emissary

ROTFLMAO. Now that's freaking funny.

So, I've been giving the topic of aquascaping some thought recently. When my 180 goes into the wall I'm going to have a good amount of room to do some cool stuff in there with LR. Some things I'm considering: * reef shelf (big bank of rock) * overhang (pillar & overhang) * horseshoe (probably part of the overhang ... diamond shaped hole) * small pile of rocks * low trail of rocks Now... I've also been doing a bit of reading. Specifically from "The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium" volume 1. One of the things the authors talk about is the "pile of rocks" problem -- I'm paraphrasing here. Basically, you have a bunch of LR and you need to put it in your tank so you make a big pile of them and put stuff on it. My current rock setup has this problem. SO, the idea is, you use more natural shapes that occur in reefs. One of the techniques described is attaching rocks to pvc pipe to give the illusion of massive-rock-formations and to make things like overhangs possible & safe. Trouble with cable-tying rocks to PVC is that if you need to take the rock out (to attach something to it or scrub something off it for instance) you can't. Anyone have thoughts on this topic? Pictures? Inspiration would be good too. When the fateful day comes, I'm thinking about having a WAMAS aquascaping party at my house

I stick 'em with a toothpick really LOW and then pull them off SLOWLY. Sometimes this works.

I found one in my tank some years back right when I was moving out of my condo into a house. I was a novice at the time... was pulling rock out and wrapping it in wet newspaper to move it over -- without gloves on. Pulled out this one rock and almost dropped it when the darn thing started lifting itself out of the rock. I swear it was about 12" long. Crazy. I gave it to my LFS

Yeah but the question is: in the middle of the wall (pictureframe effect) or in the corner of the wall?

So I've just embarked on a 180-in-wall project. That is to say I have the contractors to get it done I know if I tried to do it, it would all make a big mess, and we sure don't want any of that. Pictures are worth 1000 words, right? Attached is a picture of my basement facing towards the wall that's going to have a tank in it. Bit messy right now with the construction preparation. Point being, you'll note that the pool table is off-center with this wall. The hallway runs down the side there on the right too. The stairs come down right in front of that wall. SO... if I put the tank in the center of this wall (with a foot to spare on either side) I can make it look like a picture frame, but it will be off-center with the pool table. If I put it in the corner so that I can see 2 sides of the tank (one as i walk down the stairs) it'll still be a little off center of the pool table, but I get to see 2 sides of the tank. But I don't get a pictureframe effect. Aesthetic Thoughts?

Yes. One week the fish was shredded but ALIVE. It recovered all its fins. Then the day after it recovered its fins (perhaps 3 weeks after the first *attack*) I found it shredded again. The crab was shredding it. It was still alive *somewhat* at that point, but it was hopeless. I'm just sayin'

I had two in my main tank. They ripped my sailfin tang to shreds. Didn't know what it was until the tang had healed and then a few days later I found the tang dead being ripped apart ... crab was caught "red handed." :-\ I keep a pair in a 10G tank. I put problem rocks in there to get cleaned and then return them to the main tank. Works out... sortof. Clearly can't move some of the lower rock pieces though ... but it's handy when I buy a coral that has bubble algae on it. I bought a sarcophyton a while back, ripped it off the rock, put it in my main tank where it attached and threw the buble-rife rock in the 10G. Yesterday I pulled that rock out (clean) and put it in my main tank. The base of the ripped-off sarco is growing... -Yanek.