A New Reef Is Born! Matthew & Amanda's 3-sided "see-through" 2-room reef

Making Progress...

We just wanted to share our recent progress with the community on our first foray into the wonderful world of marine reef aquariums (or saltwater for that matter) and extend our thanks to everyone we have worked with on here so far. 3reef moderators should be very proud of creating such a friendly and knowledgable forum! We look forward to working with even more of you.

So, here is an area of the home we have dedicated for our saltwater preparation...

Matthew & Amanda

 

Here was the aquascape that we roughed out at the LFS...not too terrible for our first attempt and considering we did not really know what we wanted...well...except for an "arch" somewhere...

 

Here was our tank's birth on 13JAN10...and when the "dust" settled...here is what the aquascape we had created looked like.

We had our "arch," but it didn't take us too long to realize that we weren't crazy about the way it looked. The arch seemed a little too large...we didn't like the way the right side ended and that empty space over there...and overall we just felt that it looked a little too unnatural for our liking. So, figuring now would be our best opportunity to do something about it...we set about our re-arranging...

 

Well, we must say that while we do love our Bali rock...it's by no means easy to aquascape with...each piece has a lot of character and interest to it...but they are definitely challenging to try to fit together. After many hours, we settled and are content with this arrangement. We managed to keep our "arch" on the left side, but we decreased the size of the gap...and added little "shelves" in there. The major change was to the right side of the arch and the middle of the 'scape, where we gradually sloped it downward versus having it mirror the left side and then just run flat. We also created the upward "table" or "shelf" structure on the right side for some interest...and managed to have the rock taper off on the right about 1" from the glass (and tank will not be viewable from the right side wall). Rather, we preferred to keep a little space on the left side wall...since the tank is also viewable from that side. We felt this shape has a more natural looking appearance.

Finally, just some current shots of our setup from our dining room. The breakfast nook side is being re-modeled right now so it's really not a flattering angle ...but eventually we'll snap a few shots from there too.

Amanda & Matthew

 

Looking good. Its coming along nicely.