Redecorating Aquarium After AQUASHELLA

[Brandxn]

How often do you guy redecorate your aquarium? I just went to AquaShella for the first time today and when I got back home I realized how TRASH my aquarium looks. I understand they’re professionals who do this for a living but my god they so looked good and clear!

[Fish Folk]

I guess I just take in tips, and make small moves to “improve” my tanks according to what I study. Nothing all-at-once. I’m happy with things  taking years to develop.

But I admire advanced scapers who make magic happen on short notice! 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Fish Folk

[Sheri]

I hear you.  I am always messing with my aquarium.   I try to do it gradually though so I don't stress the fish or plants.  I only have one tank, so I can't move them to redecorate. 

[Ken Burke]

I thinking, as amazing as those tanks are, they are only set up for a weekend.  To maintain them looking like that would take a significant time commitment. And let’s face it, wouldn’t you rather just have another tank.

[face]

those tanks are pretty but they don't scratch the fish itch for me ill take a ugly tank with a big old cichlid in it or a big school of silly cory cats any day again they are amazing art pieces and the labour to get them setup so fast is astonishing but i like fish in my tanks and super aquascaped tanks aren't great for that.

[Brandxn]

@face don’t get me wrong I love the fish and want them in the tank as well. With my tank I just don’t like how it looks like a jumble of plants together surrounding a fake piece of wood and a bed of sand for my panda corys. I want it to look more natural, like a wall of just lush green and red plants in the background that’s crystal clear with my neons and peacock goby’s swimming through the thick vegetation where the color just pops. I watch Co-Ops videos all the time on how to get it to where I want but I feel I’m limited on space in a 20G high and I’m also a 22y/o child that wants the final picture now to enjoy it rather than the pain staking wait for it to develop😅. Especially since this is my first planted tank since the first artificial tank I had was back when COVID went crazy and when I came back stateside. 

[Guppysnail]

I must say I think your tank is lovely. However I understand very well wanting a different look. Take is slow so you don’t disrupt the cycle and put youtprself in the fishes “shoes”. Your living happily and one day someone comes along and ransacks your home…..

I actually do that to my poor fish often but they are used to it 🤣 my tanks rarely stay the same for more than a few months  I also appreciate some algae though because it is very healthy for fish and fry  

I lighter background or removing the background will brighten it quickly to look more like the ones in the shows you shared pictures of. 

[anitstuk]

I agree. Doing too much at once will affect the cycle negatively and will kill your fish.

[Flumpweesel]

It's nice to be inspired and I enjoy remodeling my tank I try to do it in the fishes best interest. So to create more space or increasing the planting.

And for me to reduce maintenance. Have some fun but see what you can do with what you have first it will be the least stress for the cycle and your wallet. 

Just standing up some of those pieces of wood would make a dramatic change. But second everyone else your tank is lovely as is

I have a pile of not quite suitable hardscape options. 

[Flumpweesel]

I'll add that my fish always get live or frozen foods if I've been messing so they forgive me pretty fast.

[Tanked]

On 8/8/2022 at 1:21 AM, Brandxn said:

 With my tank I just don’t like how it looks like a jumble of plants together surrounding a fake piece of wood and a bed of sand

The first step in making an aquascape look natural, is to take a walk in the woods or look at photos to see how nature does it. Everything you see has a story as to how it got that way. 

Your present setup has a lot of potential already. I realize that you did not ask for advice, but I would like to add a few generalities. Hard angles, rocks on top of the substrate, and straight clean borders are rare in nature, as are 5 eggs in a straight line  Adding contours to the sand box to resemble a stream bed and embedding some of the stone in the sand will go a long way.

[Patrick_G]

@Brandxn, your tank looks really nice! Can you reduce the red spectrum in your light? That’ll go a long way towards brightening it up and making it look more clear.

Also, don’t hesitate to do a remodel if you don’t like your layout. I have a 11 gallon cube in my living room that gets rearranged whenever I feel like it. It’s no to hard to take out all the plants and hardscape and make a new layout. Sometimes I’ll I’ll add new elements and some times I’ll just rearrange what I have. 
 

My number one resource for attainable aquascape ideas is MD Fishtanks YouTube channel. He has build videos on literally hundreds of low tech tanks. 

 

[Brandxn]

@Patrick_G the red spectrum is only because of the time of day(9-10pm). The tank used to be on a 8am-10pm day cycle but because of some algae issues it be reduced it down to 10hrs. I’ll attach a picture of what it looks like normally. I just wish I bought some drift wood or some rocks at the AquaShella to improve it but it was my first time with so much to look at I didn’t think of it till on my drive home. 

[Patrick_G]

On 8/8/2022 at 10:02 AM, Brandxn said:

the red spectrum is only because of the time of day(9-10pm). The tank used to be on a 8am-10pm day cycle but because of some algae issues it be reduced it down to 10hrs.

That looks good to me. I agree that some driftwood or more rock would be nice and give it some height, but I’d be happy to have it in my living room. Keep tinkering, that part of the fun!

[Odd Duck]

On 8/7/2022 at 9:43 PM, Brandxn said:

How often do you guy redecorate your aquarium? I just went to AquaShella for the first time today and when I got back home I realized how TRASH my aquarium looks. I understand they’re professionals who do this for a living but my god they so looked good and clear!

