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Got my new tank, 48x16x16

Thinking what colors I wanna do..

right now it's
black sand
black background
driftwood
either orange, black, or white rocks (or any you suggest).

Dont wanna mix too many colors..thinking about adding some anubias here and there too.

Any suggestions?

InkoDinkoMalinko,
Any ideas on what fish will be going in ? I know it might sound petty, but I decided to not get gold barbs for my home tank because the red temple plant (a deep magenta pink) was doing so well and I didnt' want the fish to clash with the plant ....

If you're going with plants, maybe keep the rocks on the red side of orange rather than orange IMO orange and greens just don't go together .

^_^

its going to be a growout tank for frontosa (juvies) until i get my 100 gal.

I'm thinking about just rocks and anubias/ferns/swords now...driftwood is funky for me.

Only thing I'd recommend is not getting black rocks. With black sand and a black background, if you have black rocks, the tank will be crazy dark...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

How about some yellow rocks??

there are natural colored ones, but i don't know if they would be safe, but you can get some that they are and paint them, i think it would be cool looking, a dark yellow, just right before it turns into orange or green in that hue scale.

If you want a planted tank, the reflection off the substrate does make a difference. Black substrate will absorb more light so you'll need slightly more wattage to get the same total light.

Hmmm I dont yellow would look right with frontosa.

I'm thinking... black sand, white rocks, black back, green anubias.

Any suggestions?

Oh and whetu, I plan to have the plants (anubias mainly) attached to the rocks

I agree on the heavy black, I thought the office tank would look great with a black background, after putting it on the tank looks really really dark, and this is even with light play sand. I'd suggest changing the tank over slowly. Start with the black rocks, then the black sand and continue adding....if you're good with it then , otherwise it won't be a black hole @all once... if that makes any sense :%).

^_^

Perhaps instead of black background go with a blue one, I have seen these nice backgrounds that are black at the bottom and fade up to a nice deep rich blue at the top, something like that would really give your tank an "ocean side view" feel to it, the depths reaching up into the sky. It would also look super with fronts!
Another option I think would be very good is doing white sand instead of black, and going with some larger black rocks. The white sand would really highlight the green of the plants, as well as the black of the decor.


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Hmm, what would happen if I use marine sand? I've seen some at the LFS but they suggest it for salwater tanks. Is it because it raises pH? I wouldnt really mind if thats all it did

Don't know how well that would sit with the plants. I tried a similar tank, and the plants died on me. Maybe a bed of soil with a thin layer of sand on top--i dont know, aquaspacing doesn't come naturally to me. Personally, however, I like the black gravel + green plant idea. Maybe driftwood as a centerpeice, and you're set.

Hmm...I have a general idea of what I'll do...

Bought the black sand, white gets a bit dirty IMO.

I might just keep the orange rocks, I guess its a bit original since no one else has it. I might get some black slate though, to help me cover up some equipment.

My main focus now is blending the driftwood into the tank...there will be two large stacks of rocks, one slightly off center to the right and one next to the left corer... dont really see how driftwood would fit in