Which tank do you like best?

Topline Marines

Topline Marines

Member
Im going with new school only because is vibrant and eye catching. Theres also nothing wrong with old school. I just want that awe factor when I look at a tank.
 
S

Steve L

Member
I like tanks to be a combination of the two. It's kind of like going to an art exhibit and looking at contemporary work and comparing that to the old masters, or comparing a contemporary styled house to a 100+ year old Victorian. The old school tank is pretty drab, but if you let too many softies get big that's what you wind up with.

The modern tank looks staged to me. They call it a "low nutrient" tank but I count at least 8 fish in what appears to be an approximately 50 gallon tank. Not an easy task to keep it low nutrients with that many fish and so many corals which require spot feeding. If you look at the sand bed below the water line there is no algae growth or dirt of any kind and no sign of a CUC, almost as if it's brand new. There is also no algae or corraline on the power heads or the over-flow. It's a little too perfect in appearance for me to accept that it is actually a well established tank. The video was posted only a week ago on Youtube with no explanation or description.
 
Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
Nowadays, we are able to keep SPS, which is a huge change. My vote was influenced only by looks. You certainly wouldn't see tank #2 in the ocean somewhere. I like to call my tank "a part of the reef". Steve L IMO is very observant. I could buy coral colonies and place them in a tank and say, "Look at my tank." I wonder what it will look like in six months.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
My tank looked new school to start & 5 years latter as the corals continued to grow, it looks old school reef ;)

the one difference being it's 90% lps & soft coral dominated

I enjoy both

I started a tank as I am getting to dive the reefs less & less - I do like looking at my tank & think of the reefs I have dove in the florida keys - it's why I got a swt
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Mike Johnson said:
I choose "old school". It looks like part of a reef, the second tank looks manufactured to me.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/reefkeeping-old-school-vs.-new-school
Click to expand...

I'v got to agree with you on this one. The so called "old school" that is about what I'd go for if I had to choose. My fish selection would likely be different.

The second one looks way too contrived. In fact, when I first looked at it, I though it might be one of those tanks with lots of "genuine" plastic corals made in day glow colors. It also doesn't have nearly enough LR, unless there is a large refugium or second tank in the system. I also think this is another tank put together for the photo shoot. It's way too clean and spotless. Also note how the corals don't seem to have really grown in yet, although I could be wrong if this was all done from small frags.

Now look at the "old school" tank, whis is not really old school. It's a tank of soft corals, which is completely different thing. Note the movement you get from the xenia and other soft corals, and the texture in the rock structure. Also note how the corals seem to belong ot the LR and not recently added. This is helped a bit because soft corals grow fast and fran easily. Another plus for the aquascape is that you don't see any equipment, and you don't obviously look through the tank to see the blinds on the window. If you wanted more color here you could add other soft corols that wre some other color than brown.

If this two were up for tank of the month here, I'd be voteing for the "old school" tank. I will admit that I do look for different things in a tank compared to others here. This is why I often vote for tanks that loose the TOTM contest here, and I refer to my vote ad the DaveK kiss of death. (grin)
 
Parisian

Parisian

Member
The old school is beautiful, it has a natural charm.
The new school looks too artificial to me, too clean, too colored, too far from what you see when you dive. I also don't believe this is sustainable in the long term, with so many fishes in such a small tank, unless by very artificial means, which is generally not what we try to achieve in our tanks.
 
Snid

Snid

Active Member
I like the growth and general flow of the "Old School" tank, but I love the pop in color of the "New School". So I guess I'm a tweener. As I'm going with the development of my tank, I'm constantly thinking of ways that I can make it look so beautiful and full of life that you almost forget that it's in an aquarium when you look at it, even though an expert would instantly know due to the origins of many of the species.
 
reeferman

reeferman

Well-Known Member
i like the new school.old school looks drab and colorless.if i wanted drab and colorless,i could just go freshwater.
when i think coral reef,i think stony corals,not a bunch of brown softies and gorgonians.i can absolutely believe the new school is a well established tank,some people[not me lol]keep their tanks in pristine conditions.i also believe that there is plenty of live rock in there.we tend to put waaaay more rock in our tanks than is actually needed.ive seen thriving reef tanks with a lot less rock than that tank even.theres a beautiful stony reef over on r2r[Cunareefer] that has NO live rock and its been up a long time flourishing.not conventional certainly but doable.
i really dont like many soft corals anyway so my vote is skewed a lot by that.
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
I don't like blue lighted tanks and I find I don't spend much time looking at them. My initial reaction was a quick glance at each, then I spent time looking at the details of the first tank, glanced again at the blue tank, didn't even look at the vid, then looked back at the old school one again.
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
reeferman said:
i can absolutely believe the new school is a well established tank,some people[not me lol]keep their tanks in pristine conditions.
Click to expand...

Get an urchin. I did and ended up w/a clean looking tank again, black back on the tank, and very little coralline algae on rocks, etc..


DaveK said:
If this two were up for tank of the month here, I'd be voteing for the "old school" tank. I will admit that I do look for different things in a tank compared to others here. This is why I often vote for tanks that loose the TOTM contest here, and I refer to my vote ad the DaveK kiss of death. (grin)
Click to expand...

I've been feeling like that lately also :lookaroun


:threadjack:
 
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Steve L

Member
If you watch the video of the new tank on Youtube, you can see watch it full screen and get a better look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mazm7utIC4

One other thing that bothers me about the newer tank is that he has a long nose hawkfish in there. They can be reef safe but can also be very agressive toward other fish. They are also well known jumpers, and this guy has one in a rimless (and lidless) tank. You can see that the hawkfish is spending most of the video swimming at the surface.

The more I watch the video the more I'm convinced it's staged.
 
S

Steve L

Member
I sent a message to the owner of the tank through Youtube and as suspected it has only been set up for a few weeks. Here is his reply.

Damian Brakel

Jun 3, 2014

This tank is only about a month old, most stock transferred from another tank.
I clean it every day or 2
 
S

Steve L

Member
reeferman said:
does that diminish its beauty?
Click to expand...

Yes it does, at least for me. It's beautiful but not realistic.

Knowing that the corals in the video were grown to that size and color in other (established) tanks, and that they were all staged for a video is just plain sad for the same reason it's sad when models get photoshopped beyond recognition on magazine covers.
 
Frankie

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Being an old school aquarist I tend to vote that direction. Even though I mainly shoot for the new school methods these days.
Personally, that idea of new school pales in comparison to what I see as new school.
The colors are off, the rock is too low and the blinds are cheap. Lol!



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