Fish tank ornaments/decorations

[pitstopbunny]

My father is giving me his old fish tank due to an upgrade & I want to make it look good. At the moment there is multi coloured gravel, really rubbish plastic plants & equally dodgy looking ornaments.

I want to create a calming, natural looking tank - I will be swapping the yucky gravel for sand & the plastic plants for the real thing but any ideas where to get nice natural (stone/coral etc) pieces for my tank?

[Bettyboo22]

we used o just buy like a bag of pebbles from asda or whatever and put them in.

[Jules001]

I am not an expert of fish tanks, but I think that you may have a problem using sand as it will probably clog up your filter. We have got a fish tank, and although Mr Jules does most of the work involved, I was the driving force behind design etc. We found some really nice gravel, be warned though it wasn't cheap this is covered in some sort of coloured plasticiser which helps the gravel to stay clean longer, but also it comes in the most fantastic colours, we opted for a midnight blue and with the right lighting it looks really good. I was always opposed to artificial plants, but we found that the fish were eating in the plants and so opted for artificial plants, but they are the fabric type rather than plastic. We picked up a few pieces of stone and rock in the aquaria and also steered clear of any ornaments, I think our tank looks pretty good, hope you get yours looking how you want it :)

[Schutzengel]

Hi. Are you intending to have tropical fish or goldfish. Sand is definitely a no-no. I have both a tropical tank and a goldfish tank, and use natural coloured gravel for each. Both tanks have under gravel filters with airstone, which draws debris underneath the gravel, and this provides nutrients for the living plants. The goldfish tend to eat more of the living plants than do the tropical fish, so the goldfish have a couple of natural looking artificial plants, as well as real ones, which need replacing more often than in the tropical tank. Good aquaria shops sell pieces of driftwood and natural rock which have been treated so that no infection is introduced to the tank. Hope all goes well with your setting up, and I'm sure your dad will be able to give you good advice. I have just one small ornament in the tropical tank like a small noticeboard which say "No Fishing", as my cat is fascinated by the fish and watches them for hours. Good luck.

[spudo]

sand is fine in a tropical aquarium. i dont know where the other people who have posted got the idea that a filter will suck up sand. the only way a filter will suck up sand is it you bury the inlet of an external filter under the sand.

if you want to grow plants i suggest you do some reasearch in to co2, lighting, fertalizers and tropical plant substrate. not all plants will grow with your current set up.
natural stone-->http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?main _page=product_info&products_id=1437

here is a gallery of mainly nature inspired looks-->http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=afa_portfolio