What Would You Do?

[Shelster]

Ok so I'm planning yet another rescape for my 54 litre tank.

Here are some pics of how it has looked before:

And it's current state:

It now houses 6 black neon tetras and a betta ("Luther")

Now my plan was to paint the backing with black paint, replace all substrate with the grey/black sandy stuff seen to the left on some of the tank pics, add loads more plants and go high tech.

HOWEVER my husband seems to think a black backing AND dark substrate would be too much..........

What do you guys think?

 

[Bazz98]

me personally I think the black would look nice as its quite modern, and if you don't like that look at the blue for the substrate as this also looks modern but is a bit lighter

 

[Ny82]

I am a huge fan of dark substrate/dark background. At the moment in my tank I have half sand and half black gravel. When the fish go over the black gravel their colours just pop out. I just cut a heavy duty bin bag out and stuck it to the back of the tank. Does the job
I think that size tank, with more plants and the dark substrate will look stunning. You have my vote!

 

[Madjonny]

Personaly I think that first picture looks amazing, I would try something similar again...

 

[frapadoodle]

As a man, and husband myself, I say just remind him you are always right.
Black backgrounds are great. As to dark substrate, if I ever change the betta tank, will go dark. As to the big tank, just too much trouble.

 

[Meeresstille]

I vote for dark substrate also. It brings out the green of the plants and the colours of the fish, and the fish seem to like the dark colours too. I find it makes an aquarium pop (in a good way lol)!
 

 

[snazy]

I think black substrate and black background together is too much. I had one of my tanks like that and I hated it personally. I could not see a damn thing inside the tank either for some reason.  But just black substrate like the pictures above or just dark background is more likely. But it's down to one's personal taste too.
 
I took the liberty to crop one of your pictures above to give you an idea how yours will look. I hope you don't mind:
 

 

[Shelster]

Thanks Snazy, and everyone for your opinions.

I also need to imagine a few bright green plants in that crop too, hmmm ...........

 

[Ninjouzata]

I don't know if this will be of use or not. My cycling tank has some little fake plastic plants which ofcourse are not as pretty as real ones, and to me look pretty stunning against all the black. Looks better in person

 Sorry the pic is so big. I look forward to seeing whatever you end up doing Shelster.

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks Snazy, and everyone for your opinions.

I also need to imagine a few bright green plants in that crop too, hmmm ...........

 
Exactly, the idea is not to be looking at black substrate but at all the bright green plants that will pop out of it!  Black looks good but you need to be heavily planted, IMO

 

[Jay0173]

Now my plan was to paint the backing with black paint, replace all substrate with the grey/black sandy stuff seen to the left on some of the tank pics, add loads more plants and go high tech.

HOWEVER my husband seems to think a black backing AND dark substrate would be too much..........

What do you guys think?

 
I have painted the back of my aquarium in black paint and my substrate is relatively dark and I can assure you that they in no way clash. In fact, they help accentuate the features in the aquarium. It's much the same way you would decorate your home. You want a neutral colour on the walls so that you can draw attention to a certain feature in the room, be it the furniture or artwork. People don't think black is a neutral colour but it is. It's actually one colour that can act both as an accent colour and a neutral colour. Most of our fish are brightly coloured creatures so the last thing we want is a substrate that detracts from their splendor. A nice dark substrate would help do that. The only time I would NOT recommend using a dark substrate is if your fish are dark in colour as well.

 

[snazy]

 

Thanks Snazy, and everyone for your opinions.

I also need to imagine a few bright green plants in that crop too, hmmm ...........

 
Exactly, the idea is not to be looking at black substrate but at all the bright green plants that will pop out of it!  Black looks good but you need to be heavily planted, IMO

 

 
I know guys. It's probably just me, but I dislike it.The green plants popping out don't make it look better, just very artificial. It looks like a pandora box to me or a pharmacy

 
To help you imagine Shelster

 

 

 

 

[Shelster]

Ha ha, thanks for that Snazy, I do like real plants though, so ill go with your first image

What I was hoping to achieve, was something along the same lines as in my betta tank, except on a slightly larger scale:

As this has the same substrate that I was intending on using, and the tank comes with the black background.

 

[Jay0173]

That tank looks very nice! Your aquascaping skills are clearly better than my own.

 

[Shelster]

Thanks Jay, I'm sure that you could