7 best decorations for Minecraft underwater builds

Underwater builds have been a staple of the Minecraft community for almost as long as the game has been out. There's something tempting about making a survival base in an environment designed to be hostile and unwelcoming to the player. However, it can be hard to decorate an underwater base due to the bland environment and low visibility.

Despite this, there are things you can do to spice up underwater construction projects. Detailed below are seven amazing decoration ideas to make the otherwise bland gravel expanses of Minecraft's ocean biomes much more interesting.

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7 amazing decorative choices for underwater Minecraft builds

1) Artificial coral reefs

An example of a small custom coral reef (Image via Mojang)

Coral reefs are one of Minecraft's prettiest biomes and a major addition from the Update Aquatic. However, due to these gorgeous biomes only appearing in warm oceans, players might not have one nearby to build in. Thankfully, coral can be harvested using Minecraft's amazing silk touch enchantment. Players can then recreate coral reefs in other oceans, since they're beautiful decorations.

Making artificial coral reefs is an amazing way to add some color to otherwise relatively bland and unsaturated underwater biomes. Additionally, the sea pickles found in reefs are a nice way to add some natural light to an underwater area.

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2) Axolotl tank/flooded lush cave

An axolotl tank with a small lush cave in the back (Image via Mojang)

Axolotls are an adorable mob added alongside lush caves, the biome they call their home. These small mobs are invaluable to players making their Minecraft mega base underwater, as they can help fight hostile mobs such as guardians and drowned.

The different colors they come in, including the rare blue Minecraft axolotl, also make them amazing decorations in a tank. This tank could be styled off of a lush cave, which would be a nice change of pace from typical underwater environments.

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3) Tropical fish tank

Many different tropical fish in a vertical fish tank (Image via Mojang)

A tropical fish tank serves a similar decorative purpose as an axolotl tank. These smaller builds take advantage of the fact that there are thousands of variants of tropical fish to allow for a very unique and visually interesting decorative centerpiece.

Make sure to name any fish put in a larger fish tank, as they otherwise might despawn over time. Additionally, if the tank reaches the surface, make sure to put a ceiling on it. Tropical fish can sometimes fling themselves out of the water and could beach themselves.

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4) Custom ruins

An example of a small custom ruin (Image via Mojang)

Ocean ruins are an interesting Minecraft structure. They're underwater ruins that come in several different sizes in both regular and warm variants. These decaying structures would work wonders for a Minecraft build styled after some sort of post-apocalypse. They're also cheap in terms of resources, consisting nearly entirely of stone bricks for regular ruins and sandstone for warm ruins.

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5) Rock formations

Custom underwater rocks are a great way to add some natural flair to a build (Image via Mojang)

Rock formations are a great way to add some natural flare to an otherwise flat ocean stretch. It's strange that even after the Ocean Aquatic major Minecraft update, there are no large stones to find underground, but creative use of stone, deepslate, and tuff will make for amazing rustic additions to an underwater build in Minecraft. They also act as a nice filler decoration when nothing else makes sense.

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6) Kelp forests

Kelp forests look great and can help blend builds into the environment (Image via Mojang)

Building a kelp forest is a great way to add some life to an underwater Minecraft survival base. These forests are found in the real world and create peaceful regions of softly swaying vegetation. A kelp forest can be a way to fill in empty space in an underwater decoration. They also help players blend builds into the environment by covering up build edges and corners.

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7) Sea grass fields

Sea grass fields make for great transitions between the surface and the sea (Image via Mojang)

A sea grass field has a similar purpose as a large kelp forest but has a very distinct utility. Sea grass fields are amazing decorations for builds closer to shore or on islands. Having a mixture of shorter plant life that leads into the taller kelp helps create a natural gradient, rather than having a harsh line of no vegetation to lush vegetation.