Why does Reef aquascaping lag behind compared to Planted?

[Raul-7]

I was looking at a lot of planted aquariums and contest aquariums. I was taken back at the level of execution and the attention to detail these aquariums displayed. The golden rule, rule of thirds, negative space, etc. were all taken into account to make an eye-pleasing aquascape.

Now I understand coral do not behave as well as plants do [they cannot be cut or trimmed] - but surely it must be possible to select corals that fit a certain long-term vision before placement.

But why is aquascaping usually not taken as seriously as it is with planted aquariums? Is it because no one has set the benchmark like Takashi Amano did with planted aquariums?

 

[Patx]

I have some suggested reason.
I come from the fresh aquascaping world.

1- plant grow and cover area much more faster. You can do...redo each month... change thing and work on it etc...
2- Fresh water plant give a look of "terrestrial forest"... coral? well from a other planet

There is some beautiful salt water scap out there tho...
But in salt water, the general challenge is to keep thing alive.

I try... but meh.... see comparaison...

And....

Hard to compare... it's a other world...

 

[BairCorals]

There's definitely people out there doing it. And technically you can kinda "bonsai" your corals to grow in ways you want them to. There's a whole niche of doing nsa in this hobby, but mostly it ends up getting kinda tossed out because they want more practical places to put corals because they end up stealing the show.
Just a different world imo, but i suppose it could be done in more of the planted scape style. Just corals usually take over and people don't want to frag so often

 

[Griev]

You'd like my build thread

 

[BairCorals]

You'd like my build thread

That's a beaut!

 

[Raul-7]

Good points, but what happens if you prune the tips of coral - does it kill the entire organism?

But see the underlying hardscape [aka rock or liverock] is the most important foundation to building a successful aquascape. I do not see this addressed a lot, IMHO.

 

[BairCorals]

No it doesn't kill the coral, that's how you propagate corals. Cut them, glue them down, and watch them grow!

Yeah I suppose I see what you mean tho. But there is a lot of thought put into some of the aquascapes in the reefing community. Not mine of course, found on the internet. Mine (2nd pic) looks like a pile of rocks like a normal reefer lol.

 

[MoshJosh]

The two are VASTLY different!

Last I checked plants aren’t actively trying to murder each other for space. . .

. . . sure sure plants chemical warfare blah blah blah

Also the time it takes for corals to grow is a limiting factor.

Also also, there is not a saltwater analogue (that I know of) for fresh waters yogurt and dry start methods.

Also also also the fish stocking options in saltwater have different husbandry requirements that may be limiting.

Also also also also many of the freshwater scapes we see are stocked with large amounts of plants day one the equivalent amount of coral would cost a fortune. . .

Many planted scapes are “nanos” by reefing standards which can be more challenging in saltwater.

Planted scapes can be made with dirt and rocks from your back yard and, unless you live next to the ocean, that’s not the case for saltwater. . .

Could go on and on

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Meh, this all has to do with the differences between planted freshwater and a reef tank.

With a planted tank, your rule of 3rds etc, play a big roll in the end product.

Aquascaping for reef tanks are a thing we do at the beginning to occupy that portion of time. Your aquascape plays a very small roll in the final product.

Case and point, you look at aquascaping for tanks that are running long enough to mature, you'll notice that it didn't matter if the rocks were piled on top of each other, or if someone took the time to plan out a brilliant negative space structure, it all looks the same at the end. We're basically showing off what (at the time) is pleasing to the eye because it's going to take a couple years before things start to look good.

For most people staring at a well thought out rock structure is better than staring at a pile of rock for a year. You're basically tricking the brain to justify worth.

 

[Raul-7]

For most people staring at a well thought out rock structure is better than staring at a pile of rock for a year. You're basically tricking the brain to justify worth.

I understand how corals will eventually cover most of the rock structure, but the rock structure dictates the overall look of the reef.

A strong rock structure placement [aesthetically pleasing] will enhance the overall coral placement.

Best example of a well-aquascaped reef is Chingchai's 1000G. Rule thirds, focal point, non-symetrical, negative space, etc. Honestly, one of the best I've ever seen.

 

[Ef4life]

Now I understand coral do not behave as well as plants do [they cannot be cut or trimmed] - but surely it must be possible to select corals that fit a certain long-term vision before placement.

