Aquascaping: Two sides of the proverbial coin

Saw this article and thought I'd share it:

Aquascaping: Two sides of the proverbial coin — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

By Leonard Ho - Posted Feb 10, 2014 08:00 AM

We start off this week with two reefs on opposite ends of the spectrum showing just how aesthetically diverse reefkeeping is. Whether you like an aquarium chock-full of life, one with minimal structure, or something in between, there's an aquascape to suit all preferences. What's yours?

Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors
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Reef #1: Our first video is Thomas Baker's packed and extremely colorful 320 gallon (1200 liter) SPS reef. Stony corals fill virtually every inch of the massive aquarium with all the colors of the rainbow.



Reef #2: Remember the days when the reef aquascaping rule of thumb was 1-2 pounds of live rock per gallon of water? We very much doubt this 60 gallon (225 liter) reef aquarium even has 30 pounds. Yes; this tank is only 60 gallons. Thanks to minimalist aquascaping, the tank appears much bigger than it really is.

 

love that large tank, simply stunning!

 

I am seeing tanks like #2 all over now. Before I took a hiatus from the hobby you pretty much only saw tanks slammed with rock. Did something change? Do people just like the look better? Or are people relying less on rocks for filtration?

 

The vids aren't working for me :/

 

The embeded videos dont work, but if you click the link he has, it will take you to the videos.

 

Maintenance wise, #2 all the way. However, it seems that you are limiting yourself if you are a coral junkie. However, with #1, you can jam more coral in there and when it all grows out you get the awesome example of #1. Now I have a rock wall and hate it. I don't know if I would go as minimalist as #2, but I would have a mixture (this is all in my head right now) but I would also grab some different types of rock, tonga, figi, rock shaped and mix and try and make more of a haphazard design. I would also make it more stable.
I would also prefer to not have it lean against the wall, where it can become a stagnate zone that is more difficult to get flow to.

 

My plan is to try and stack my rocks up in the middle and hide my HOB skimmer behind them, then have less rock on the ends. I doubt it will work like I plan, but one can hope.

 

I change the scape pretty often, right now I have a centre of the tank "pile" with swimming areas to the front and the rear and above, seems to be working ok so far.