Why is reef aquascaping so unexplored when compared to freshwater?

[lambchops]

Here's a few that are enjoyable to look at.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I have been giving a lot of thought to this and one of my theories specifically for reefs is the contrast/similarity.

When placing corals next to each other the neighbour should be similar and contrasting. It can be similar in color and contrasting in shape or similar in texture and shape but contrasting in color.

Orange zoas going into orange monti going into purple monti, etc.

Love this topic. As someone returning to marine after keeping planted aquaria for the past few years, I could not agree with this more. The use of color is more eye catching than the original rockscape in a mature tank. For my new marine setup my plan is a large rock island, a couple of small rock islands like this example (from a few I have played with):

(Top down, purple is live rock, grey is shelf rock, dual returns and vertical gyre in black)

But the big focus will be how color is used. I will be focusing entirely on cool colored corals, blues, greens and purples, while the fish and invertebrates will be warm colored, oranges, reds and yellows. My hope is this creates great contrast between the warm mobile color and the fixed cool colors.

I started a thread a while back on this very topic here:
Color & Livestock: The Aquarium as Art

EDIT: I should note in that rockscape diagram, it will be bare bottomed with black starboard.

 

[Ardeus]

A common miscalculation when planning the layout is not accounting enough space for the corals to grow and these separated areas end up like a huge structure anyway.

 

[Ardeus]

If you plan your tank in greens and blues, if you choose a just 1 or 2 corals with warm tones (yellow/orange/red), preferably really show pieces, they will also stand out

 

[Ardeus]

 

[NY_Caveman]

If you plan your tank in greens and blues, if you choose a just 1 or 2 corals with warm tones (yellow/orange/red), preferably really show pieces, they will also stand out

That will likely happen.

 

[lbacha]

I'm a huge Amano fan, I've had his books since the first one came out in the mid nineties, and have kept high tech freshwater tanks for years. One difference is the speed in which freshwater plants grow and your ability to train them to look the way they do. Amano's tanks are like bonsai, they grow the way he sculpts them to grow not the way they would if left to their own means. In a reef while we can place coral in certain places we really don't have the same level of control as you do in freshwater. Many of the show tanks you see in freshwater are replanted every couple weeks in not more often. I pull handfuls of stem plants out of my tank weekly and pitch them due to growth

Some Amano tanks

My living room

 

[Ardeus]

But you can do that with corals too. You can "wire" soft corals such as leathers and prune others to get the shape you want.

 

[Tahoe61]

@mdbannister Check it out.

 

[lambchops]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brads-natural-reef-mangroves-macros-and-more.181378/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brads-ada-60f-mangrove-tunnel.274954/page-6

One of my favorite saltwater aquascapers.

 

[CalebWBrink2000]

So, what I've noticed, is that with freshwater aquaecapes the goal is to almost mimic a picturesque fantasy landscape; this is done through complex scapes filled with plants, typically of which have small blades or leaves. As such, everything is "small" and it gives the perception of peering into a much larger area.

With reefs, none of our corals really look "small" enough to make that work. In the planted macroalgae tanks above, the illusion wasn't there; it still looked like tuffs of algae tied to sticks, because the algae lacks the texture and size differentiation to mimic a larger structure on a smaller scale; instead, it just looks small. That's why reef aquaecapes struggle, because nothing really looks "small," rather, it just looks like small portions of something large. This applies to virtually all macros and corals I'm aware of. The illusion can only be created in a massive tank where our corals can truly grow to sizes that actually look proportionally large.

 

[Ardeus]

I am sure it's possible to achieve the same effect with algae and even corals.

Small trees that in freshwater are recreated with upside down roots and moss can be emulated in saltwater with dead branching corals and algae/corals. I don't have the capacity to do it right, but I am sure that many people have.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Great discussion!! I REALLY wish there was more discussion and deep-diving into aquascaping theory and methods. So much of these discussions revolves around the practical without getting into artistry. It might even be cool to have an aquascaping contest or something. I'd be all about that, but not totally sure how we'd pull it off.

 

[mahindra.dev]

Great discussion!! I REALLY wish there was more discussion and deep-diving into aquascaping theory and methods. So much of these discussions revolves around the practical without getting into artistry. It might even be cool to have an aquascaping contest or something. I'd be all about that, but not totally sure how we'd pull it off.

If this has caught @mdbanniater... boom something is going to happen... EXCITED!!

 

[Ardeus]

For me the mystery still needs to be solved and I keep going back to the original queation: why is reef aquascaping so many light years behind freshwater aquascaping?

If anyone thinks that you can just go and apply the same freshwater techniques and succeed, you will probably fail. There's a tremendous amount of research to be done... the thing is this research can only be done by artists.

That being said, we all can improve our tanks by researching this subject starting from the freshwater aquascaping techniques and examples.

If you achieve the creation of a stunning visual work of art and at the same time account for the necessities of all the animals, then what you have is pure poetry.

 

[HolisticBear]

I'd be all about that, but not totally sure how we'd pull it off.

The costs make it difficult and given the aquascape will evolve, is the winner at a specific point (one day 3/6/12 months in) or average of pictures over the entire 1-2 years. It would be cool to do a contest with those $99 @Waterbox Aquariums cubes thou, I'd likely participate.

Freshwater tanks seem to be "done" very quickly, while many great looking saltwater tanks take multiple years.

 

[Ardeus]

It would be great if somehow we get these great freshwater aquascapers involved. They just need the more technical knowledge about the maintenance of a reef tank.

 

[Ardeus]

The time a reef tank takes to evolve varies dramatically with the species you choose.

You can cut small pieces of GSP and spread them over the areas you want to cover in the same way you do with freshwater plants. Then it doesn't take long to get the final effect.

 

[mahindra.dev]

There was a presentation at MACNA last year about aquascaping.

 

[Ardeus]

There was a presentation at MACNA last year about aquascaping.

This one?