Database of Photos of Ocean Coral Reefs for Aquascaping and Coral Placement

[FLSharkvictim]

Established in 1963, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park was the first undersea park in the United States. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, and the adjacent Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, cover approximately 178 nautical square miles of coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove swamps. The park extends 3 miles into the Atlantic Ocean and is approximately 25 miles in length. These areas were established to protect and preserve a portion of the only living coral reef in the continental United States. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1972. . The park named for the late John D. Pennekamp, a Miami newspaper editor, whose efforts contributed to the establishments of Everglades National Park and the preservation of what would become John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The park contains a wide variety of tropical vegetation, shore birds and marine life. While the mangrove swamps and tropical hammocks offer visitors a unique and interesting experience, it is the coral formations and associated marine life that most park visitors come to enjoy. The coral reef at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park are among the most beautiful and diverse of all living communities.

Sea Turtle:

This is what the Fl Keys use to look like in the mid 90 until we started to get coral bleaching

 

[Reef-junky]

A few of my pictures

 

[Reef-junky]

Some more

 

[anon9896]

Here is an interesting one. For a seagrass tank. Or even a display refugium.



This is in a lagoon zone in Jamaica. Gentler and (i think the key is) less strong random flow than the fore reef. But still pretty strong oftentimes.

Brain is Colpophyllia natans, i believe (I’ll do more sleuthing later). I don’t believe this is available commercially. But substitutes would include many encrusting species. War corals, or other Favites or Favias, for instance, will grow in massive (brain) shapes like this.



The allegedly largest coral on Oahu, Hawaii, grows similarly. A 2m atoll-like Porites evermanni, growing out of the sand right next to the shore in the backreef lagoon area. It is probably like 500 years old.
https://goo.gl/images/kNVah2

(best pic i could find )

This is me north of Turks and Caicos.
Same coral as you.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I love this thread!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

BUMP for more photos!

 

[JEREMY82]

Ww2 plane

 

[SteveG_inDC]

A lot of my dive photos aren't really good enough to help with aquascaping ideas, but I remember one dive (which I did 3 times) on the Frederiksted Pier in St. Croix that was very inspirational. It was all shallow, with most of the life growing on the pilings. The dive shop, N2theBlue, had some divemasters, Paul and Jennie, who were amazing photographers. Their facebook page, even though the shop closed in 2019, is a treasure trove of inspiration for a Caribbean biotope reef, which I recommend people consider for a new tank.

This shot, taken by Jenny Keith, shows a bommie (not at the pier) with tunicates, sponges, and just a few corals (sorry I can't ID). It hosts juvenile fish of many species including squirrelfish, damsels, and wrasses, sometimes sergeant majors. In home reef aquascapes I like to see areas of bare sand like this.

 

[fishybudguy]

sorry for the bad pics, but can you get the idea? they're all low quality screen grabs, lazy me.

location: raja ampat, indonesia (papua province)
dive sites: mioskon, blue magic, surgeonfish slope
species: umm too many to name
corals: umm, same

placement: basically the flatter surfaces are the reefcrest areas, the slopes are the forereef, and caverns are usually at the base of the forefreef.

the best breathtaking pinnacles are on another famous dive site called sardine reef, but sorry, i'd have to dig deep thru old harddrives to find it. but awesome pinnacles. i should do it, uggg.

I dove raja two years ago. I stayed on a live aboard for two weeks. We did the most amazing dives everyday. We were days away from civilization and that’s what made everything so pristine. I’ll try to find some pictures and post as soon as I can

 

[fishybudguy]

Coral looks like Porites lobata.

Also, thanks to you and mcpx for the shallow table acro
Pics. I am sure both (reef crest) locations get a lot of wave action.

Jeremy82, i kind of like that as a reef tank idea. Like
All the fake petsmart ufos and sunken ships, but with a bit of realism (the acro and then the branch coral rubble).

Raja ampat indo 2019

 

[fishybudguy]

Raja ampat indo 2019

These were all taken with my gopro. I’m not great at editing but it was the best dive trip

 

[Scottsquatch]

I wish I still had all the photos from my visits to Hanauma Bay, Oahu. I was fortunate enough to be attached to a unit in Honolulu back in my Guard days. I went out there for training three different times and snorkeled Hanauma bay three different times. Hands down three of the best experiences of my life... and one of the main reasons I got into reef keeping.

 

[RMS18]

Beautiful pictures, let's keep this thread going!

 

[CBonito]

Watched a documentary on the Red Sea coral reefs. It had some spectacular and interesting reefs so I snapped a few photos with my phone of the best ones. Not great quality.





These are great too - ample open white sand spaces, littered with mounds of interestingly shaped corals.



Location: Red Sea
Species: too many to list, sorry all.
Link: n/a

These are exactly the vibe I am going for. You have to have open space. Must be a great place to dive.