Natural aquascapes do not happen by on their own; it takes deliberate planning and structuring. We don’t get our desired look by mere dumping the rocks in aquarium. We tried this a few times, with the intent of making a natural looking tank, but the result was an ugly looking tank. What we found is that the most attractive tanks are those which are carefully carved out. We can always move things around later, but it will be a bit more challenging to do once tanks have corals in it. Always take the time to plan the layout and rearrange it to get the right look when setting up the first time.
Keep openness and depth in between the glass and the rocks or algae on the glass can affect the look of your aquascape in a few weeks. Just a tip, “dirty glass will make you’re tank look dirty”. Resist the urge to tank full of rocks. Try to bring out the story with your aquascape, most of the beautiful aquascapes have the same in common a story; they tell a story. The beginning of the scape story starts with the focus on one side and then the area your eye is drawn to first. That point then leads you to the middle or body of the aquascape, and then finally the lines of sight take you to the end.
The 3*3 quadrants on the aquarium is one tool that one can keep in mind, its simple just mark the quadrants on the front display glass focus on one just quadrant and scape it the trick here is you can only use 5 of the quadrants and no more. Too much stuff in the tank it will look crowded and too less it will look empty.
Trying the aquascapes for a while is also important, moving rock every day once your tank running is also a reason for stress in livestock.
Lastly the actual beauty of the aquascape comes out only with time so relax, sit back and enjoy your tank.
