I've been wanting to upgrade my 50g acrylic for ages, of course had to do it on a budget so I've been watching the forums and crossing my fingers. I really love the height of the Oceanic tanks and have a cherry finish 30g cube in the dining room already that I was hoping to match.
Few weeks ago my chance popped up on RC and I jumped on it! I acquired a cherry finish Oceanic 70g RR tank & stand with a reef devil skimmer & sump (as I've posted about on the general forum, finally got it worked out )
I wasn't happy with the LR in my 50g (mostly small pieces picked up here and there) and wanted something different from the rock wall look, Merv was my ultimate inspiration for a different look) I decided to order dry rock from marcorocks.com after reading about it on RC... I'm so thrilled I did, I bought 50lbs which when wet is well over 100lbs and it is simply gorgeous rock, I wish I could capture just how light & airy it is on film. The fact that it was dry made building my structure really easy, no slimy algae/corals or prickly worms to worry about. I could have used putty, drilling & rods, etc but it fit together so well that all I ended up using was some zip ties. I have three main sections that when placed next to eachother fit together to create the look I wanted... pillars/arches and lots of open swimming space.
So I painted the back black, built my rock structures, rinsed my sand (durascape white playsand) and started mixing my water.
At this point I have it filled up and cycling (lots of dried organics in the rock)... I'll get some new photos soon but here are a couple sneak peeks from before I started filling it, 2nd is to attempt to show how great the rock is (I can't wait to see a goby peeking at me from in there).
Few weeks ago my chance popped up on RC and I jumped on it! I acquired a cherry finish Oceanic 70g RR tank & stand with a reef devil skimmer & sump (as I've posted about on the general forum, finally got it worked out )
I wasn't happy with the LR in my 50g (mostly small pieces picked up here and there) and wanted something different from the rock wall look, Merv was my ultimate inspiration for a different look) I decided to order dry rock from marcorocks.com after reading about it on RC... I'm so thrilled I did, I bought 50lbs which when wet is well over 100lbs and it is simply gorgeous rock, I wish I could capture just how light & airy it is on film. The fact that it was dry made building my structure really easy, no slimy algae/corals or prickly worms to worry about. I could have used putty, drilling & rods, etc but it fit together so well that all I ended up using was some zip ties. I have three main sections that when placed next to eachother fit together to create the look I wanted... pillars/arches and lots of open swimming space.
So I painted the back black, built my rock structures, rinsed my sand (durascape white playsand) and started mixing my water.
At this point I have it filled up and cycling (lots of dried organics in the rock)... I'll get some new photos soon but here are a couple sneak peeks from before I started filling it, 2nd is to attempt to show how great the rock is (I can't wait to see a goby peeking at me from in there).