Those were 2 of the very best scapes there!  You can’t compare your scapes to the ones done by professionals when they do them all the time and have likely done hundreds if not thousands.  Use them as an inspiration to guide your hands and eyes, but don’t expect yours to look like a pro’s right off the bat.  There’s a lot to learn about composition plus you can’t expect yours to compare when a pro likely has unlimited resources to do their scapes.  Hobbyists usually have limits to how much they buy to create their scapes.  Usually we buy “just enough” to get by instead of buying a bunch extra like the pros.  If we want to have dream scapes, we need to buy more than we think we need, start picking what works best together, then setting the rest aside and using it elsewhere or selling it on to the next person.

[Odd Duck]

@Brandxn, did you go the talk on aquascaping?  That guy had lots of suggestions on how to make a cohesive scape, starting with using consistent stone (same type, not same size) throughout the scape and using mostly consistent wood of the same or very similar color, but again, with varying sizes.  He likes interesting textures in the stone with varying shapes and sizes to keep it interesting and more natural.  He also talked a lot about developing flow, like pointing all the branches the same way for instance.  He also talked about developing some height for some variety, either with the hardscape or the plants depending on what you like.

There are lots of different types of woods that can be used and depending on where you live, you might be able to collect your own.  That would be a pretty cheap way to build up some different branches to pick from if you decide to change up your scape.  Cory talked about using mostly rock because he doesn’t like using wood in his aquariums since it’s always slowly rotting and can encourage algae, etc.  I’ve had problems from too much wood in tanks before.  I had to switch to rock and plants only in my tiny 2G cube because even a small piece of wood was too much.  It never balanced out.

You just need to decide on what your goal is.  Get a rough idea in your head.  Find hardscape pieces that match that idea as close as you can manage.  You don’t need to create EXACTLY what’s in your head since that would be impossible.  Once you have your idea, you plan as much as you can, maybe even sketch it out, but at some point you need to let it kind of flow on its own as you build your scape with what you have.  You can even do a mock up by laying out cardboard or laying down tape in your exact tank dimensions so you can play with the pieces you have to create the look you like while still leaving room for you to clean the glass (which those exhibit scapes don’t leave room for glass cleaning since they’re only up for a few days).

I laid out all my petrified wood pieces for my 100 G angelfish tank right in front of the tank on its stand during the dry start time.  I did it there because I could look right up at the tank and look at how the wood was.  Then I got more pieces and redid it completely a couple times until I liked it.  Then it still ended up different once I actually added everything to the tank.  I know a pro would do my scape better and use way more materials than I did, but I used every bit of petrified wood I had and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It also took me several months before that and buying wood from 2 different people before I had what I needed for the tank. Plus I got extremely lucky and got the effect I wanted with only 3 pieces of wood.  But I was prepared to get more if it hadn’t been enough.  I fully expected to need more until I put them all together and had a good look at them while my poor hubby was trying to hold them perfectly in place for me.  😆 It took ideas from multiple other people on this forum to get them positioned exactly how I wanted them.  It was @dasaltemelosguyidea of using magnets to hold the slate base that was the final key to making the piece what I wanted.

So if you can find other hardscapes you like and want to emulate, start working at finding pieces you like that fit your idea - they don’t have to fit your mental picture exactly, just your idea.  Then start collecting, keep watching videos, keep reading about composition ideas, keep reading articles, etc. Then work at developing your plan.  I can tell from your tank pic that you have a natural eye for composition because you’ve made a nice scape with limited resources.  It takes time, just like any other skill.  Brain surgeons don’t start out with no training and just start cutting peoples skulls open!  It takes time, training, and resources to learn and practice.  Give yourself that time and training.  It will pay off in the end.

[Patrick_G]

On 8/8/2022 at 11:31 AM, Odd Duck said:

There’s a lot to learn about composition plus you can’t expect yours to compare when a pro likely has unlimited resources to do their scapes.  Hobbyists usually have limits to how much they buy to create their scapes.  Usually we buy “just enough” to get by instead of buying a bunch extra like the pros.  If we want to have dream scapes, we need to buy more than we think we need, start picking what works best together, then setting the rest aside and using it elsewhere or selling it on to the next person.

Great advice, a lot of pros and Youtube aquascapers put a ton of money into each demo scape. I’ve seen $300-400 worth of plants, $100 in aquasoil and what looks like $200 in hardscape go into a single 20ish gallon tank. Maybe the same pro could work with a $200 overall budget and make it look good, but the extra $$ sure helps. 

[evilgenius]

On 8/7/2022 at 9:43 PM, Brandxn said:

How often do you guy redecorate your aquarium? 

I'm never going to be as good as someone who does this for a living. I rescape my tanks every year or so depending. I like the creative aspect of the hobby... I'm really liking my (4) tanks right now and they are 6 months to a week old and may stay as long as they don't get some major issue. 

[Tanked]

On 8/8/2022 at 1:02 PM, Brandxn said:

@Patrick_G the red spectrum is only because of the time of day(9-10pm). The tank used to be on a 8am-10pm day cycle but because of some algae issues it be reduced it down to 10hrs. I’ll attach a picture of what it looks like normally. I just wish I bought some drift wood or some rocks at the AquaShella to improve it but it was my first time with so much to look at I didn’t think of it till on my drive home. 

I'd bet that you are a lot happier with this arrangement!