aquascaping?

does anyone know of any DIY videos or anything about building a nice aquascape?

i'm looking for some info on building arches etc.
i'm willing to put in the time tu build it, i just dont know exactly how.

 

I just taped out the dimensions of the bottom of my tank on a work table and played around with the rocks. When I found a structure I liked I used epoxy to bond them together. In the end I had three manageable structures I moved together in my tank. I used reefcleaners dry rock to make mine and I thought they had great rocks for making arches, lots of angles. Hope it helps.

 

This was my old tank:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/blue-water-52764.html#.Uw9htyicd_U
Page two has some cleaner photos of the arches. If you use PVC make sure no critters can get inside the PVC. Some worms have been found 3-4 feet long.. they eat zoas once they get huge.
Barry the giant sea worm discovered by aquarium staff after mysterious attacks on coral reef | Mail Online

 

I generally have a basic idea in mind, depending on what I'll be keeping in the tank. That often determines some of the specific rock shapes/sizes I'll need. I don't buy boxes of unseen rocks for this reason, but I shop around until I find what I need.

Then, I lay out all of the rock and start in. For the most part, I let the rocks "tell" me what fits where, as they almost seem to "lock" together like puzzle pieces. Also note that you should put "like" type pieces of rock in the same structure, as this will help get rid of the "stack of rocks" look.

If you need additional stability, you can drill the rock and use acrylic rods for for stability. I've also used Mr. Sticky undewater epoxy for this.

I always aquascape inside the tank, but if you work on your design outside of the tank, be sure that you don't end up with huge structures that are physically connected together that need to be moved into the tank.

HTH

 

I recently saw a hobbyist build a mock tank to his tanks dimensions out of cardboard, he just taped it together and built his structures within the mock set up. Simple stuff like would have never occurred to me, but I'll try that method with my next build.

 

Another tip if you decide to use acrylic rods. One would think a masonry drill bit would be appropriate. A lot of these natural stones like Fiji are very soft and a wood drill bit will drill much smoother/break less stones. I just bought a regular wood drill bit to be sacrificed as the dedicated aquarium drill bit.

 

If you need to cut them a wet saw for tile works great. or a diamond blade on a 4" grinder works too. +1 on the wood bit vs. masonry. I used this method on a rock and a plastic peg.

 

Not sure I agree with you here. One thing, open PVC vs pen holes in rocks make do difference to how big a worm can get or hide in your tank. That thread you posted is a worm that is not normally encountered in our tanks, THANK GOD!!!, but when they are they are always a problem to eradicate.