Help me rescape my tank! (with PICS)

[Plec123]

The tank has one basic color, brown. Brown is unappealing and bland. Change the gravel to black for a start. Lose the bubbles, they are useless and distracting. The background is annoying to the eyes. Paint it black or blue. Than, try starting to top off the tank more often to avoid the "unattended" look. If the light is around 1 watt per gallon, get some plants like java moss and java fern. The fake plants have to go. The driftwood is awesome! keep that up, get more of it. Get some black/grey rocks and try to grow your java moss and java fern on them. Good luck!!

bro, those are real crypts and anubias. the biggest crypt is almost a foot tall... im rather proud of it. im working on getting rocks... all in good time i suppose. i cant really spend money on my tank right now as im on a tight budget, but once i have more cash i will get some black sand, no doubt.
i suppose i could stack rocks at the left side of the tank for more height, sloping down towards the right... maybe vice versa.

i would get some tanish sand white sand really looks nice with bright green plants

im not a fan of very light substrate unless its saltwater... otherwise it makes the fishes colors fade.

It really would. We've seen some in some display tanks and it looks really natural. You could also break a coconut and plant java moss on it for a cave. Petco had them. They also had java lace fern on a ring that goes through a rock. Might give you some ideas.

i like the coconut idea... thats good. maybe ill just use a rock though, or slate.

guys, this is what i have so far. i moved the wood to make a cave (helps the cat and plecos...), and topped off the tank big time. usually the water level is where it is right now.
Should I take anubias cuttings from the one that has split into two plants and put them on the rocks once i get them, and is it ok to collect rocks from one's back yard?

 

[poly-nomial]

I almost always get my rocks from my backyard. Just boil them to help kill bacteria. Sorry, i thought those plants were fake haha. They look a little bland that's what made me think that. Get some Seachem Flourish and use it regularly. It looks good! Get more plants and driftwood and lose the gravel and background and you're good to go

 

[Plec123]

thanks, theres a crapload of shale at the edge of the woods at my moms house... i guess ill pick some of it up and stack it to my liking in the tank. this should go nicely...