Aquarium Time Machine: What would you do differently?

onemanswarm

Imagine you had an "Aquarium Reset Button" and could start all over again without having to worry about the time, cost, and effort involved in making changes to an established aquarium. What would you change if you had it to do over again?

I'll start with an easy one: I would spray paint the back wall of my aquarium black. I love the way this makes colors pop inside an aquarium. Plus, I'm sick of dealing with the poster backing getting creased, getting wet, coming un-taped, etc.

Boredomb

I would reset my tank back to this setup.....
36463d1315240291-my-55-gallon-journal-2011-07-06-12.jpg

I thought this was my best setup and been kicking myself for awhile now for changing it!

onemanswarm

Wow! That is stunning. I don't think anyone would fault you for wanting to look at that every day. I will say though that your Angel fish tank (assuming that's your current set up) is also very attractive. It's clear from both setups that you've got great skills for constructing natural, organic aquascapes. I bet your fish like you.

Boredomb

Yes the Angelfish setup is my current tank in fact those pics were just taken the other day so pretty recent photos.

Btw thanks but I don't think I have great skills especially seeing some tanks ppl have on here however I do like the setups I do. Just have a bad habit of not leaving them alone LoL

willow

hmm i don't know that i have ever been happy with how mine looks,
so maybe a time warp to the future would work for me.

beetlebz

The first thing id change, is every tank would have been natural, or black gravel. The two biggest forehead slappers i look at every day is my 10g with a fine planted substrate (which looks good but cant be vacuumed) and my 55g planted tank with blue gravel. wth was I thinking. My project this month is going be changing the blue gravel to natural, but what a PITA!

Aside from that, I wish I could have flipped my switch off. The switch that bypasses my patience and assumes there HAS to be something I can tinker with to get my tank running right and water parameters solid. A little patience would have saved me alot of heartache over the last 5 or 6 years!

onemanswarm

I agree it's sometimes tough to leave well enough alone. For me, frequent tweaking definitely figures to be a part of the hobby. Give yourself some credit man: While there are definitely some off-the-hook showcase quality tanks in the profiles here, yours certainly rank among the most attractive I've seen.

I'll add a new one to keep the thread going: I would choose a darker substrate. They always look better to my eye, and now I know that fish prefer it too!

onemanswarm

Sorry, Willow. Traveling to the future is against the rules of the thread. The good news is, you don't have to revert to a previous tank setup. You can just change whatever it is that prevents you from being happy with how it looks!

For example: I would select substrate, plants, and other inhabitants to promote the breeding of Red Cherry Shrimp. I have developed a big crush on them, but will not be able to successfully keep them in my current setup.

onemanswarm

I'm sure a lot of people (myself included) wish they could find the switch you speak of. In fact, I think there should be a sticky called "Patience: The most important tool for setting up your new fishtank!" It's human nature. You get a tank, fill it with water, maybe some decorations, and with every hour it sits empty the urge to fill it with something that swims becomes harder and harder to fight!

thekoimaiden

That is a gorgeous setup. What is that stem plant with lots of little leaflets just to the right of the middle in your tank? I'm looking for some stem plants for two of my tanks, and I love the look of it.


My fish tank regret: not painting the backs of my tanks black (I love the look it gives the tank), and not figuring out that Goldfish can live with live plants. That would have saved me a lot of massive water changes on my 55 gal. But I suppose it isn't too bad now. I've got black paper on the back of all my tanks and the plants are thriving in the Goldfish tank.