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Too much black?


mrsjoannh13
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Has anyone set up a scape with black soil and black stones?   I'm about to rescape my 20 gallon and I bought black controsoil and also picked up some smooth black rocks (I wanted something smooth because of a long-tailed betta).   I'm just wondering now if it will be too dark of a scape.  I could go with brown controsoil instead of the black.  I will have a light frosted film on the back of the tank to lighten it up and will have lots of plants as well to break things up a bit.  Any thoughts or opinions?  Stick with black and black or change to brown controsoil?

Thanks!

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I have a black background and a black lava rock substrate. I have a lot of plants in planters. I think the green of the plants shows up very well against the black background. Also the colors of the fish.

  You can make filter tubes, planters, lift tubes for UGFs, etc less obtrusive by painting or plasti-dipping them black.

 

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The only warning I'd give is about black substrate. It shows EVERYTHING. I started off my jarrarium with black substrate, but I ended up putting it some naturally colored on top of it. It showed every bit of debris, no matter how small.

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On 12/4/2021 at 11:37 AM, mrsjoannh13 said:

Has anyone set up a scape with black soil and black stones?   I'm about to rescape my 20 gallon and I bought black controsoil and also picked up some smooth black rocks (I wanted something smooth because of a long-tailed betta).   I'm just wondering now if it will be too dark of a scape.  I could go with brown controsoil instead of the black.  I will have a light frosted film on the back of the tank to lighten it up and will have lots of plants as well to break things up a bit.  Any thoughts or opinions?  Stick with black and black or change to brown controsoil?

Thanks!

I think black on black would be a fantastic contrast depending on the color of Betta you get.  Using brighter colored plants could also give your tank a lot of brightness.  Pogostemon helferi, Pigmy Chain sword (Helanthium tenellum), Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia, Crypt. ‘Green Gecko’, and any Anubias ‘Golden’ variety would be beautiful bright green contrast against a black on black scape.  If you’re careful picking the Anubias variety (nana or petite) they would stay in scale with a 20 long and a 20 high wouldn’t matter even if you got the biggest ‘Golden’ variety of Anubias.  If you have a 20 high, a single Gold Melon or Marble Queen sword would be a spectacular centerpiece plant.  Either would be risky for getting too tall for a 20 long.

You could add some reds/pinks with Echinodorus hadi ‘Red Pearl’, Crypt. wendtii ‘Red’ (actually more a bronzy-red color), of course Crypt ‘Pink Flamingo’ if you have enough light and patience (takes a bit more than typical Crypts).  There are many more and if you like stem plants there are loads of options but that’s not my area so I’ll let others speak.

I have dark brown rocks on black sand in both my 6G cubes if you want to check my links in my sig.  The “Volcano” tank has both the Pogostemon helferi and some Crypt pontederiifolia in it (although it’s partially hidden by the big rock).  They are very different scapes but both are quite simplistic being small tanks.  I also thought about getting black slate for my 100 G but went with lighter instead and it still just isn’t quite what I want.  It may get a change to black, someday.

Depending on the effect you want, you just need to decide how you want things to look and then go for it.  I saw a guy post pics of a platinum Betta in an all black with bright green plants tank beside a black betta in an all white with red plants tank.  Each was very striking and side by side they were stunning!  Let your imagination run wild!

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On 12/4/2021 at 1:18 PM, Dawn T said:

The only warning I'd give is about black substrate. It shows EVERYTHING. I started off my jarrarium with black substrate, but I ended up putting it some naturally colored on top of it. It showed every bit of debris, no matter how small.

Interesting!  I currently have very light (almost white) sand and aside from it getting sucked up with weekly water changes, it shows every little bit of poop.  The tank never looks clean.  I was thinking a darker substrate would hide the poop a bit more.  Maybe it varies by the species you have in your tank but with shrimp, snails, cory cats, and a betta, I have little black bits of poop visible all the time.  Drives me nuts.  

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On 12/5/2021 at 7:59 AM, mrsjoannh13 said:

Interesting!  I currently have very light (almost white) sand and aside from it getting sucked up with weekly water changes, it shows every little bit of poop.  The tank never looks clean.  I was thinking a darker substrate would hide the poop a bit more.  Maybe it varies by the species you have in your tank but with shrimp, snails, cory cats, and a betta, I have little black bits of poop visible all the time.  Drives me nuts.  

I think the issue is rooted in contrast. A solid white, or black, sets up a scenario where anything a little off that color shows up more clearly. A variety of colors (river rock of browns, grays and reds) gives visual camouflage to those things like food and detritus. That said, I think your black on black would look great. Monochromatic isn't a bad thing as long as you understand the ups and downs of it. I also think black will naturally hide waste and whatnot much better than white. I ended up going lighter because I liked how my fish brightened up on the lighter background and it appealed to my color preference. It's a personal thing and the only wrong way is the way YOU don't like.

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I think fine substrates show more waste, no matter what color they are. I had a white sand substrate before I switched to lava rock. It was uniform in color and texture.

And, as @Chad points out, the more uniform the color, the more the waste shows.

I am going to try black coarse coal slag [Black Beauty] in my next tank. I already have a bag - see picture. It is much finer than my lava rock substrate, and finer is better for limiting the bio load [see aquariumscience.org articles regarding substrate]. But it is not as fine as sand and not so uniform in color/texture as sand or finer coal slag.

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I think it's fine. Especially if you have green plants. Plus the controsoil isn't jet black. I use it in my tanks and the first time I used it, I put flourite sand in with it not realizing that the soil would be more brown-black than black. I also mixed in caribsea planted plus. Hind sight, would have just used the controsoil across the whole tank without the sand.

Here's a photo to show the color difference. Please ignore my monte Carlo that refuses to root.

 

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Controsoil only, in my shrimp tank.

PXL_20211202_175710857.jpg

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all black can look really cool. no doubt about it. for me, my most preferred color is river rock type with white, browns, and blacks in it. hides filth well.  contrasting if i want non natural looking, i generally go with black mixed in with about 30% dark blue.  shows more than natural colors do, but still hides better than all black.

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On 12/5/2021 at 9:45 AM, Chad said:

Good stuff @Minanora. But that Monte Carlo?! Just kidding, this coming from the only person on the planet who can kill java fern and I don't know even what Monte Carlo even looks like.

Well it's not supposed to look like what mine does! Ha! My corydoras root around in it so it won't root. It's my scraggly looking plants that are most forward in the controsoil, below the guppy and to the right, in the front. I've resigned myself to the fact that it isn't going to carpet and am planning on either filling it in with Glossostigma and Hydrocotyle Tripartita instead. Plus some well placed plugs of dwarf hairgrass for contrast. Then I'm topping everything with the flourite sand for the corydoras to better rummage through. They can uproot as many plants as they want. So long as they're getting enough to eat, I don't mind.

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  • 1 month later...

This is my 100 that I call the 'blackhole'.

All black sand, small patch of brown gravel, 4 large obsidian rocks, all black tank and stand. Black background. Some wood.

Imo it makes every plant and fish stand out. I have black German blue rams now and it seems to make them brilliant.

Snails to control the detritus is a must with black sand.

20210717_153033.jpg

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On 1/16/2022 at 3:07 PM, Randall from Texas said:

This is my 100 that I call the 'blackhole'.

All black sand, small patch of brown gravel, 4 large obsidian rocks, all black tank and stand. Black background. Some wood.

Imo it makes every plant and fish stand out. I have black German blue rams now and it seems to make them brilliant.

Snails to control the detritus is a must with black sand.

20210717_153033.jpg

Gorgeous tank!

 

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