This paper discusses a novel approach for artificial coral reefs. In our case study – pursued at the shoreline of Gili Trawangan (Indonesia) – we present new methods and techniques for their design and fabrication, and, ultimately, to enable regrowth of damaged coral reefs. Of particular importance is the use of underwater laser scanning and underwater photogrammetry for surveying marine environments. When calibrated and used correctly, these visual sensors are well-suited for automated detection, quantification, mapping, and monitoring applications, particularly for high-accuracy 3-D models or change detection (JORDT 2016). In this context, the intricate structural complexity of a reef formation, especially of scleractinian corals, challenges capturing high-accuracy 3-D models at closerange. In our contribution, we present a) the overall approach and the chosen case study, b) the specific workflow to survey marine environments with millimeter precision, and c) a comparison between different 3-D scan methods applied in this context, including LiDAR scanning (M210UW Newton Labs underwater laser scanner), and high-resolution underwater photogrammetry (Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II, Canon EOS 5Ds). Against this background, we discuss the applicability of both methods and their viability for voxel models from high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scans of an extracted sample of Prototype 1.