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can you have too light of a substrate, and too much lighting, that will brighten the substrate even more? if that question made sense... and will it stress the fish? also is there too dark of a backdrop, or too light? and will that make the fish agitated?

Too much light will cause your fish to be scared and have washed out colours. Fish try to blend in with their surroundings, os if u have a bright tank with light decor your fish wont display good colours, while if u have dark decor and minimal light your fish will be very bright

Hi,
Many folks have used or are using white sand for a
substrate. Aside from the normal warnings about using any
kind of sand, white substrate of any kind does reflect
the light. When you combine that with lights that are
very high in "K" rating (10,000+) you could need a pair
of sunglasses to look at it with the amount of light that
is reflected back.

Very light colored substrates such as white, do not hold
that color very long as they become stained with the
detritus of the tank, and soon change from that beautiful
white to a "yucky" shades of yellows and browns, most are
replaced within months to a year of starting the tank.

With bright light, white or very light substrates, and no
shaded areas the fish will be stressed as they are afraid
that they are in open water and exposed to all kinds of
predators. Use plants such as broad leafed swords, or
floating plants to provide some shaded areas for the fish
and they will live among the plants, and may occasionally
venture out into the open areas.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

ahh... so in general, stay away from the very prety and popular um.. "stuff" and go with what you think would be best for the fish. As in shaded ares provided by floating plants, maybe some drift wood? and just some reqular broad leafed plants. try not to blind the fish in other words.

Hi,
I guess, in general, I'd stick with natural color gravel
in the #2 or #3 grain size, low to moderate light, and use
bulbs in the 6700-8800K range. You could try swords at one
end of the tank tapering off to ground cover (foreground)
plants and set the tank up with either a central swimming
area and tall/large plants at each end, or, put the plant
collection at one end tapering down in size leaving the
far 3rd of the tank open with just ground cover plants.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thank you frank, that sounds like it could be very beautifull! i have never actully tried to have live plants in my aquariums before on account of my gibby ripping them up while hes eating. My new tank dosent have a gibby though so i'll probly give something like that a try.