Hate it hate it hate it.

flashsmith · Oct 12, 2022

This is my red sea 625 xxl. Lots of ledges and caves. I have an SR80 shallow reef I've had up for over a year and I still haven't found the right look for that one. Lol

Boreas_SA · Oct 12, 2022

I also prefer a fuller tank, but I like cryptic fish, and they seem to do better if they feel safe. This is my original scaping 3 years ago, and now. I now have 45 fish in there, but only see maybe 15 at a time, and the brotulid and some of the assessors I only see every few months:

albano · Oct 12, 2022

atoll said:

Not for me… looks like a parade of Disney characters!

maroun.c · Oct 12, 2022

The real beauty and challenge is to reach the stage where u have to prune ur corals for shape and space, that's the real scaping. I wouldn't really go with arches but again your tank your choice and if it makes you happy then why not.

atoll · Oct 12, 2022

maroun.c said:
The real beauty and challenge is to reach the stage where u have to prune ur corals for shape and space, that's the real scaping. I wouldn't really go with arches but again your tank your choice and if it makes you happy then why not.

You ask why not well here's the answer.
Most fish will like more rock with lots of hiding places which in turn helps reduce stress. I suggest you can build for your fish and still have a nice reefscape.

maroun.c · Oct 12, 2022

atoll said:
You ask why not well here's the answer.
Most fish will like more rock with lots of hiding places which in turn helps reduce stress. I suggest you can build for your fish and still have a nice reefscape.

My scape iis pretty minimalistic, or at least was at the start but then as corals filled up and grew into esch others they formed many caves and overhangs that fish use as hiding places. I have more than 50 fish in the tank yet at times u can only see all few. I also have some fish that aren't really friendly to each other yet the corals keep them from seing each other and they all have their hiding places. Fish have thrived some for more than 15 years so I know they're not stressed by my previously lighter scape in comparison to my rock of wall tanks of 2000-2010
Scape has many other key considerations like tank angle of view, maximising depth via a more 3D scape via angling your structure to the right or left while it goes from front to back as well as having openings between the islands .... I suck at scaping but had a clear vision of what I wanted my scape to be so I conveyed my ideas to a ceramic scape builder and they designed it to perfection. It's not super minimalistic but is a rather light scape that fitted all above requirements abd allowed for flow as well as hiding places abd was a good platform to plan coral placement. Trust me scaping designs or concerns will vanish when corals take over and ud have to tri. Your corals to keep the shape that you want .

maroun.c · Oct 12, 2022

For a direct comparison check out page 1 of my build thread for my older heavily scaped tanks

Monster Build - Maroun.c 400 G build thread

Hi all. Starting a long planned 390G display tank, in Lebanon a country till recently very limited in Saltwater tanks equipment and livestock. Luckily I'm a frequent traveller and managed to pick up a nice collection from my travel over the years. Big thanks to all reefers I met on travel and...

www.reef2reef.com

Check page 2-5 for scaping considerations and page 7 for final scape

czoolander · Oct 12, 2022

atoll said:
OK some people will love it. Now move on.

When I aquascape I do it for 3 reasons primarily for my fish then corals and finally and much less importantly to the other 2, myself.
Oh! I tried the minimalistic look when I first set up my latest tank and while I was waiting for more rock.

I moved all my rock from the previous Red Sea 250 into my new D-D 1500 Pro reef so couldn't do much more until I aquaired extra rock. I tried various scapes with the rock I had to hand but nothing worked for me. Strange as it all look so good in the Red Sea 250.

Back in the day we always had plenty of rock in our tanks so you may suggest that I am stuck in the 80s but not a bit of it. I did try but hated most of the minimalistic scapes I had seen and still consider them a fashion fad, well I hope so.

Plenty will disagree with me but I have good reason for my likes and dislikes. Do I need to go through them yet again here? I have stated my reasons many times. But the first 2 considerations for my reefscape say a lot about them.

I copied the following pic from a Facebook group all of the comments at least so far are in favour and very favourable to it. Me, well as you may guess I hate it. I haven't comment on the post, the guy hadn't asked for comments so I refrained had he done so then I may have had to.

