aquascaping dos and dont's

griffithimage · 08/26/2009, 09:54 AM

While I’m a newbie when it comes to reefing- I’m still in the planning stages for my tank, I have some observations regarding aquascaping that I thought I would share. I am a photographer and have been paying particular attention to how reefs look out in the wild.

These are my observations-

Mother Nature tends to place her rocks asymmetrically. Reefers tend to stack rocks so they don’t fall and tend to place the larger ones at the bottom. While this is important and functional, the most effective and realistic aquascaping tends to use a variety of shapes with some big guys near the top of the stack (particularly with the pillars route). Also, rocks shouldn’t be “balanced” with an equal size placed in 2 halves of the tank. More interest is created with the asymmetrical placement of solids and open spaces.

While the newer trend is to have more minimalist aquascaping, the same rules apply.

Stop with the collections! The most effective looking tanks have less variety of coral but happening in more quantity throughout the tank. Having one specimen each of a large number of corals here and there doesn’t look as good. Similarly in the world of gardening, there are people who are the “collectors” and then there are “designers” who use less variety and multiple plants to create an overall effect.

Pay more attention to color! Don’t just buy that coral because it is an interesting color on its own, but think of what it is going next to. Complementary colors can make things pop while putting, for example, your yellow sun coral next to a pink xenia will make both look washed out. Pay more attention to warm and cool colors as well.

Hide the damn plumbing! Nuff said.

Just my 2 cents…

luther1200 · 08/26/2009, 04:12 PM

I agree about contrasting colors. I had a pink hammer and a green frogspawn. They both looked good on ther own. But I moved them next to each other by chance 1 day and it made them both look so much better IMO. They just really set each other off. I still have to move them around to make them look even better, but just a little placement difference can make a big difference.

liver · 09/03/2009, 05:27 PM

How about posting some combinations that people think look nice together.

abaran · 09/03/2009, 06:25 PM

http://translate.google.es/translate...hl=es&ie=UTF-8

los of info

willwork4frags · 09/03/2009, 06:42 PM

That was a good read. I had a buddy that built two towers in a 120 and ended up hating it. He loved the look, but was really limited by where he could place corals. He wanted a sps dominant tank, but with all the verticals, he ended up going with a mixed reef and used various lps and softies to fill in the voids.

gawf4fun · 09/03/2009, 11:48 PM

I agree about the towers limiting the amount of SPS that can be placed and grown. After re-scaping my 180 corner pentagon with 4 towers, I found that I needed to fill gaps with LPS and softies. I grew to appreciate a mixed reef tank appearance versus a heavy SPS tank. Just my opinion.

Here's what my aquascaping looked like just after the re-work just about two years ago:

and another full tank shot after the corals had grown in a little:

judgedread · 09/04/2009, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by griffithimage
While I’m a newbie when it comes to reefing- I’m still in the planning stages for my tank, I have some observations regarding aquascaping that I thought I would share. I am a photographer and have been paying particular attention to how reefs look out in the wild.

These are my observations-

Mother Nature tends to place her rocks asymmetrically. Reefers tend to stack rocks so they don’t fall and tend to place the larger ones at the bottom. While this is important and functional, the most effective and realistic aquascaping tends to use a variety of shapes with some big guys near the top of the stack (particularly with the pillars route). Also, rocks shouldn’t be “balanced” with an equal size placed in 2 halves of the tank. More interest is created with the asymmetrical placement of solids and open spaces.

While the newer trend is to have more minimalist aquascaping, the same rules apply.

Stop with the collections! The most effective looking tanks have less variety of coral but happening in more quantity throughout the tank. Having one specimen each of a large number of corals here and there doesn’t look as good. Similarly in the world of gardening, there are people who are the “collectors” and then there are “designers” who use less variety and multiple plants to create an overall effect.

Pay more attention to color! Don’t just buy that coral because it is an interesting color on its own, but think of what it is going next to. Complementary colors can make things pop while putting, for example, your yellow sun coral next to a pink xenia will make both look washed out. Pay more attention to warm and cool colors as well.

