Popular Post Bill Smith Posted July 18, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 18, 2020 (edited) One of the benefits of being in the freshwater hobby is that most things don't tend to deteriorate and poison the water like they do in marine tanks. I've taken this to heart and wanted to share a few of my applications: All of these decorations below have been in the tanks for six months or more, with no ill effects. (I name my tanks after fictional worlds to make them easier to refer to in conversation.) 1. ENDOR This 6 gallon Marineland Portrait houses 2 pea puffers that are getting along for now (I'm watching them closely and may be separating as they mature). The two Imperial walkers you see are Micro Machines toys, and I gave them a light wash in watered-down black acrylic paint and wiped it all off. This had the effect of bringing out some details. To enable them to stand up in the gravel, I superglued a half-inch of plastic drinking straw to the bottoms of the feet. 2. DAGOBAH (See a trend starting here?) This is a 38-Long, stocked with Congo tetras, serpae tetras, and a single platinum angel. It's on continuous drip water changes (future post about that coming). The vines come from the floral department of Hobby Lobby. I glued them into floating foam using a technique The King of DIY demonstrated recently. The crashed spaceship is a brand-new Hallmark ornament. I drilled some holes in the bottom to allow water in so it would sink. 3. SPACEBALL This 20-Long has no live plants in it, so my water changes are frequent! With some assorted tetras and a single moonlight gourami as a centerpiece fish, this is my strangest tank. The floating planets come from a kids' educational solar system "mobile". The crystals came from eBay, and the astronauts are part of a Mega-Bloks Halo toy set. They don't fall over because I superglued a half-inch of drinking straw to the feet. I also gave them a light black acrylic wash to bring out detail. And for that extra alien touch, I mixed in a bag of rainbow glass beads into the black coarse aquarium sand. 4. ATLANTIS: Also a 20-Long, this tank houses a colony of multies with rummy nose tetras who stay out of the way. These statues are called the "Argonath" from Lord of the Rings. They're really a pair of resin bookends that came with one fo the DVD sets, and you can find them on eBay now. I drilled holes in the bottom to let water in, so that they would sink. So there you have it. What unconventional decor have you put in your tanks? Thanks for reading! Bill Edited August 10, 2020 by Bill Smith 21 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 Awesome. I've been so tempted to do a star wars scape. I was thinking of a hoth themed aquarium. Super white sand and painted rocks, and the AT-ATs of course. The challenge might be keeping it all white, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Cory Posted July 18, 2020 Administrators Share Posted July 18, 2020 I'm actually super into this. I think it's really cool when people make different themes. It brings so much interest for me as I've seen convention wood/rock/plant setups a billion times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 I put part of my lawn in a tank I setup earlier this week. But from an aquascaping point of view, it was a conventional part of my lawn as I think the plants in the 2 chunks of sod I dug up will grow nicely immersed. I was concerned initially that there might some motor oil in there (as this is next to where I park my car) but so far no motor oil! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 These are so awesome and creative. Nice job!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Smith Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Cory said: I'm actually super into this. I think it's really cool when people make different themes. It brings so much interest for me as I've seen convention wood/rock/plant setups a billion times. Thanks Cory. Thinking about tanks as "dioramas" keeps it fresh for me. My first "diorama" tank was like 15 years ago, I had Roman columns in a 10-gallon with crushed coral substrate, and I had found tiny 1" tall figurines of Captain Kirk and Spock Scotty to go with it. 🙂 Tells a story, you know? 🙂 Edited July 19, 2020 by Bill Smith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Smith Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) 16 minutes ago, Bill Smith said: My first "diorama" tank was like 15 years ago, I had Roman columns in a 10-gallon with crushed coral substrate, and I had found tiny 1" tall figurines of Captain Kirk and Spock Scotty to go with it. 🙂 OMG, I found old pictures! Circa 2007, back when I cared about saltwater over fresh. How little I knew... Edited July 19, 2020 by Bill Smith 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ed's Aquatics Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 I could hear the music in my head from the fight scene in the episode. Good job from the Trek tank all the way through. I have thought about doing something like that, but I always end up trying to scape it natural for the species going in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancy K Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Bill, these are awesome. I’m going to do my RDR2 themed tank one day and an Assassins Creed tank to merge my hobbies. Cant wait for those builds!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestJenn Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 On 7/18/2020 at 12:11 PM, Bill Smith said: So there you have it. What unconventional decor have you put in your tanks? I used to think that I didn't like artificial decor but the universe is working hard to prove me wrong. I love your themed tanks. They're brilliant! It helps that I'm a Trek and Star Wars fan. I recognized the LOTR statues as well. Couldn't figure out why you called it Atlantis at first. 😉 My son is a big fan of castles in aquariums and insisted that I include one in my betta tank. I have to confess that it's grown on me and will follow Rowan to his upgraded tank this weekend. It's just a store bought ornament, nothing amazing. But it's the first non-natural thing than I can remember having in one of my aquariums. As a bonus, when I wiggled my finger in front of the tank to coax him out, Rowan popped out of the little hole near the bottom edge of the castle. I had no idea that he liked to hang out inside it. That was a fun discovery! You're definitely inspiring. And while I'll probably keep my little slice of nature in my main tank we might have some fun with any tanks I add in the future. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 I particularly like the combination of a really natural jungle scape with one unexpected figurine or a "ruin" half hidden in it. That is what I like about Endor and Dagoba--you could just see a nicely scaped tank, and then there is a little Easter egg in there....and suddenly everything has more depth. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Smith Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 Thank you guys, really appreciate the kind words. Here's one idea up for grabs that I didn't do: a Stargate in a desert setting... I bring new meaning to the term fish NERD. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 I love these! Super fun. I always worry about things leeching into the water, but it seems like most resin/plastic figures would be ok? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Smith Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 Just now, H.K.Luterman said: I love these! Super fun. I always worry about things leeching into the water, but it seems like most resin/plastic figures would be ok? Just my opinion, but I think dilution takes care of any real concerns here. Unless I have something that's going to release enough stuff into the water that I would see visible decomposition, I generally don't worry about it for freshwater. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 1 minute ago, Bill Smith said: Just my opinion, but I think dilution takes care of any real concerns here. Unless I have something that's going to release enough stuff into the water that I would see visible decomposition, I generally don't worry about it for freshwater. There's a t-rex skull I've been wanting to add to my bichir tank, but it's made for reptiles and not aquariums. But now I think I might give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 On 7/21/2020 at 10:13 AM, Bill Smith said: Just my opinion, but I think dilution takes care of any real concerns here. Unless I have something that's going to release enough stuff into the water that I would see visible decomposition, I generally don't worry about it for freshwater. This is amazing! Have you ever tried things made of polystone? I wanted to do a lost-world / sunken temple scape with some Egyptian statuettes I found but was unsure. So much inspiration, so few tanks ☺️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Burke Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 Wow. Really well put together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 so you can order tiny plastic dinosaurs off of amazon and it think a planted tank with dinosaurs hidden under leaves and between plants would be really fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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