New Tank With Diy Background (first Tank)

[HappyGeorge]

Posting this again as it was in with my journal but wanted to reach a wider audience for some advice, because I am still a total newbie and despite the time this project has taken so far I am still yet to own a tank with water in it!

to give some idea of scale, this tank is a Rena 450 which is 5 feet long, and the big rock on the left side stands 14" high.

Was thinking about some plastic plants behind and to the left of that rock beneath the inlets and going to use some moonlight LED's under the rockpile on right and a white one shining down onto the big rock. Can anyone recommend plants or lights that would be suitable?

Thanks and apologies if you have already read this post elsewhere.

 

[Bebobb]

Thatt background is stunning! What did you make it out of? Is that play sand? I am not the largest fan of the color of it, so I just used marine sand, even though I can see how it benifits you in th pocket with larger tanks. What do you plan on stocking it with?

 

[HappyGeorge]

Yes it is play sand, its still a bit damp so looks more yellow than I hope it will when finally set up. May fill it up[ and decide I need to change it.

As for the backdrop, if you look under the journals section at top of the African/Old World Cichlids page there is a step by step breakdown.

As for stocking Im still deciding, trying to find compatible tank mates seems to be a minefield as there seems to be huge differences of opinion on what will go with what.

Thanks for the comments