Trends in aquascaping

[Sharkbait19]

take a pic of a coral reef w/o corals, this is what your hardscape should look like, overgrow it in corals & viola, a reef

Well, that’s not a great example, because all of those were once corals that have since bleached and died. Underneath all that would be the scape which they grew on.

Naturally, reef-building corals go through a cycle by which they erode over time via boring organisms and bacteria weakening the base. When they collapse, they slowly continue to erode until they become a part of the bottom sediments, where new coral larvae settle. Although corals do ultimately serve as the base for coral growth, the picture here does not completely describe a natural reef scape.


As far as going with NSA, HNSA, or neither, do of course what makes both you and your fish happy. You’ll definitely want to think long-term, especially if you plan to populate the tank with corals, but the scape can change overtime. That’s what happened with my Fluval 13.5. I initially wanted to have a big arch, but eventually I realized the inconvenience and limited territories that this scape provided. Instead, I chose to make the scape more natural, in which the rocks piled on top of one another in a cascading look.
When I upgraded to my 40B, I wanted one side to be tall and complex, while the other is more open. This offers a healthy mix for various types of fish.

 

[SunnyX]

Sunny, what size is your new set up? It's gorgeous!

Thank you!

Waterbox 6025
60.5"×25.3"×23.6"

 

[Freenow54]

Did the lbs. per gallon thing. Not too happy. Want to go minimalist with my third tank. Wont need to worry about ammonia because will only have small fish. With a flowing effect of coral fairly neutral. 65 tank with about 5-6 rocks

 

[jeffchapok]

It doesn't really matter what I do, my diamond goby is going to change it anyway.

 

[Haacheew]

I don't know yet how well I did, but for my upcoming build I tried to find a balance between having lots of places for fish to hang out, plenty of space for corals, and enough space in between for flow. Hopefully it will look good too. We'll see.

Excellent work! I especially like the 2 pieces on the left. They are spacious and allow lot of water flow, while the right pieces provide safe harbor for fish.

This is mine for Waterbox Cube 20. (I had loads of fun and satisfaction creating this piece. Extremely satisfying experience and a sense of accomplishment. Hope you would not miss this experience. )
Created 2021-Aug

Attached 2 more small pieces after 2021-Aug. Taken as of 2022-06-04.

Top down view

 

[Reeefer00]

Do you have additional info on your build? size of tank, fish list, etc.?

 

[Magixxx]

Been wanting to build one like this

 

[djf91]

The tanks back in the day for whatever reason looked much more natural than the bonsai kit rock people use today. I’m not a fan but to each their own. I think Steve Weast has done a good job with his systems. Specifically Oregonreef.com. That’s what I went for in my display. I built the structure on a pvc skeleton leaving room for fish underneath and flow. Kind of old school, but just what I wanted.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Very cool idea! It would be over the top if in addition to being used for support, the PVC also had flow nozzles and was used to distribute some of the return.

 

[djf91]

Very cool idea! It would be over the top if in addition to being used for support, the PVC also had flow nozzles and was used to distribute some of the return.

Yea you could probly get pretty wild with it

 

[alabella1]

I don't know yet how well I did, but for my upcoming build I tried to find a balance between having lots of places for fish to hang out, plenty of space for corals, and enough space in between for flow. Hopefully it will look good too. We'll see.

Trying to PM you but for some reason it's not an option. Shoot me a PM if you can!

 

[cmor1701d]

I don't have the patience to break rocks and glue them back together.

Sounds like prison work to me

 

[KK's Reef]

Not a fan of NSA. Minimalist is fine, if done right. What I like best are natural looking structures. Look for pics of bommies and reefs and try to replicate it on a smaller scale.

 

[saltienewb]

The tanks back in the day for whatever reason looked much more natural than the bonsai kit rock people use today. I’m not a fan but to each their own. I think Steve Weast has done a good job with his systems. Specifically Oregonreef.com. That’s what I went for in my display. I built the structure on a pvc skeleton leaving room for fish underneath and flow. Kind of old school, but just what I wanted.

That looks amazing. Great work. Dimensions and poundage used?

 

[alabella1]

Here are my first and second attempts. First time I used Marco Mortar on wet live rock and it was a dang nightmare. I went back to the drawing board and did some reading and I stumbled upon using Gluemasters ultra thin super glue and either crushed marco rock OR supers glue with baking soda and sand.

The second time I got some previously live rocks from someone. I bleached them all and let them sit out in the sun for a long long time. I wanted to make sure they were completely dead. I did the rocks with the crushed rock and glue it went pretty well. I built out two large structures. They were heavy as hell and tough to move and upon lifting and preparing to move, they broke apart in spots. I had completely run out of glue and crushed rock so I quickly ordered more glue and decided this time I'd do baking soda. The baking soda, IMO worked better than the crushed rock, but it dried very white. Quick solution to that was more super glue and cover with sand. I took 2 out of the 3 existing structures from round one and worked them into my big pieces and really came up with some cool caves, overhangs, etc. I nearly filled all the space in my 155g corner tank. I really like this way but man... between the smell, smoke from the reaction, stickiness of the glue... make sure you protect your eyes, consider wearing a mask, 100% wear good thick gloves.

So once these were done, these structures were heavy as hell. My wife and I double teamed them and she kind of supported them as I climbed my stepstool. I put it down on the top section of the tank which I made sure was protected and then I basically lifted, and slow as I could, lowered them into the tank. I added 2 more bags of sand to the tank to give these guys a little more support at the bottoms and I'm pretty happy with the results.

More info on my entire journey is in my build thread.

 

[RedoubtReef]

The tanks back in the day for whatever reason looked much more natural than the bonsai kit rock people use today. I’m not a fan but to each their own. I think Steve Weast has done a good job with his systems. Specifically Oregonreef.com. That’s what I went for in my display. I built the structure on a pvc skeleton leaving room for fish underneath and flow. Kind of old school, but just what I wanted.

Can't forget the "Great Worm Incident" after seeing this. Great pics.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I definitely wouldn't say I'm following any trends...but that wont stop me from releasing a sub-par youtube video about it!


HD still uploading...

 

[Ironwill723]

Over 25+ years, I have gone from a rock wall, to islands and finally to more minimalist and negative space type reefs.

The negative space requires some thought but if considerations are made it can be done in little time and without special tools. My latest design was setup in about 30 minutes and did not require any glue or epoxy.

This open setup allows for optimal flow, space for coral growth and room for the fish to stretch their fins. There are also many caves for the fish to sleep in after dark.

At the end of the day there is no wrong way in designing your reef. Everyone is going after something a bit different than the next reefer.



The new setup (three weeks old today)

Below you will find pictures of my setups over the years:

What is the paint color or how did you acheive the turquoise blue colored background you used for the last few pictures with the sohal tang? I would like to emulate that in my newest tank build.

 

[SunnyX]

What is the paint color or how did you acheive the turquoise blue colored background you used for the last few pictures with the sohal tang? I would like to emulate that in my newest tank build.

Hello,

There is no background on the aquarium. The wall directly behind the aquarium is painted white, and the color that you see is a reflection of the lighting.

-Sonny

 

[Ironwill723]

Hello,

There is no background on the aquarium. The wall directly behind the aquarium is painted white, and the color that you see is a reflection of the lighting.

-Sonny

Thanks. Beautiful tank shots.