Hide the damn plumbing! Nuff said.

Just my 2 cents…

when building aquascapes i find using the smaller rocks is better to build a stable platform or legs if you like for the larger rocks to go on top.

i found when i put the larger rocks on the bottom and smaller ones on top i allways had problems with unstable rock work.

griffithimage · 09/06/2009, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by abaran
http://translate.google.es/translate...hl=es&ie=UTF-8

los of info

excellent article

adamhill · 09/06/2009, 08:08 PM

Hell of an article... I am designing a tank and this was very helpful... I am truly inspired... Thanks!

08/26/2009, 09:54 AM	#1
griffithimage Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Markham, Ontario, Canada Posts: 266	aquascaping dos and dont's While I’m a newbie when it comes to reefing- I’m still in the planning stages for my tank, I have some observations regarding aquascaping that I thought I would share. I am a photographer and have been paying particular attention to how reefs look out in the wild. These are my observations- Mother Nature tends to place her rocks asymmetrically. Reefers tend to stack rocks so they don’t fall and tend to place the larger ones at the bottom. While this is important and functional, the most effective and realistic aquascaping tends to use a variety of shapes with some big guys near the top of the stack (particularly with the pillars route). Also, rocks shouldn’t be “balanced” with an equal size placed in 2 halves of the tank. More interest is created with the asymmetrical placement of solids and open spaces. While the newer trend is to have more minimalist aquascaping, the same rules apply. Stop with the collections! The most effective looking tanks have less variety of coral but happening in more quantity throughout the tank. Having one specimen each of a large number of corals here and there doesn’t look as good. Similarly in the world of gardening, there are people who are the “collectors” and then there are “designers” who use less variety and multiple plants to create an overall effect. Pay more attention to color! Don’t just buy that coral because it is an interesting color on its own, but think of what it is going next to. Complementary colors can make things pop while putting, for example, your yellow sun coral next to a pink xenia will make both look washed out. Pay more attention to warm and cool colors as well. Hide the damn plumbing! Nuff said. Just my 2 cents…

08/26/2009, 04:12 PM	#2
luther1200 Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NJ, shore Posts: 4,376	I agree about contrasting colors. I had a pink hammer and a green frogspawn. They both looked good on ther own. But I moved them next to each other by chance 1 day and it made them both look so much better IMO. They just really set each other off. I still have to move them around to make them look even better, but just a little placement difference can make a big difference. __________________ Matt, 65G reef tank Current Tank Info: 65g reef, mix of sps, lps, few softies. Hoping to upgrade within the year.

09/03/2009, 11:48 PM	#6
gawf4fun Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lake Oswego, OR Posts: 342	I agree about the towers limiting the amount of SPS that can be placed and grown. After re-scaping my 180 corner pentagon with 4 towers, I found that I needed to fill gaps with LPS and softies. I grew to appreciate a mixed reef tank appearance versus a heavy SPS tank. Just my opinion. Here's what my aquascaping looked like just after the re-work just about two years ago: and another full tank shot after the corals had grown in a little: __________________ Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt... Reef Central Corner Club Current Tank Info: 38 gl Cadlights AIO lit by AI Sol Blue, 24 gl aquapod w/150 watt pendant at the office.

09/03/2009, 05:27 PM	#3
liver Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 134	How about posting some combinations that people think look nice together.

09/03/2009, 06:25 PM	#4
abaran Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: 60193 Posts: 151	http://translate.google.es/translate...hl=es&ie=UTF-8 los of info

09/03/2009, 06:42 PM	#5
willwork4frags Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Virginia Posts: 52	That was a good read. I had a buddy that built two towers in a 120 and ended up hating it. He loved the look, but was really limited by where he could place corals. He wanted a sps dominant tank, but with all the verticals, he ended up going with a mixed reef and used various lps and softies to fill in the voids.

09/06/2009, 08:08 PM	#9
adamhill Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Memphis Metro Posts: 48	Hell of an article... I am designing a tank and this was very helpful... I am truly inspired... Thanks!