Being new to the hobby, I often find myself redecorating my tanks frequently. I know there are a lot of proponents for bare bottom tanks for gold fish but I really like having real plants as opposed to fake plants and feel that substrate is necessary. Although, I have seen some really nice fake plants and do have one of them in my 45. They are just so expensive and hard to keep clean.
My first attempts at dealing with substrate in my tanks consisted of a turquoise, dark blue, and black mixture gravel. I followed the instructions on the bag and had a pound of gravel for every gallon in my tank. I ended up not liking how much space all that gravel took up and didn't like the three colors in the mix I had.
So I got rid of the blue and turquoise gravel and opted for a thinner layer of black gravel .
After a couple of weeks with the black gravel, I was displeased by the amount of crud I vacuumed up with my siphon during my water changes. It looked like some of the food just got stuck in there. I was concerned that this would be unhealthy for my fish so I opted for sand in all my tanks. I had black taithian moon sand in my 20 and 36, and white sand in my 45.
Last week I noticed that my 45 gallon tank never looked as clear as my other two tanks and I think it's because it was the only tank that had white sand substrate that had really fine aggregate size as opposed to my other two tanks that both have Tahitian moon sand. Even though I liked the color of the white sand, I decided to put the same substrate in all my tanks. I also noticed that the white sand was piling up in my canister filter really quickly. It has been a process trying to get rid of the white substrate in my canister filter. I still think there is still some left as every now and then I see small white particles come out of my tubing from the canister filter's pump.
With Halloween over, I decided to remove the Halloween themed decorations from my 36 gallon tank. I've added a ton more plants. I am happy with how my redecoration of my 36 has turned out:
I am not happy with the background on my 45 and can't decide how I'm going to fix it (see picture above with the blue background). I can barely see Reaper in that tank with the black sand and dark background. I like my substrate and the decorations in that tank (although I've decided that my 45 gallon will be my new holiday themed tank after thanksgiving. I already have my Christmas tank decorations ready!). If anyone has suggestions, I'd appreciate it!
Right now my 36 is my favorite tank setup and my 20 is my least. I'd love ideas on how to spruce up my 20 tank. Maybe play with the idea that my 20 had both Jack and Sparrow in it (it's Captain Jack Sparrow!)
Here is what my 20 looks like, any ideas are welcome!