Looks cool but if you say you designed it for the fish. they should have some caves and hiding places to feel safe for them . They like to have hiding places especially at night to feel safe and not stressed. Although we dont have predators in our reefs the fish do not know this and go into hiding at night. im not seeing any caves or places to hide from sharks here haha

That being said visually its a stunning design and will dope for your corals. Just not the most practical design for fish

Good job !

hart24601 · Oct 12, 2022

Perhaps they will stock with open water species that prefer to swim a lot vs be cramped with a big tank but filled with rock. Also not sure of their coral plans but get some big colonies on there and totally changes the look, hiding places and depth along with breaking up the structure.

not that it matters, if they like it then that’s fine. I can say all day fish won’t like it but I don’t really know that, depends on the species. I can tell myself all day long how great my scape is and how happy my fish are but I don’t really know that. Is living long happy or just existing? Seems like another my way is better than yours argument.

d2mini · Oct 12, 2022

That first scape is too contrived for my tastes.

_Jake_Simek_ · Oct 12, 2022

atoll said:
OK some people will love it. Now move on.

When I aquascape I do it for 3 reasons primarily for my fish then corals and finally and much less importantly to the other 2, myself.
Oh! I tried the minimalistic look when I first set up my latest tank and while I was waiting for more rock.

I moved all my rock from the previous Red Sea 250 into my new D-D 1500 Pro reef so couldn't do much more until I aquaired extra rock. I tried various scapes with the rock I had to hand but nothing worked for me. Strange as it all look so good in the Red Sea 250.

Back in the day we always had plenty of rock in our tanks so you may suggest that I am stuck in the 80s but not a bit of it. I did try but hated most of the minimalistic scapes I had seen and still consider them a fashion fad, well I hope so.

Plenty will disagree with me but I have good reason for my likes and dislikes. Do I need to go through them yet again here? I have stated my reasons many times. But the first 2 considerations for my reefscape say a lot about them.

I copied the following pic from a Facebook group all of the comments at least so far are in favour and very favourable to it. Me, well as you may guess I hate it. I haven't comment on the post, the guy hadn't asked for comments so I refrained had he done so then I may have had to.

I have done mine similarly to this, i love this style.

sixty_reefer · Oct 12, 2022

atoll said:

Too much rock

Rick's Reviews · Oct 12, 2022

'in my opinion' it looks to 'full' to begin with, it's very heavy set, you look at aquarium and all you see is 'aquascape', rocks and shadows? I'm unsure but there maybe a fish in there?, I would also consider cleaning of aquriam and flow to help, altough these raised arches/ caves provide hiding spots these are generally the deadspot of most aquriam's for waste.
And To be honest you don't want fish to hide

in the day.

I would reduce/remove (pictures higlated in red) this from your aquascape (to me it looks too much)

atoll · Oct 12, 2022

maroun.c said:
My scape iis pretty minimalistic, or at least was at the start but then as corals filled up and grew into esch others they formed many caves and overhangs that fish use as hiding places. I have more than 50 fish in the tank yet at times u can only see all few. I also have some fish that aren't really friendly to each other yet the corals keep them from seing each other and they all have their hiding places. Fish have thrived some for more than 15 years so I know they're not stressed by my previously lighter scape in comparison to my rock of wall tanks of 2000-2010
Scape has many other key considerations like tank angle of view, maximising depth via a more 3D scape via angling your structure to the right or left while it goes from front to back as well as having openings between the islands .... I suck at scaping but had a clear vision of what I wanted my scape to be so I conveyed my ideas to a ceramic scape builder and they designed it to perfection. It's not super minimalistic but is a rather light scape that fitted all above requirements abd allowed for flow as well as hiding places abd was a good platform to plan coral placement. Trust me scaping designs or concerns will vanish when corals take over and ud have to tri. Your corals to keep the shape that you want .

Takes time for corals to grow to a Size that will fill in a minimalistic scape in the meantime fish have to put up with it. People will say my fush are fine with it. I don't believe they are and are suffering unnecessary stress in the meantime. IMO these minimalistic reefscapes are poor for the fish. Tried it binned it pretty quickly, so unnatural.

i cant think · Oct 12, 2022

atoll said:
Takes time for corals to grow to a Size that will fill in a minimalistic scape in the meantime fish have to put up with it. People will say my fush are fine with it. I don't believe they are and are suffering unnecessary stress in the meantime. IMO these minimalistic reefscapes are poor for the fish. Tried it binned it pretty quickly, so unnatural.

This.
It’s really unnatural until the coral grows in (This can tank 2-4 years for coral to fill out at this extent). The fish just won’t feel secure either, you need that extra cave support and rock heavier scape to help them feel secure.
Plus, rocks aren’t that ugly… I mean, why do we expect photos of the coral to not display rockwork or the uglies? Look at this, these tanks don’t look too bad. The rockwork just adds a much more natural look, you probably don’t want it totally hidden. But also, both of these scapes still hold the swim room that minimalistic scapes do just not as little hiding spots.