Favorite Aquascaping Styles: Bonsai, Floating, Island etc?

[CoralB]

I will need to get a much bigger tank though lol!,!

 

[Jack Ravensbergen]

less is more and natural looking shapes

 

[PhotonBlue]

I'm partial to the arches and overhangs with negative space. This is my first foray into building one myself dry to put into my 5ft long 180 gallon build

 

[Grumblez]

I vote shelf, looks good imo and provides great options for coral and a good fish habbitate

 

[CMMorgan]

My son would have a word. You left out T-Rex skulls, treasure chests, and sponge bob’s house.

One of my friends with a reef tanks has a sponge bob house(pineapple) in his tank. Funny thing is his clowns have dubbed it home, keep it algae free, and actually sleep inside it!

Sounds like my son.

Haha. I’m also thinking of adding pineapple house to my tank:
Still havnt done it. Have some concerns about it polluting the water.

Starting to look like we need to add pineapples to the list @revhtree ....

 

[bdouglas119]

I like negative space and bonsai styles. This is what I came up with for my Reefer S-1000

 

[CMMorgan]

Just made the move from my 90 to the new 6 foot 127+ build. I realized a few things ....
HOLY SMOKES!!! I had a TON of rock. I had married two tanks when I built out the 90, so it was stacked deep and high. I even had rock piled up in the refugium.
I took out the fuge rock first and used that as base rock in the new system to start adding bio.
Then I started pulling all of my branch, shape, arch ... well pretty rock.
The deeper I got in that stacked setup in th e90, the more feather dusters, vermetids and sponge I found. It was basically an A-HA moment.
I have fought nitrates in that tank for years!! I'm now understanding that all of that stacked rock looked great, provided super hiding spaces but it also had a lot of low flow spots in the rock work and I was basically feeding this network of filter feeders.
Putting less rock in the new tank is more of an island, cave, tunnel look - much lower than the old stacked but more water movement.
Funny though ... got all of the fish in last night and they are so freaked out that they all huddled together in one corner all night. Maybe I just need to get a pineapple?

 

[Kydnblue2]

We just got back from RAP NY and we had an amazing time. Walking around the show floor some of the tanks I saw had some beautiful and well thought out aquascaping. One aquascape in particular I instantly loved but it occurred to me that this style of aquascaping (arches and caves) being displayed might not be as appealing to others as it was to me. Which leads to the QOTD today! I'm a sucker for a cool aquascape so I thought we would talk about it today.

1. What is your favorite style of aquascaping and why?

2. What aquascaping aspects do you like to incorporate into your tank?


image via @W.vreeswijk

I was at RAP too. I stopped by to say hi. Thanks for the towel
And glasses!!!

 

[madweazl]

Angles to increase depth of field in what otherwise appears to be a very narrow space and a good amount of negative space. I use approx 1/3-1/2 of the rock you typically see and let the corals fill in the rest.

75g

150g

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Thanks for all the input and amazing aquascape photos! WOW!

 

[Fish man]

I'm not sure what category this goes in, but I like it, cause it's mine.

 

[carbasaurus]

Starting to look like we need to add pineapples to the list @revhtree ....

I have an Easter Island tiki god in my QT left over from my son’s old freshwater tetra tank. It now has a Xenia growing on its head!

 

[RoboRabbit89]

I like trees and little island mounds. I call mine tree and a hobbit hole. Even has a foot path

 

[bobsbass]

^ this 100%

I’m starting to think about getting back into reefing, and I apologize for not being up on certain terms, but what does NSA stand for?

 

[exalectric]

Working on setting up a 75 and wanted some fun arches and negative space for swimming creatures. Our current 40g is more of a lagoon style? Or something like that with a few smaller stacked islands, but it’s limiting what corals can go where. The amusing part of this new scape is at the moment all the rocks are just balancing together while we decide on the final shape and attach them together. I’m kinda proud of the balance on the left arch, where two pieces just touch in the middle and keep each other from falling.

Here’s the 40g setup.

 

[jcaqua]

In my current set up I’ve gone for an arch with small caves hidden out of sight. All residents seem happy with the set up and there is no arguing or fighting going on right now, good amount of room for coral placement but I do have dead/dark spaces which are kinda wasted. That being said, those spaces look

I think for now I’m happy with the set up but I think the next scape will be a negative space one. They really draw in my eye and I think they seem very modern when done to a high standard!

Here is the current set up:

 

[MjOB]

I'm partial to the arches and overhangs with negative space. This is my first foray into building one myself dry to put into my 5ft long 180 gallon build

How will you get this in the thank?

 

[Supa]

I have been making these decor and using them for years. Never had any issues in my reef tank

What’s it made out of?

 

[paintman]

Don't know what you would call it, NSA/Shelf? But I did this while in lockdown. It has since started to in nicely.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I stuck with a more natural look, but I love the floating scapes