Before & After Aquascape

[TheSaltwaterKid]

Here is a pic of our tank with the 144w Nanotuners PC mod...



and here is a pic of the tank after I re-aquascaped it to take into account for the new Sunpod 150w HQI lighting we installed...



the corals aren't fully opened and the tank is dim but that's due to the eggcrate I have over the tank right now for the metal halide acclimation period. What do you think of the new aquascape? The top two rocks and the middle platform rock aren't attached so I can easily remove them to mount corals but everything else is epoxied together (I used two whole sticks...lol).

[goldenmean]

Awesome Job!
That looks great.
Your Trachy will be happier on the substrate too.

[Fishhead Junkie]

man, that egg crate really makes your tank super dark...you can hardly see anything when compared to your previous lighting.

i wish someone would give me their upgraded 29BC canopy with the nano tuners upgrade....how much did the upgrade on your cube cost you? how much did your new sunpod cost you?

steve

[TheSaltwaterKid]

The Nanotuners upgrade cost about $150 and I just got my Sunpod 150w for $218.

[Dentoid]

In all honesty, the first scape is more pleasing on the eye and, IMO, a better composition.

[PEMfish]

Yes, it was. But it was also that standard nano cube look to though.

[TheSaltwaterKid]

I think the new scape is better because it opens up the whole front of the sand bed whereas the old one took up most of the sand bed whith rock and left very little open space for corals. The new scape also has many more levels and platforms for corals and the old one really only had a single high platform. Honestly the muted lighting really doesn't do the new scape justice...once you see it fully lit up after the new metal halide acclimation period I believe you'll change your opinion.

[Fishhead Junkie]

you should take off the egg crate and get a pic of what it really looks like fully lit up for a side by side comparison of the original canopy upgrade...i am interested in seeing how much brighter it is or if not...that sunpod is a 150 and your original lights were at 144watts...how much of a difference will that 6 watts make or is it just a completely different kind of light?

steve

[TheSaltwaterKid]

I believe it's not necessarily going to be much brighter but more the different par of the lighting with the halide being a much more intense form of lighting then PC's.

[PEMfish]

Watts are a measure of electricity. You can have a 40w incandescent and a 40w fluorescent and see a difference in candela, the brightness of the light.

[goldenmean]

I think the new scape is better because it opens up the whole front of the sand bed whereas the old one took up most of the sand bed whith rock and left very little open space for corals. The new scape also has many more levels and platforms for corals and the old one really only had a single high platform.

I agree with you completely for those reasons.

[Varga]

are you using marine epoxy to hold the rocks in place? how does that work? I found once it dried it came right off. let me know hwat you did

[TheSaltwaterKid]

I used something called "Hold Fast Aqua Stick" but basically it's a two-part marine epoxy. Hopefully it doesn't come undone...I used A LOT of it for reinforcement just in case. It says after it sets for 30 minutes you could actually drill a hole through it so it should hold up.

[PEMfish]

I use that in my 10g. It works like God IF you use it to keep rocks were they are, and not to build them up. So if you can't build a structure with just setting the rocks on each other, then don't glue them there with that. It is only good for keeping rocks were they are, not putting them some where they normally wouldn't stay. But it dose work really well.

[Fishhead Junkie]

how much was your aqua-stick epoxy per stick....i hope it wasnt more than $3 a stick...otherwise you could of used aqua-mend from home depot...i cant believe the prices some LFS are selling a simple stick of epoxy for....who are they fooling.

steve