What Would You Do?

[snazy]

Shelster, honestly, I think you should do what you think would look nice. There's nothing wrong with your betta tank above, looks very nice.
I just like it a bit brighter.  My betta tank which sadly no longer has my betta Buddie in it, has black background but white sand and it's not about being better, it's just a preference.
Sadly my pink old heater and filter are having a go at me
 

 

[Shelster]

I like your choice of plants there.

Are you going to get another betta?

I do see what you mean, I'm definitely going to paint the back black, at the moment I just have a black piece of plastic behind the tank.

I also need to sort out an adequate piece of carpet or something to sit under the tank, as I wanted air to be able to circulate I stood it on some coasters which I know isn't ideal, I was just thinking as I'm draining most of the water and giving an overhaul, how could I make it look better.

It's still quite a daunting thought, as I'm going to have to catch fishies and keep them in a bucket, paint also needs to dry, I'm just trying to think of the best way of doing things.

Thanks all for your input, I shall keep you all updated on what I eventually decide to do

 

[snazy]

Are you going to get another betta?
 

 
Probably not. I am thinking of axelrod rasboras.
 
Have you thought about a soil based tank? Mine is a mini Walstad. I've got soil/mixed with red natural clay(just 5-10%) beneath my sand and it does a great job to the plants. You need just about 2cm of it with about 2.5 cap max.

 

[Jay0173]

 

Are you going to get another betta?
 

 
Probably not. I am thinking of axelrod rasboras.
 
Have you thought about a soil based tank? Mine is a mini Walstad. I've got soil/mixed with red natural clay(just 5-10%) beneath my sand and it does a great job to the plants. You need just about 2cm of it with about 2.5 cap max.
 

 
And no compacting issues? It looks great but I've always heard that using sand is not good in an aquarium because it compacts down which can damage the roots of plants. For that reason I always try to get a fine substrate, but one that's not so fine as sand to minimize the compacting problem.

 

[snazy]

The sand cap is very thin actually and still holds the soil and the sand isn't the finest. It's 0.9mm average. I am hoping that will be fine. The plant roots should oxygenate the substrate.  It's not the compaction itself that damages the roots but the soil becoming void of oxygen and with such a thin base/well planted it's unlikely. So far so good.

 

[Jay0173]

The sand cap is very thin actually and still holds the soil and the sand isn't the finest. It's 0.9mm average. I am hoping that will be fine. The plant roots should oxygenate the substrate.  It's not the compaction itself that damages the roots but the soil becoming void of oxygen and with such a thin base/well planted it's unlikely. So far so good.

 
Good to hear. Looks like you have a great handle on things. Keep up the excellent work!

 

[draxis]

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?

 
We are fans of more colorful tanks.  This is our preference though, so I would simply not do black in the back but its up to ya'll.  If it is neon tetras, with a good light... eh may look cool.  However, I like Saltwater for the colors so even in Fresh I try to make it as bright as I can. 

 

[Shelster]

Are you going to get another betta?

 
Probably not. I am thinking of axelrod rasboras.
 
Have you thought about a soil based tank? Mine is a mini Walstad. I've got soil/mixed with red natural clay(just 5-10%) beneath my sand and it does a great job to the plants. You need just about 2cm of it with about 2.5 cap max.

I have thought of this in the past, but I was having a sort out in the garage and found well over half a bag remaining from what I used in vaders set up