A few patch reef pics I particularly like:













I'm especially fond of the little stacks and mounds of coral surrounded by sand.

Very cool. I've almost forgotten what the real thing looks like! But I haven't been diving since I've become obsessed with corals. I can't wait to go again and look for stuff I recognize.

I'm obsessed with trying to recreate reality as much as possible, makes the hobby more challenging and interesting I think.

So hopefully, someone will find some inspiration from them (and there'll definitely be a "dshnarw PATCH REEF" tank one day...)

I think that if I do a larger tank, this patch biotope might be the theme! How does this type of biotope work as far as keeping up with the lbs/gal of LR rule of thumb (yes, yes, I know, rule of thumb)?

I'd imagine this would also help keep GSP in check and from harming other corals...

Interesting that the maze brains seem to be a common inhabitant of the patch reef.

I've never used the lbs/gal idea for live rock. I just add rock until I'm happy with it (which basically means a little more towards the sparse end than I'd like it to be to save room for corals), then if I decide it needs more rock, I toss it in the sump. (My 30g tank has maybe 20lbs of live rock in the display and 25 lbs in the sump). Other than that, I'd say with a well-dimensioned tank, it shouldn't be any different than any other tank. You could get away with less rock with less fish, etc.



I'm not sure if that's "sampling error" or not (either on my choosing pics, or others taking pics), but they're definitely big contributors.

I actually just got back from a cruise and we did some snorkeling down at Grand Cayman. There are a lot of little reefs like this and brain coral was the most prominent thing there. Sea fans were also really common as well as what appeared to be some kind of finger leather.

I was actually getting the itch to do something similar in my reef because of the trip. Great pics, btw!

Those pics you got are pretty much what you see down in the keys, i go there almost every year and they're just gourgeous! only thing that could make one better is if there are a few lobsters and hog snapper hanging out, give me a net, tickle stick, and a spear gun and I'm happy as can be. God, just thinking about lobster is making me hungry. I think I'm going to get one of the tails from last year out of the freezer and cook it up!

Nice pics! If I could make a 1000+ gallon reef, I would set it up as a patch reef with separated coral bommies that would each have a few large "life sized" branching SPS and some plating corals at the bases (much like the last image). It would be really cool to see schooling fish like anthias swiming among the branches. This would be my inspiration: Richard Harker's 2000 gallons of reef

Hey thats exactly what I had in mind when I modeled my tank Its just taking forever to fill in with corals.

COLDWATER PATCH REEF:

Nice pics, I like the gorg patch reef

I am actually working on a nano version of this picture.

i love patch reefs!

hard to do in my tank though, just three medium-ish pieces of rock...


I'm definitely going to be doing that in my 55g though.

I bet the urchins in that coldwater shot are bigger than my head. Wicked. The bommies surrounded by sand is such a kewl idea for a tank. Maybe a poly stock tank? The long oval type? It'd be look-down but you could get that coral pile surrounded by sand effect perfectly. It'd be like looking over the side of the boat or snorkeling above the bommies. Great pics.

Bill

My idea/plan is to do a REAL cube tank...say 2.5x2.5x2.5. Put the reefscape exact center. It'd have to be fairly minimal - maybe a 1.5x1.5x1.5 mound of rock, and start adding corals around it. With no rock, the display would be over 100 gallons, so a decent number of small fish...trio of cardinals, pair of shrimp gobies, a pair of dwarf angels, harem of small wrasse...would be fine, especially with a fuge. That way, you've got the whole thing covered with fish activity from the sand to the top of the tank.

Then stick the whole thing in the center of a room somewhere, viewable on all sides. With a good flow plan, you could probably make it top down viewing as well.

Anybody have any pics (or find any) of wild LPS reefs? I have searched and haven't been able to find much at all. You always see these drab maize brains, but never any open brains or blastos or other soft fleshy corals in these pics. Maybe it's because LPS come from murkier water that isn't popular for underwater photography? I don't know, just curious what that stuff would look like in the wild.

I have a couple of dive magazines with some nice LPS reef photos. I'll see what I can find when I get home.

I don't think it's the water conditions though. I'd guess that LPS tends to just seem kinda...blah...in most wide angle photos unless the subject is one of those enormous brain corals. SPS has that nice branching look, soft corals and gorgonians flow. Brain corals and zoanthids, etc, just sit there.

Edit: dshnarw talking...forgot to switch out of Amber's login...oops!

