Do you ever get jealous of Freshwater Aquascaping?

[Sun-of-a-beach]

I'm sorry for making this weird topic but this has been on my mind for a while now. I decided to make an account just to post this, lol.

So I made the switch from a low tech planted tank to reef and I've been enjoying my reef immensely (I couldn't grow plants, they hated me. But corals love me). But nowadays every time I see someone's planted tank, I was stunned and wondered why I went with reef. The aquascaping is just much more pleasing to look at. I guess I was just naturally drawn to it more than a reef? Also I thought an average, messy planted tank usually looks better than an average reef... I know this might just be my temporary feeling that will fade away, but it bothered me to some degree.

So to my fellow reefers out there, is the lack of aquascaping in reef something you care about? Did it ever bother you?

 

[Peace River]

#WelcometoR2R!!! If you like the freshwater aquascaping aesthetic then you may want to look at macroalgae tanks or even a saltwater biotope tank.

 

[Poochaku]

Just do both! High-tech aqua scaping in freshwater uses different skills. I do think the skillcap in artistic expression is higher in fresh. A beautiful reeftank and a beautiful planted tank give much different energies to the viewer as well.

I think your difference in averages is correct in that an "average" freshwater tank is much nicer to look at because it requires less work. An "average" saltwater tank looks horrible because it takes so much more investment than people are willing to give. Does the "average" reefer use RODI water? Doubtful.


Decide how much you want to commit to the hobby and do the tank that looks best to you at the price/effort level you want to put in.

 

[Alexreefer]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I love the look of a nice planted tank. I have even considered setting one up. The last time I did freshwater, 30 years ago, it seemed like the plant selection was similar to coral selection at the time, meaning sparse.

I agree with other posters, a nice macro tank with mangroves, etc. will give you the planted tank look, but with salt. You could even keep mollies in it for the whole brackish coastline feel. Just be prepared to put a lot more effort into it than the freshwater version.

Dennis

 

[fishlover1478]

I do like freshwater more but there are some things you can't find like like burrowing shrimp, certain types of personality in fish

 

[sorloe]

I have a Dutch style freshwater planted tank with co2... always interested in something new so started a macro algae refugium display tank. So far, freshwater is definitely more forgiving

 

[MichaelReefer]

Or you can just have both? I have a 55 Gallon planted freshwater on Co2, and on the other side of the room I have my 525XL reef tank. lol

 

[CMMorgan]

Welcome to the fishy family, so glad you jumped in...
Pfft - heck no! My daughter did planted tanks with driftwood, blah blah blah. She was always dealing with tannins and Co2 and what not. I love flowing, natural reefs. I love macroalgae. My fave source is a place in Ellenton, Fl called live-plants.com. You can really accomplish the same goal as fresh with reef... bonus... corals.
Enjoy!!

 

[littlefishy]

Agreed about well done freshwater aquascaping being more pleasing, but the coral, inverts and sponges are much more interesting on an individual basis.
Look at this tank...

Build Thread - Tigahboy's Macroalgae Tank(s)

This is a love story. About a [tigah]boy who fell in love with macroalgae... So I became totally enamored with macroalgae when I added them to a couple of my prior reef tanks (you can find them here in this thread), and I've always been drawn to the freshwater planted tank/scape aesthetic, so...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ca1ore]

Not sure aquascaping in a reef tank takes a back seat to anything. I do agree that a successful planted tank IS spectacular though. I don’t have time to do both, but I do keep a vivarium ..... much easier. Many of the plants in FW tanks are actually marsh dwellers. Never could grow anubias in my planted tanks but it grows like a weed in the vivarium.

 

[mmorriso]

I have a ~250L planted tank and a ~600L reef.

In my opinion, they are quite different. The planted tank is like a flower arrangement, appealing but largely static. It requires regular pruning once established, but is otherwise on autopilot and it's mostly about keeping it "as is". Both the flora and fauna have a lot less personality than my reef and after having it up for 18 months, I've come to view it like some kind of pot plant. I'm not saying freshwater fish don't have personality, but you wont find a lot of those fish in a scaped planted tank as they will often disturb the scape or generate too much waste.

My reef is always engaging; There's always something going on, both fish and corals are way more engaging, it's like a whole other world that happens to exist in my living room. There are incredible interactions between fish, corals and inverts and it's visually just stunning, like an actual alien planet. Also, the aim is dynamic growth and development, rather than just trying to keep it "as is" which I find a lot more interesting over the long term.

Just my 2c. I will say that a planted tank can be integrated into almost any environment, can be very cheap and straightforward to setup and after the first 4-6 months is extremely easy to maintain. Ease of propagation of both fish and plants means that stocking a tank can cost less than a single showpiece coral.

 

[revhtree]

Agreed about well done freshwater aquascaping being more pleasing, but the coral, inverts and sponges are much more interesting on an individual basis.
Look at this tank...

Build Thread - Tigahboy's Macroalgae Tank(s)

This is a love story. About a [tigah]boy who fell in love with macroalgae... So I became totally enamored with macroalgae when I added them to a couple of my prior reef tanks (you can find them here in this thread), and I've always been drawn to the freshwater planted tank/scape aesthetic, so...

www.reef2reef.com

Exactly what I was thinking!

Latest shots of the UNS 60S.

Not going to lie, this tank is a lot of work. Currently battling hair algae which is able to compete pretty well with my display macroalgae, so hard to limit its growth. Haven't quite solved the mystery yet as to how to deal with hair algae without affecting the rest of my macroalgae. I'm manually removing but can't get to all the nooks and crannies where they grow. -_-

 

[Tigahboy]

All my current macroalgae tanks are heavily inspired by freshwater planted tanks, so you can definitely blend the two worlds.

Check out my build thread for more info.

 

[mmorriso]

Those tanks are amazing, did you collect the algae yourself? I only ever see chaeto for sale where I live (Australia).

 

[Tigahboy]

Those tanks are amazing, did you collect the algae yourself? I only ever see chaeto for sale where I live (Australia).

Bought them from various vendors and fish stores here in the States. That's a bummer because I would assume you would have a lot of cool macroalgae over there.

 

[Carson789]

I've had freshwater tanks all my life and decided to set up my first reef about 6 months ago going well. I'd say reef tanks have more equipment but I wouldn't really say it's any harder just different. I definitely have to trim plants much more than coral lol. I always loved freshwater

This is my most recent freshwater tank I'm growing out the plants now

I also have a blackwater tank I love with some pea pufferfish

And here is my new reef tank a mixed reef mostly softies but I've got a few montipora that are all doing good and a garf bonsai doing great. I've also got the smoothie king challice up in the top right growing well. Obviously basic maintenance transfers over like cleaning sand beds and water changes but they just have different challenges I wouldn't really call one more difficult than the other.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Mostly the pirate ship wrecks and scuba divers.

 

[Zionas]

No. There’s just something missing in even the most exquisite freshwater fish, plus saltwater has the addition of corals and other living creatures although I’m more of a fish person than coral person. There’s no going back for me, saltwater’s just so much better. A good aquascape is pleasing to the eyes but I’m in it for the livestock itself.

 

[Carson789]

Yeah I definitely agree with @Zionas I thing for livestock reefs win hands down but when it comes to the aquascape it has to go to freshwater. That's not to say there aren't cool reef aquascapes or cool freshwater fish but they definitely each have there strengths. There's something so beautiful about an iwagumi tank or something more natural like a blackwater or nature style aquascape but the biodiversity of a reef is just so impressive