This is our first crack at the aquascaping for the 800 gallon installation completed on the Fisherman’s Paradise 385 foot ship currently located off-shore of Clearwater Beach, FL. We taped off the perimeter of the tank on our shop floor and got started laying out various options. We used molded boulders as a sub-reef to gain some height and provide us a nice solid flat surface to build off of. Marco Rocks hooked us up with some larger pieces of their harvested dry rock which included some sweet shelf pieces that allowed us to span some big gaps and create some awesome caves. The primary strategies for this aquascape beyond providing open swimming areas for the fish & looking great from both viewing angles is to build a structure that will act as baffling inside the tank. Since this installation is on a ship, the movement of the waves on the ocean will translate to movement in the tank. By building the rock-scape near the top of the operating water level, the back and forth movement & momentum of the shifting water will be slowed down.
Once we get the layout set, the rock will be labeled, transported to the ship for assembly. We plan on cementing all the pieces together inside the display for optimal strength. Check out the attached video for a closer look at the materials used in this initial phase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDG9q-Go-r8