The one I was thinking of is in Scuba Diver: Australasia issue 1, 2008.

The article is about Palau's inner lagoons, where they're better protected from waves. Maybe give that a search and see if you can find more.

This is the image from the mag, taken by Ethan Daniels:

It's so cool to see the real growth potential of coral. I don't know about everyone else, but I sorta lose the scale of it all in my little tank. "Big" colonies in our tanks are not even noticeable on the real reefs.

More inspiration...

Coral bommies got me going this time...I like the bommie type of patch reef best I think:




I LOVE THIS SHOT...I wish I could reproduce THAT in my tank:

I really think I might convert my tank into a patch reef biotope. I like the biotope way of thinking a lot more than anything else. Housing animals that would live together in nature just makes more sense than just tossing in different species and hoping for the best.

Would anyone happen to know where to find information on the inhabitants of patch reefs?

edit: Google is my friend!
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/SouthFlorida.../patchreef.html
http://www.fishchannel.com/saltwater-aquar...coral-reef.aspx

This article is a bit old, but there's tons of info to be found in it:

Similarity and Diversity Among Coral Reef Fish Communities: A Comparison between Tropical Western Atlantic (Virgin Islands) and Tropical Central Pacific (Marshall Islands) Patch Reefs
William B. Gladfelter, John C. Ogden and Elizabeth H. Gladfelter
Ecology, Vol. 61, No. 5 (Oct., 1980), pp. 1156-1168

(google scholar search it, and you should be able to get it for free)

WOW. imagine one of those in your tank... how big does a tank have to be to house one of those?

ooohhhh this is what you ment when you said you've seen some of them pics are familiar
lol, i found them on google, only found this thread today

Now I just gotta figure out how to setup a patch reef in my 40 breeder

we need a patch reef club, we're a dying breed
ill start a thread

DAMN YOU DSHNARW!!! Can you give a reefer time to build out their existing system before you bring on the new hotness?!?!?! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

I wasnt sure if you'd seen it or not. But it was pretty funny too see those pics pop up again




good luck with that





and no...sorry Thats why I have 7 tanks running and designing another

dshnarw is a loser anyways.

pics, or its not happening

Is it even possable to make a patch reef in a 40 breeder?

ok if you insist

40g coldwater tank


5.5g Contest tank


2.5g Plate tank


5.5g Pistol/Sexy Shrimp tank


Mini carpet biotope in tub now in 20l (sorry no current pics)


12g tank for Bob


And he has a 5.5g tank in his office I don't have pictures of.

postwhore



all but one have been documented on NR:

40g coldwater (thread in sig)
mini carpet biotope (thread in sig)
my wifes 5.5g (thread in her sig)
my wifes 2.5g (same thread as her 5.5g)
my 5.5g office tank (no pics yet - still waiting for macroalgae to take over)
our 5.5g contest tank (thread in sig)
12g tank for Bob the 18 inch Eunice worm (pics of Bob can be found in Weetabix's thread)



EDIT: Amber even posted pics

So what makes it a dshnarw path reef tank? The fact that its islands of live rock with corals on all sides?

yep, and its a great size to do it.

especially if you're doing the coral bommie style



IMO, it's a tank that has the *look* of a patch reef - islands of rock with rubble/sand around them firstly. And secondly, because it's the biotope forum, a tank in which the corals would naturally be found together on the patch reef portion of an actual reef.

but i dunno that i like the term "dshnarw patch reef"...i just posted some pics

lol i believe you, i just wanted to see more tanks:D

Ah ok i have the first part I have but the biotope specific corals are the part i dont have.

I'z in your house, stealin' ur reefs

The guard dogs say bring it on

^^she forgets to mention that the boxer is now several times larger than that




Yeah, your rockscape is really nice - very much patch reef inspiration

Really though, thats just my definition based on my preferences. Biotope means different things to different people, and different things in different circumstances for me - i.e. any coldwater tank is a biotope IMO, no matter where the inhabitants come from simply because it's very difficult to specialize in only a certain area in coldwater tanks, but in tropical reef systems, its more specialized for me because of the relative ease of obtaining livestock.

Do you have a link to a full size picture, of the one with the mangrove sticking out of the water?

google image search coral bommie its on there
and its a palm tree i think

thats the biggest size i found

Curse you all! You've got me thinking about setting the 36g breeder I got today up as a patch reef.. :x

Sounds like time for that custom DIY tank! 1" glass, 200g, mmmmmmm.

Don't say that, you'll make us all cry!