Going for a more natural look.

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edmlfc

Guest
Here is a picture of my tank, I took most of my decor out and added LR. The tank is 125 gallons 6' long. Currently have 2 Green spotted puffers both under 3.5". I know it's not totally natural but I just started to decorate. I just purchased 52 lbs LR. Under the LR and behind it I have about 50 lbs dead coral pieces. Between the LR I also have some dead coral about another 50 + lbs. If I understand correctly the LR should seed all the dead coral. I am not sure how long it will take but if it dosen't work then I will replace more with LR once my wallet recovers.
All comments are welcome but please take it easy on a newbie.
The rest of my equipment will be in on Wed. I know I should have all equipment needed but I slowly raised these fish from freshwater to saltwater. I guess you could say I am a late bloomer. I am now in the brown algea stage. After reading the forums and articles I think I am on track. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
ric maniac

ric maniac

Active Member
Sounds like you are on track
I'm going to be very honest though, I would get rid of all of the dead coral (except the sea fan) and add more lr.
 
itom37

itom37

Member
You don't need hundreds of pounds of live rock to provide adequate biofiltration. All you need is surface area and time. Live rock is nice b/c it's pretty and it has critters on it, but in terms of bacteria load, it will grow on all those things in your tank. This is the basis for things like bioballs... surface area for bacteria to grow on. So, if you want to have a more natural look, yeah go for LR. I actually like the look you have now, though it doesn't look good with brown algae on it. Sadly, in order to keep fake decorations clean in a FO, you have to clean them and kill the bacteria! Anyway, supposing you want your fake decorations (and to clean them form time to time): I'd have a wet/dry/sump with bioballs and some LR. Your sand, if not currently "live" will become live in time, just as your dead coral will. This should provide enough bacterial homes for you to be able to clean the dead coral as it gets algae-y. I'm probably telling you things you know, but this is me avoiding studying.
Thought: it seems like it would be fairly simple to make some sort of coating for fake decorations that would prevent algae from growing on them. Some sort of non-diffusible herbicide that wouldn't negatively affect a FO tank. Maybe it exists. Who knows.
 
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edmlfc

Guest
Thanks everyone glad to know I am heading in the right direction.

There is no plastic or fake coral in the tank. All I have is dead coral and live rock. My rock had been curing for over 3 weeks, I am guessing that's long enough. I am also checking my water every morning to make sure all is well.
So far so good! Also I was told the brown algae stage was normal, was I wrong?
 
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bonita69

Guest
I once had "decor" when I first started to. Man it became a mess quick. full of brown algea and hair algea water all way off and just one big problem and just looked bad! I am surprised I did not kill my fish. I pulled everything out had to do a 50% water change and put in my cured live rock. My hubby about shot me though "you paid what for rocks"!! He understands now though and he loves the look much better.
Knowing what I know now I would love to get my hands in that nice tank and aquascape it with live rock! Man I wish I had that big! So many neat caves you can do and your fish will enjoying playing in and out of them. Everyday after 3 years I still find new animals and such going out of my live rock.
As stated above I would pull the rest out! You can add a little "Flare" if you will. I have seen a few tanks here with a little fake stuff tuck in the live rock and it looked great.
 
reefmate75

reefmate75

Member
looking good! i would go through and put some caves in there and really start to stack the LR like bonita69 said i also started out with "plastic coral" what a mistake...i paid so much for that junk and had it in my tank 3 months and the pink pait was chipping off and landing every where hahaha and needless to say i added a a large fish "flangfin angle" and the hole tank crashed 4 days later lost over 400 dollars worth of fish but that was my own fualt for not really takeing the time and learning, so i would say your on the right track!
 
hefner413

hefner413

Active Member
if you are looking to get more LR, online is the way to go. LR around my town is $8-10 per pound. $$$$$. I went online and got some really nice LR - 100lbs for $200. It replaced my plastic castles. Looking back on the plastic - I keep saying "what was I thinking!" But I didn't know much then. :eek:)
 
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edmlfc

Guest
Ok I reworked my live rock, I think it's looking a little better but still not sure I am too happy with it. I have to wait until my wallet recovers to order more live rock.
Also I have no plastic decor in my tank.
What you see is dead coral or skeleton coral.
bonita69.....Anytime you want to come over and decorate my tank "come on over"
oh and bring some live rock with you.
Ok here's the new picture, is it getting better?
 
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edmlfc

Guest
Here is a photo of the blue coral & barnacles before the brown algae took over.

I'm assuming this is what everyone thinks is the plastic decor.

If it is I assure you the blue coral is not plastic it weighs about 20 lbs.
I have two pieces of it along with two more pieces of a flat blue coral. Also the barnacles are not plastic,
they are very fragile.

Should I take them out and clean the algae off or will that take away
some bacteria in my tank? Thanks everyone for replying.
 
hefner413

hefner413

Active Member
I understood there was no plastic and just dead corals and LR. Overall though, it seems as though dead coral can be a nuisance. I don't know why, but anytime I've left a dead sps or such in there, it just seems to always have cyano growth on it eventually, so I always take out coral skeletons.
ANYway - what I would do if I were you either if you do/don't take out the skeletons - I would divide the rock into 2 or 3 islands and have open areas in between.
 
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regina13

Guest
Originally Posted by edmlfc
Ok I reworked my live rock, I think it's looking a little better but still not sure I am too happy with it. I have to wait until my wallet recovers to order more live rock.
Also I have no plastic decor in my tank.
What you see is dead coral or skeleton coral.
bonita69.....Anytime you want to come over and decorate my tank "come on over"
oh and bring some live rock with you.
Ok here's the new picture, is it getting better?

Yes, it is getting a lot better! My only thing would be, to take out/move the big shell on the right. It look ok but I think it draws your eye away from the other things.
 
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regina13

Guest
Originally Posted by Hefner413
ANYway - what I would do if I were you either if you do/don't take out the skeletons - I would divide the rock into 2 or 3 islands and have open areas in between.
I also like this idea... maby if you want the coral skeletons, just keep the few that you really like in the tank.
 
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edmlfc

Guest
Thanks everyone, I think I will try this idea..."I would divide the rock into 2 or 3 islands and have open areas in between".
Sounds like it may be a winner. I will post new pictures in a few days.
Thanks again.
 
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edmlfc

Guest
Ok nothing good on TV so I decided to redo the redo. Here it is.

The Centerpiece:

53 lbs of live rock sure don't look like much.
 
reefmate75

reefmate75

Member
in a 150G tank no it don't hehehe...looks great! a lot of nice spots for larger growing corals and such...were you going to add more live rock? if so i would wait on buying any corals till you had all the rock you wanted...adding new rock after you have coral in there is a pain........................
 
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edmlfc

Guest
I plan to add more rock later. But this is going to be a FOWLR tank.
I have puffers and they tend to eat corals. So that means no pretty
corals for me. It looks like my tank is going to be a little drabby
but I wouldn't trade my puffers for the world. I don't think they
like all this rock moving. I've been getting some attitude from
them the last few days.

Thanks for all the encouragement!
I think I am going to need an ******** designer to get it right.
 
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