Minimalist Aquascaping

s_tempest · Jul 16, 2019

Aquascape in progress on a 90+ gal.
So far just dry rock (and Marco cement & fiberglass rods).
Feel free to offer thoughts/advice/suggestions at my build thread.

Brownreefer · Jul 26, 2019

My swing at minimalist aquascaping. I've been out of the hobby for a couple years (kids and career change) and something's have definitely changed. You can't get real rock anywhere anymore. Which I'm not against, i understand preservation of nature takes precedence over a hobby! Lucky for me a few old friend came through with more dry Haitian then i knew what to do with!

NY_Caveman · Jul 26, 2019

Brownreefer said:
My swing at minimalist aquascaping. I've been out of the hobby for a couple years (kids and career change) and something's have definitely changed. You can't get real rock anywhere anymore. Which I'm not against, i understand preservation of nature takes precedence over a hobby! Lucky for me a few old friend came through with more dry Haitian then i knew what to do with!

That is pretty darn cool.

NY_Caveman · Jul 26, 2019

Brownreefer said:
My swing at minimalist aquascaping. I've been out of the hobby for a couple years (kids and career change) and something's have definitely changed. You can't get real rock anywhere anymore. Which I'm not against, i understand preservation of nature takes precedence over a hobby! Lucky for me a few old friend came through with more dry Haitian then i knew what to do with!

Welcome to R2R!

ScottB · Jul 27, 2019

Brownreefer said:
My swing at minimalist aquascaping. I've been out of the hobby for a couple years (kids and career change) and something's have definitely changed. You can't get real rock anywhere anymore. Which I'm not against, i understand preservation of nature takes precedence over a hobby! Lucky for me a few old friend came through with more dry Haitian then i knew what to do with!

Welcome back to the hobby and R2R. There are some really great contributors here on the full range of marine topics.

I like what you've done there. I lurk this thread because someday I will start over and go minimalist. It will take a lot of conviction for me to bust up what I have but is fun to fantasize about. Couple questions:
Is that RedSea 650 peninsula?
2 X MP40s each side of overflow?
Are you doing supplemental media in the sump? Marine Pure or other brick?

Have fun!

Brownreefer · Jul 27, 2019

ScottB said:
Welcome back to the hobby and R2R. There are some really great contributors here on the full range of marine topics.

I like what you've done there. I lurk this thread because someday I will start over and go minimalist. It will take a lot of conviction for me to bust up what I have but is fun to fantasize about. Couple questions:
Is that RedSea 650 peninsula?
2 X MP40s each side of overflow?
Are you doing supplemental media in the sump? Marine Pure or other brick?

Have fun!

It is a red sea pen 650. Two mp40s each side and i do keep some siporax in the sump. I only keep it there to add to my quarantine setup when needed.

Schteeve · Aug 5, 2019

My rock layout

From left to right:
- Single boulder with lots of holes
- Cave fused to the side of a single boulder. small branching piece jutting off front of boulder
- two stacked pieces with long branch off to the side
- two boulder fused together, with T shaped rock fused on top. stem of the T is pointing towards camera

oneilwiz · Aug 6, 2019

Happy Tuesday Reefers,

I myself is trying real hard to stick to minimalist aquascape and setup as well not like before with v1 of this tank. I stuck any and everything in it. What are you guys thoughts and tips on my current layout? I feel I need a tall mountain centerpiece.

NY_Caveman · Aug 7, 2019

oneilwiz said:
Happy Tuesday Reefers,

I myself is trying real hard to stick to minimalist aquascape and setup as well not like before with v1 of this tank. I stuck any and everything in it. What are you guys thoughts and tips on my current layout? I feel I need a tall mountain centerpiece.

I can picture corals filling in all that space. Seems with that minimal though, you might want to go very light on fish until corals grow out

oneilwiz · Aug 7, 2019

Thank you for your feedback, I do plan on keeping fish to a minimum just my PB tang, two clowns and 1 hawkfish.

Jettareefer223 · Aug 26, 2019

Here’s my progression. In my IMO minimalistic aquascapes look far more natural. When you have stags and tabling acro’s it’s super cool looking. I wanted to open up the tank to increase swimming room for my fish and the ability to generate strong random flow distributed uniformly throughout the entire tank. Going this direction allows plenty of room for growth, reduction of shading/even par distribution, and to optimize the placement each coral based on their requirements. I haven’t finalized it yet currently it’s still a work in progress definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made.
May 2018

July 2019

As of today

Steven777 · Aug 28, 2019

My first attempt on the 75gal. Did not break apart or glue anything. I like the "mountain" look but that's just me lol.

NY_Caveman · Aug 29, 2019

Steven777 said:

Came out nice. It is interesting and although I would not think I would like the progressively dropping peaks if you described it, I really think it looks awesome.

Steven777 · Aug 29, 2019

NY_Caveman said:
Came out nice. It is interesting and although I would not think I would like the progressively dropping peaks if you described it, I really think it looks awesome.

Thank you. I thought without breaking the rock apart it would look like a pile of crap but it turned out okay (at least for me) so I just keep it

Daniel@R2R · Aug 29, 2019

oneilwiz said:
Happy Tuesday Reefers,

I myself is trying real hard to stick to minimalist aquascape and setup as well not like before with v1 of this tank. I stuck any and everything in it. What are you guys thoughts and tips on my current layout? I feel I need a tall mountain centerpiece.

I like this. Very cool!

Jon Fishman · Aug 29, 2019

gpwdr said:
I'm getting a new reef savvy 120 gallon tank and would like to take the minimalist approach to aquascaping.

Anybody have some nice reef tank pictures so I can get some ideas?

Gene

Big rock in middle. Smaller rocks on side.... nothing glued, nothing overly “stacked”. Just a shallow reef look