But why is aquascaping usually not taken as seriously as it is with planted aquariums? Is it because no one has set the benchmark like Takashi Amano did with planted aquariums?

How many corals have you actually had your hands on and then had them long enough to understand how they grow?

My aquascape here has plenty of design although you’d never know, it’s design was to start low at the front left corner and build up towards the back wall and the far wall, so when you look through the short glass end down the entire reef you can see all the corals building and looks very natural. There are also a lot of caves and pass through habitat for the fish to hide and sleep in,

Here’s a quick shot of the short end, the short end view was important for me as it’s the first thing you see going into the room. You can see the reef just build up higher as it goes on, you can see all coral from this view, and you can’t necessarily see them all from the wide front view.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

To reply to the OP...
Everybody who starts a tank with a dry rock aquascape has a tank to rival your pictures when it is covered in GHA...
Just nobody talks about it.
I think the Reef Gods do it for the the transitioning freshwater people. "Looks just like a planted freshwater tank!"

 

[Waters]

I think the big difference is the availability of different kinds of hardscapes for freshwater vs saltwater. With saltwater, you get rock and that is about it.

 

[Reefer Matt]

You can plan your scape all you want, but the coral will decide eventually. They are not plants, and will grow and move where they want eventually. Coral also like stability and not constant pruning, in general. I don't know why everyone would want the same look though. I thought the point was to make it random and artful. Some also like a natural look. My plan for this tank was stacking rocks in the middle with no glue. The coral did what they wanted and became the glue. But I understand some people may want to control every aspect of their tank, and I wish them luck with that.

 

[d2mini]

I've done both planted and reef.
Think of it like fine art. Coral is a completely different media than plants. It's like comparing oil paint and paper mache.

And those examples you've posted are at the far extreme. The typical person doing planted is NOT going to have a tank that looks like that. I've seen some amazing reef scapes too but again, it's completely different than planted.

 

[FiveGallonSea]

I actually tried to follow many of those rules during my scape and I carefully select my corals to follow. I've held back on purchasing many corals because I hate a tank that looks like you just keep dumping coral in. I like there to be a theme and a place for everything. I love freshwater aquascapes. Went to visit the biggest in the world by Takashi Amano in Lisbon a few years back. I want to one day create a showpiece in my house like that.

 

[Fernthereefer]

If I were to add just a small point. Remember that the "aquascapes" you see in pictures are exactly that: pictures taken from a thoroughly studied angle to give you the perfect perspective. Plenty of reef tank pictures out there that use this too.

Also, we are starting to see profesionnal reefers use much more than porous rocks and corals. Just look at the huge diversity of new rock structures and sources, macroalgae tanks, biotopes, etc.

Finally, with much more performing hardware, you will see more artistic rendering in the reefing world.

 

[Griev]

As someone who's been trying to recreate the faux-nature look of freshwater aquariums I think it boils down to a couple of factors;

1. Initial start up costs in saltwater are often orders of magnitude higher than freshwater. I could set up an entire 30-40 gallon freshwater nature aquarium, including one of those amazing pre-made hardscapes on Etsy, for the cost of 'planting' 4-5 rows of SPS.
2. Growth is orders of magnitude slower. It takes much longer to self-propagate to save money.
3. Corals need other critters. Freshwater nature aquariums are pretty sterile by comparison. No snails, low fish or shrimp bioload. Very controlled. Way harder to run a reeftank in this way.

I think another thing to note is all those freshwater shots are done for competitions, where every leave has been meticulously pruned and all the pumps are off. They don't look nearly as good most of the time in between photoshoots, imo.

 

[Thales]

The structure of the freshwater dispaly tanks doesn't change over time and the plants grow on that and are trimmed to fit that. The rock structure of salt water is a starting point for the coral animals that are also structure, structure that grows and changes. The bigger the tank, like Chingchai's tank was, the longer the rock structure plays a real visual role. The smaller the tank the faster the coral structure changes the entire look the rock structure alone gave the tank. The time frame of a coral tanks also has a much longer horizon than a fw tank. Macro algae salt tanks are kind of more similar to FW displays.
Grenrally they are kind of simply and fundamentally different, and it takes some time to have a feeling of what a coral tank is going to look like when grown in...and it kind of has little to do with the aestheticness of the aquascape.

 

[Raul-7]

But could you not choose coral species that fit the aquascape - rather than coral that will dominate the aquascape?