New 50 gallon tank! :)

Austin

:) I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for plants and stuff. I think the plants look kinda bad. =/

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leogtr

your plants look good! I dont know about those rocks though. Did you boil them? a tank like that has soooo many possibilities!!

GwenInNM

Your tank looks good. I think if you put a back panel (black is my fav) on the back of the tank, it will make your plants "pop". You can buy them cheap at PetCo or PetSmart. I also like the slate/rocks because they look random and more natural, which is nice. You could create a hide for fish with some of those, and leave the rest random like you have them.

Gwen

Boredomb

I agree definitely a black back drop will help bring out the color of your plants plus the fish you have in the tank.

Austin

I did not boil them but I heard slate was okay, so I got some, washed it, smoothed the edges of it (SO MUCH WORK) so it didn't cut the fish, and had them in my 44g for months and the fish were fine. :) Are you not sure about how they look, or the safety?

I plan to put a black background soon. :) Just have not gotten to it. I have 3 more slate pieces that I didn't use so maybe I can make them stacked differently to give the fish a hideout. Sounds like a cool idea.

I'd like some driftwood maybe but they all seem very expensive and hard to find a nice large piece. I don't think it would go well with the rocks. But would probably look better than the rocks... But I like the rocks for now. :)


Now sure what other plants I'd like. I'd like some red tiger lotus but they are expensive too. :(

GwenInNM

I use slate too, and it's fine. You have no worried with that, if you cleaned it. I didn't do any of that work you did to smooth edges - I figure in nature, no one is smoothing edges. . .
I've had no problems with it. I have driftwood in one of my other tanks, but I had to boil, boil and boil more to keep tannins from being released and lots of wood gets this white cloudy stuff over it, that snails will take care of . . but something to think about. I found a piece of wood that had been in water already at PetSmart and that was nice because it didn't need boiling. Try to find wood that has already been in a tank and it will be more hassle free! Add more plants as you can, and it will come together nice.

Byron

New tanks always look "empty" but those plants will settle in and grow before long. Give it time, and it will be very nice indeed. And the black background will do wonders; something as simple as black construction paper from the craft store, I use this and you don't see it.

Byron.