Planted tanks have many styles. Why not reef tanks.

Chris Villalobos · Dec 29, 2018

Is the reef tank community behind the times with aquascape design. Looks like there are many schools of planted tank styles. The link below shows the Taiwanese style but also has links to Dutch, Iwagumi, Jungle, and Nature.

Why does it always seem that reef tanks are multicolored hedgerows.

https://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/taiwanese-aquascaping-style

James M · Dec 29, 2018

I think it’s becuase we are limited to rock while fresh water tank have lots different types of wood and rocks

Be102 · Dec 29, 2018

This is just my opinion... but I also have a planted tank along with my reef. There’s a lot more you can do it seems when it comes to a planted tank and it still manages to be visually satisfying. I for one in my reef tend to try to stick to what I envision as natural reefs as best as I can (which isn’t really good at all). I’d add different things to my planted tank but I wouldn’t go about removing all my rock work and then say running just Tonga rocks ( I think that’s what they are called). Just wouldn’t be as interesting to me and not as practical. I’d argue that I’d get better filtration with thick pourous rock so I’d stick with stuff like that.

That’s just me tho I am unsure what everyone else’s viewpoints are.

Mortie31 · Dec 29, 2018

I think it’s because we all tend to be sheep... following the latest trend...

Chris Villalobos · Dec 29, 2018

Reefscaping doesn't seem to be the community's biggest concern right now. Maybe as reefkeeping becomes easier reef keepers will have more time to think about aesthetics.

Gablami · Dec 29, 2018

It’s because as reefs grow, they form their own aquascapes. You could set up a reef aquascape and buy each individual rock carefully, based on its personality and energy, and then in a year or two, it will no longer be recognizable.

Gablami · Dec 29, 2018

Also, coralline algae. In a planted tank, the rock is a star. It can look like Yosemite valley with the clean granite. In a reef tank, eventually coralline covers all, and it doesn’t have the same effect.

Hemmdog · Dec 29, 2018

Be102 said:
This is just my opinion... but I also have a planted tank along with my reef. There’s a lot more you can do it seems when it comes to a planted tank and it still manages to be visually satisfying. I for one in my reef tend to try to stick to what I envision as natural reefs as best as I can (which isn’t really good at all). I’d add different things to my planted tank but I wouldn’t go about removing all my rock work and then say running just Tonga rocks ( I think that’s what they are called). Just wouldn’t be as interesting to me and not as practical. I’d argue that I’d get better filtration with thick pourous rock so I’d stick with stuff like that.

That’s just me tho I am unsure what everyone else’s viewpoints are.

My 90/115 is only Tonga branches

Bj’s Reef · Dec 29, 2018

I agree with you. Reef tanks grow and take a form of there own. It’s my opinion, however planted tanks are a bit boring, Green and brown. Also once you set them up the fun is over. They seem to do nothing for me. Yes there are some very pretty ones, however I have only seen one or two that I wanted a picture of.

KrisReef · Dec 29, 2018

This tank resembles a reef tank with luxurious growths of Green Star Polyp, (or a hair algae Bryopsis field) that are threatening to over-grow the few remaining sticks of Seriatopora hystrix.
Beauty is in the eyes of the tank owner.

(BTW Does anyone on here recall the salt mix that allowed people to keep fresh water and salt water fishes in the same tank?)

lapin · Dec 29, 2018

I think (hum, i think?) some of the design is caused by more is better. I see a lot of tanks with way to much rock, way too much coral and way too many fish. Not all are like this in the beginning but many end up this way over time. One spot in a reef does not usually have 15 to 20 different corals from all over the world. Same with fish. Many are not concerned with the natural look as much as they are wanting it to look full. Full = success.

Hemmdog · Dec 29, 2018

KrisReef said:
This tank resembles a reef tank with luxurious growths of Green Star Polyp, (or a hair algae Bryopsis field) that are threatening to over-grow the few remaining sticks of Seriatopora hystrix.
Beauty is in the eyes of the tank owner.

(BTW Does anyone on here recall the salt mix that allowed people to keep fresh water and salt water fishes in the same tank?)

im guessing the salt company that’s out of business for telling people they could keep fw and sw fish in the same tank with their miracle salt.

KrisReef · Dec 29, 2018

Hemmdog said:
im guessing the salt company that’s out of business for telling people they could keep fw and sw fish in the same tank with their miracle salt.

Made me look:

Chris Villalobos · Dec 29, 2018

Gablami said:
It’s because as reefs grow, they form their own aquascapes. You could set up a reef aquascape and buy each individual rock carefully, based on its personality and energy, and then in a year or two, it will no longer be recognizable.

I think this is a challenge and would possibly be getting into "expert" reef keeping. We need for foresee how our reefscape will evolve and maybe we will need to do some pruning if things get out of control. I prune my my home landscape at least three times a year. If I let the plants go wild it would get out of control and possibly unhealthy. The same thinking may be applied to reef tanks. GSP or blue clove polyps come to mind.

tiomm · Dec 29, 2018

Isn't it because freshwater scapers are focusing on creating a landscape as where reefers are more interested in the keeping of corals? We keep our rock work open for flow and place the sps on the top and lps on the bottom because that's where they'll thrive. A freshwater scaper can put their plants anywhere.

Hemmdog · Dec 29, 2018

KrisReef said:
Made me look:

Made me look too. GeX is a company out of Singapore and is no longer in business due to bankruptcy. That tank video is inhumane. They can’t be in the same salinity for long, any fish can swim for a little while. Goldfish need 72 degree water, clowns 78, mollies 82 degrees. All the pretty fish you see were most likely dead in a day or two. That’s so messed up.

fish farmer · Dec 29, 2018

Chris Villalobos said:
I think this is a challenge and would possibly be getting into "expert" reef keeping. We need for foresee how our reefscape will evolve and maybe we will need to do some pruning if things get out of control. I prune my my home landscape at least three times a year. If I let the plants go wild it would get out of control and possibly unhealthy. The same thinking may be applied to reef tanks. GSP or blue clove polyps come to mind.

The freshwater landscape tanks seem to be "finished" a lot quicker than a reef tank. It can take quite some time for GSP to grow out over a landscape.

I've been employing pruning in my tank, much like a gardener, trying to keep things shapely. When I chop my nepthia(I cut it down to a stump), it takes a couple of weeks to start new buds. It looks like a sad stump for several months until it clumps like a cauliflower. After that it starts to lengthen and "invade" the open spaces. I tried nipping back some of the arms, but it looked really bad with severed limbs. So for about a couple of months it looks nice and then I have to stump it again.

You also have to consider the needs of the coral. A paticular coral make look nice and work in the design, but may not like the spot you put it and never really take off. I have certain zooanthids that love the spot I put them, but another spot which I reserved for a different zoa has had zero growth.

reefwiser · Dec 29, 2018

Planted tanks are wonderful and I wish we could do better aquascapes with saltwater.
Issues with coral health being such an unknown factor compared with plants.
Plant biology has been studied for centuries. An we are only now just scratching the surface of corals health.
We know the elements that plants need and can easily diagnose. Where as many people in saltwater don’t truly understand trace element needs of corals.

Nature Aquariums where championed by Takashi Amano.
http://www.adana.co.jp/en/contents/takashiamano/

Who was a visual artist who loved nature. An developed the techic need to keep plants healthy such as Co2 injection.
By using the artist tools like the golden ratio and the rule of thirds the planted aquariums developed a more refined design sense. You still see people who just have plants scattered thru out their tank like corals in a salt water aquarium.
But nature aquariums continue to grow in popularity around the world as they are stunning pieces of art that change as plants grow out and are trimmed to different forms.