Minimalist Aquascaping

gary504504 · Oct 30, 2018

mdbannister said:
When I think of minimalist scapes, this is the first one that comes to mind:

How do you provide sufficient area for bacteria growth

gary504504 · Oct 30, 2018

Ricardo Prata said:
My Tank...
I love the minimal aquascape but would be worried about a tank crash from lack of bacteria growth

Acroporaaddict · Oct 30, 2018

Here's my minimalist aquascape using ceramic vidarocks

Coral Keeper · Oct 30, 2018

120 gallon, 4x2x2, still working on things/playing around.

playapixie · Oct 30, 2018

jackson6745 said:
I use biodigest/bioptim.

I used to have a fairly minimalist aquascape but then all my corals grew and I accumulated too much crap on my sandbed :bigsmile:

1 year by rich.colombo, on Flickr

I'm working on cleaning up corals on sandbed and thinning some pieces out to get it looking more open again.

How did you shoot this photo? Do you set your lights to a particularly color? Or use filters? Tank looks great and the photography is awesome.

Kimberely · Oct 30, 2018

I consider it fairly minimalist. Some may not. It's only about 5 months old so doesn't contain much coral yet.

L Sean Hubbard · Oct 31, 2018

I have a semi minimalist tank, but I have to Maxspect Nano blocks in the sump. They're like marine pure.

ScottB · Oct 31, 2018

Coral Keeper said:
120 gallon, 4x2x2, still working on things/playing around.

This is very nice. And I love your mix of coral colors/shapes/textures.

A777flygirl · Oct 31, 2018

MadCityReefer said:
my 110

Really pretty! Love it!

Retro Reefer · Oct 31, 2018

Every reef I have ever had has just been a wall of rock across the back of tank, with my new build I’m trying the minimalistic approach and so far I’m liking it a lot.. I have about 25lbs of rock in a 40b, not much going on yet but here’s a pic.

CoralWealth · Oct 31, 2018

Zuma · Oct 31, 2018

that is an awesome scape!

Coral Keeper said:
120 gallon, 4x2x2, still working on things/playing around.

ScottB · Oct 31, 2018

codydemmel4 said:

@codydemmel4 that is a great looking minimalist scape. Do you run a big sump with lots of rock or ceramic media in it? Or are you running low nutrient?

With that SPS load, you are doing something/everything right to keep things stable without the ton of rock (that I am looking to remove from my DT). I love how my rock keeps things stable, but itching to get more minimal -- especially when I see tanks like this.

shred5 · Oct 31, 2018

I look at this thread and there are some tanks that are not minimalists in my opinion, Very nice tanks but not minimal . This means little live rock, with lots of negative (open space). This also means not packing with corals.

Bonsai is another type which to me means branching or tree like structures. Being bonsai does not make it minimalist even though they certainly can be.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/leonardos-apogon-reef.90242/

This to me is minimal:

from this thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-off-your-large-tank-aquascape.59909/page-5

Another one of my favorites:

CoralWealth · Oct 31, 2018

ScottB said:
@codydemmel4 that is a great looking minimalist scape. Do you run a big sump with lots of rock or ceramic media in it? Or are you running low nutrient?

With that SPS load, you are doing something/everything right to keep things stable without the ton of rock (that I am looking to remove from my DT). I love how my rock keeps things stable, but itching to get more minimal -- especially when I see tanks like this.

Thank you. I just have a 40 gallon sump with a good amount of siporax and a large system for cheato. I also have a skimmer "rated" for 750g when my DT is only 180 along with a 40 gallon frag tank tied in.

ScottB · Oct 31, 2018

shred5 said:
I look at this thread and there are some tanks that are not minimalists in my opinion, Very nice tanks but not minimal . This means little live rock, with lots of negative (open space). This also means not packing with corals.

Bonsai is another type which to me means branching or tree like structures. Being bonsai does not make it minimalist even though they certainly can be.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/leonardos-apogon-reef.90242/

This to me is minimal:

from this thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-off-your-large-tank-aquascape.59909/page-5

Another one of my favorites:

Unlike the rest of my family, I am not that much of a fish guy. Most of the fish I have are herbivores or pest control "workers". Yeah, they are attractive and have some personalities but they do their jobs well or else they go back to the LFS.

That all said then, I would not want to be a fish in those tanks -- as beautifully designed as they are. Bonsai is the perfect descriptor. Thanks for sharing these gorgeous images.