made the tank really sparkle.

How do you think a minimalist design like this would look with black sand instead of the white? I have my tank sitting on a black stand and I just felt like using black sand would be a nice transition into the tank versus the white..

 

[Ashish Patel]

Its a personal choice.. IMO white or light substrate looks the best along with black background. White also reflects light better then black....
Google some images and do what suits your taste..

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

Its a personal choice.. IMO white or light substrate looks the best along with black background. White also reflects light better then black....
Google some images and do what suits your taste..

Thanks my man, I did Google a lot of tanks and tank layouts. I do believe I'm gonna go with the black sand. It seems to help the colors really pop off the fish and corals once they are mature. Plus it a bit different then what you see everyday...

 

[roansdad]

25 gallon cube. Used fijicrete to cement the form I wanted

 

[rickster]

here's my 90 gallon with 60 Lbs. BRS Pulkani chiseled ,drilled and glued with JURASSIC GEL reef adhesive both structures can come apart in 3 pieces to be removed and put back exactly where it was before.
sort of like Bommies, so even without coral the structure looks OK.

 

[truepercs]

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