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This is my twenty gallon long, as of last month. I've decided I hate the yellow look. The carved rainbow rocks are going as they add to the yellowness, and I'm looking to replace the gravel.

The current decor that I intend to keep consists of the big fake piece of driftwood (the current centerpiece), one smaller piece of real driftwood, several purple/white rocks, a couple pieces of what might be quartz and two large-ish rocks from the Grand Canyon (reddish-brown). The new rocks (to replace the rainbow rocks) are one chunk of petrified wood, a pair of white rocks with teal veins, and a gray-purple piece.

I'm going to be totally moving things around, especially the plants, a few of which are hiding out (which is a pity, because they're lovely specimens). I also intend to purchase a few more plants for this project.

Aaaaanyway, what I'm thinking about is a dark brown - possibly mixed with black - for the gravel. I've done flourite and hated it, wouldn't mind trying eco-complete, except that I haven't found a place nearby that carries it. I'd also prefer to do this as cheaply as possible, which kind of negates the eco-complete.

So... any ideas on what color to go for with the gravel? Would removing SOME of the yellow-ish crap and mixing with a darker substrate look okay or would it be better to just to replace the gravel? Any suggestions on how to rearrange the tank are welcome as well.

... the cories are going to hate me for this. [/font]

[span class="edited"][Edited by kitten 2004-08-12 13:40][/span]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I think mixing in a darker substrate will help, especially if budget is a concern......frankly what I think will really help is to switch the color of the light. Look in your local hardware or DIY shop for "daylight" bulbs that have a kelvin of around 6500...they provide a clearer colored light.
Might want to try for a dark blue background as well.

^_^

Mmm... yeah. Lighting is an issue. I'm using screw-in flourescent bulbs and I'm not particularly thrilled (can't seem to find the daylight type, just ... umm... soft white, I think it's called). I'd love to replace the lighting, but I'm thinking to reaquascape now and eventually work my way up to new lighting. The yellow-ish cast to the lighting sure doesn't help the yellow hues of the gravel though.

I have no issues replacing all the gravel, but I wouldn't want to go to much over the price of "normal" aquarium gravel, which is why the eco-complete is a bit out of range. I'm going to check out the selection at petsmart today and then maybe hit a few home improvement / landscaping places to see what they have. *shrugs* I like the idea of the blue background, though I'm quite fond of the one I have... the blue would help cancel out the yellow. Hmm...

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

i think that the light and background will help emmensely, and to be honest, i would go with sand myself, as the dark substrate is OK, but i love the light airy feel of your tank

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Ooo... sand! *dances around* Could I pull off sand with the plants? There's... hmm... watersprite, lloydiella, crinum calamistratum and a banana plant. I plan on getting a few more plants to pull off this aquascaping (a couple more banana plants, crinum thaianum, crypt retrospiralis and perhaps a red temple).

What kind of sand could I use with plants? Or would I/should I mix it with gravel? Would it be possible to leave a layer of my present gravel and put the sand over it without the sand sinking to the bottom? Would this give the roots of plants an easier time of it and not get too compressed?

I've read several suggestions for sand to use (play sand, pool filter sand, etc), but what would be the best? And would it make a big mess when I reaquascaped? I think my cories would love sand, too, so maybe they'll forgive me for tearing apart their tank.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Personally, I like how it looks right now. If you're intent on a darker hue for the gravel, I'd go with some dark clay colored stuff and mix it in with the current stock. If you really want to go all out, you could replace the entire bit with with jet black gravel, which, in contrast to the green of the plants looks stunning IMO. As far as I can tell, your plants seem to be doing just fine, as thus there's no need for expensive gravel ferts/suplements. Maybe remove a half an inch of gravel. I second the blue background idea. As for the layout, I'd put the driftwood to one side, planting around it with taller, bushire plants. On the other end of the tank, you could add a few large (flat) river stones along with some of the shorter, ground cover foliage.

Corys will love the sand....the plants that I have that decided to try and plant themselves in my sand don't like it so much (they should have stayed in their designated plant area's I made for them ).

Check home depot Kitten, the brand I've been using from there is commercial electric They have various ones, the daylight bulb (6500K) is in a blue package (they also have one they call daylight(?) in a yellow package and a packaged set in green).

^_^

Hmm... well, I guess I'll go out looking for those bulbs you mentioned, Babelfish, and try out the blue background. Maybe that will change my mind about the gravel.

I like the idea of sand, but I like my plants, too. I'd love to create a mix of the two, but that would be a bit harder to maintain, wouldn't it? They'd always mix and such. Hmm...

Klee- exactly, the driftwood's going to the left and then I'll go from there. All I know is that my lovely banana plant is going in a place of honor somewhere. Somewhere where you an actually SEE it properly. *nods smartly*

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~