Hi Jeremy,
I've got a Fiji shallow-water reef biotope that's been running for about a year now, though it remained fishless for the first 6-7 months.
I've been in the hobby for over thirty years (15 years a reef keeper) and this is my first biotope display. I spent months researching the net , perusing dive books, etc., to get a feel for what I was trying to re-create. Unfortunately there's not a lot of aquarium related info concerning reef biotopes so you have to gather/process info from differing sources.
I decided to go with a biotope to decrease the aggression normally associated with a typical "garden reef" type display. While competition for space on a reef is always fierce, organisms from the same niche and the same ocean will hopefully result in less allelopathy (chemical warfare) which can be very problematic within the confines of the aquarium.
I chose a Fiji reef as my biotope due to availability/cost of fish and corals that would inhabit such a reef. While it's nigh impossible to be absolutely certain where a fish was captured, fishbase.org provides information on whether a particular species would be found in my biotope (region). As for corals (and fish), obviously species endemic to the Carribean, Red Sea, etc., are out, as are species from different depths (e.g - mushroom anemones found at 60 ft. vs acroporas found at 6 ft.).
(Note - While researching I found a picture of a boulder in a Fiji reef rubble zone that was home to 13 different corals. Sadly, the unnatural confines of an aquarium make this type of re-creation virtually impossible)
As a shallow-reef biotope my primary coral of choice is SPS species. I have a few LPS corals that would/could be found in this particular niche on the reef, but these are kept to 10% or less of the total stocking density. Again for reasons of reduced allelopathy.
I can honestly say this is to date the healthiest, best looking system I've ever created. Much can be attributed to refugium methodology and running (maturing) the system fishless for 6 months. But I also believe continued succes comes from housing organisms that are not alien to each other. The system is very young, but once the corals mature (most all started from small frags) I think it will be a sight to behold.
My only regret...not having more tanks to set up as different biotopes. (my wife wants something that "moves"
)
Sorry for the ramble, but I hope I answered some of your questions.
