I have said it before, I think 99.999% of reef tanks are ugly. I tried to create a top 10, ended up setting for 7, should have been just 3.
In my quest to find out what makes a reef tank beautiful, I will try to analyze these 3 reef tanks. Each of them is completely unique and while the last 2 share some traits, the first one is quite different.
There's 3 things they all share though: They look like a portion of a reef that was collected whole and placed inside a tank, they have sand and white light,
The first is a tank from Nyos at Interzoo 2018 in Germany.
It's a statement minimalistic piece. It's also a miniature of something you could find on a natural reef and that's why it gets away without any mature looking colonies. The mini colonies and frags are arranged on a 2 branch rock structure.
It's still a mess of corals, with one of each thrown in, but because of the small size of the rock structure, it works.
Having said that it's a mess, it's a stunning mess and I dare anyone to try to achieve that. Those corals are not randomly placed at all.
The fish selection is wise: a few small fish, including a small yellow tang to further enhance the sense that this scape is a miniature of what you could find on a natural reef.
The main lesson that I take from this scape is that a miniature of a portion of a reef, works.
Another lesson is that small tanks are easier to aquascape.
Even a small tank like this transmits a sense of freedom because there's so much space around the suspended scape and there's only a small number of small fish.
The sand plays a huge role here accentuating the minimalistic look of the tank and creating a stunning contrast with the richness of the corals.
There's absolutely no sense of depth, the structure is just an art piece at an exhibition.
I would have loved to see a maxima clam at the base of that structure.
The corals have been recently put in their positions and this is an instantaneously beautiful tank.
I'm sure that in an year this tank would have looked breathtaking.
The 2nd tank is by Ali Atapour.
It's a master composition of common soft and lps corals that, once again, recreates something that wouldn't look out place if it was transported to the ocean.
There's a similarity to freshwater aquascapes in the way it almost looks like a forest. The forest invites you into the dark.
There's no frags here, there's just a few mature colonies of just a few species. There's not much color either aside from the goniopora and it really stands out against the muted palette of the rest of the corals.
The corals dwarf the fish like it happens in nature and they don't stand out.
It's a minimalist scape built with mature colonies. There's nothing messy about it and the open sand on the left lets this mature scape breath.
It looks effortless, but the retraint needed to achieve something like this is almost inhumane.
No flashy colors and an extremely restricted diversity. He just used the most basic corals to sculpt and paint the tank.
My Coral Garden -
The last tank is once again, something you could see transported to the ocean and it would look natural there.
It's a tank by JoePeck66.
It's a tank with mature colonies arranged in a way that once again invites you into the forest of corals. I've never seen a tank look as deep as this one.
Each side of the valley has large colonies ziguezaguing in layers all they way to the back. It's like a photo of 2 queues of people with the heads peeking over the shoulder of the person in front of them, trying to appear in the picture.
There's small colonies at the end of the valley contributing to the sense of depth through forced perspective.
There's a showpiece right at the front: the magnifica. It contrasts both in color and in the fact that it moves. It's positioned according to the rule of thirds.
The corals once again dwarf the fish and this tank shares another trait with the previous tank: the shadows. In this time where the trend seems to be to cover the tank with a blanket of light, the shaded areas are one of the most beautiful components of a reef tank, creating areas of mystery and contrasting with the sand and other brightly lit areas of the tank.
In my quest to find out what makes a reef tank beautiful, I will try to analyze these 3 reef tanks. Each of them is completely unique and while the last 2 share some traits, the first one is quite different.
There's 3 things they all share though: They look like a portion of a reef that was collected whole and placed inside a tank, they have sand and white light,
The first is a tank from Nyos at Interzoo 2018 in Germany.
It's a statement minimalistic piece. It's also a miniature of something you could find on a natural reef and that's why it gets away without any mature looking colonies. The mini colonies and frags are arranged on a 2 branch rock structure.
It's still a mess of corals, with one of each thrown in, but because of the small size of the rock structure, it works.
Having said that it's a mess, it's a stunning mess and I dare anyone to try to achieve that. Those corals are not randomly placed at all.
The fish selection is wise: a few small fish, including a small yellow tang to further enhance the sense that this scape is a miniature of what you could find on a natural reef.
The main lesson that I take from this scape is that a miniature of a portion of a reef, works.
Another lesson is that small tanks are easier to aquascape.
Even a small tank like this transmits a sense of freedom because there's so much space around the suspended scape and there's only a small number of small fish.
The sand plays a huge role here accentuating the minimalistic look of the tank and creating a stunning contrast with the richness of the corals.
There's absolutely no sense of depth, the structure is just an art piece at an exhibition.
I would have loved to see a maxima clam at the base of that structure.
The corals have been recently put in their positions and this is an instantaneously beautiful tank.
I'm sure that in an year this tank would have looked breathtaking.
The 2nd tank is by Ali Atapour.
It's a master composition of common soft and lps corals that, once again, recreates something that wouldn't look out place if it was transported to the ocean.
There's a similarity to freshwater aquascapes in the way it almost looks like a forest. The forest invites you into the dark.
There's no frags here, there's just a few mature colonies of just a few species. There's not much color either aside from the goniopora and it really stands out against the muted palette of the rest of the corals.
The corals dwarf the fish like it happens in nature and they don't stand out.
It's a minimalist scape built with mature colonies. There's nothing messy about it and the open sand on the left lets this mature scape breath.
It looks effortless, but the retraint needed to achieve something like this is almost inhumane.
No flashy colors and an extremely restricted diversity. He just used the most basic corals to sculpt and paint the tank.
My Coral Garden -
The last tank is once again, something you could see transported to the ocean and it would look natural there.
It's a tank by JoePeck66.
It's a tank with mature colonies arranged in a way that once again invites you into the forest of corals. I've never seen a tank look as deep as this one.
Each side of the valley has large colonies ziguezaguing in layers all they way to the back. It's like a photo of 2 queues of people with the heads peeking over the shoulder of the person in front of them, trying to appear in the picture.
There's small colonies at the end of the valley contributing to the sense of depth through forced perspective.
There's a showpiece right at the front: the magnifica. It contrasts both in color and in the fact that it moves. It's positioned according to the rule of thirds.
The corals once again dwarf the fish and this tank shares another trait with the previous tank: the shadows. In this time where the trend seems to be to cover the tank with a blanket of light, the shaded areas are one of the most beautiful components of a reef tank, creating areas of mystery and contrasting with the sand and other brightly lit areas of the tank.
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