Making 135G look nice, but easy to clean

[MichaelAngelo]

Hey Guys!

I have a 135G right now, totally bare. I added some lava rocks once, and it made it 10x harder to clean (had to vacuum around, under the rocks, moving the each time =P).

I fear that once I add sand and rocks, it'll make it even more troublesome to clean debris. Does anybody have experience with this issue?

I'd like to stick with a black background, what works with that? White sand and driftwood? Any pics for inspiration would be awesome =D

EDIT: I have to add that it's for big predators, so they are fairly messy. 2x silver arowana (yes they'll outgrow the tank) and 2x oscars... with assorted other 6"-1' fish.

 

[dudey]

do black background and black sand, my personal favorite.

White sand would look nice on a black background as well.

Honestly though gravel vac on sand is not much harder at all. All the crap and debri just falls on top of the sand and you just hold the vac above it add some driftwood and nice looking fake plants or live plants and you are good to go

 

[jworth]

do black background and black sand, my personal favorite.

White sand would look nice on a black background as well.

Honestly though gravel vac on sand is not much harder at all. All the crap and debri just falls on top of the sand and you just hold the vac above it add some driftwood and nice looking fake plants or live plants and you are good to go

bingo. its all preference but a lot of people do this and it looks great

 

[Pharaoh]

I prefer a black background and an off-white sand such as pool filter sand. Black on black is just too dark for my personal taste.

As far as the debris, a properly positioned return line or a powerhead will keep the debris from collecting under the rocks.

 

[stewnew]

I have a 55 with sand, lava rock and drift wood, and I used to have a black background but i recently took it off. The black really makes the white sand pop and i really liked its look, but i just kept getting moisture between the background and the tank, and eventually gave up on it...
I do get debris settling under my various decorations, but am planning to get a powerhead set up because thats just due to the lack of water current... the rocks do make cleaning tricky, but with a well aimed water current hopefully that wont be too necessary...

 

[dsandford]

Here is a pic of my 55 with a black background with very fine white gravel. I find that it looks a lot better with a low powered light.

 

[spwd]

I used to have white sand and black background,now ive got blackish sand and black background,see avatar.although it does look darker in reality,see better in my pics in the poly or dat section.

Personally both look good but i changed because the white sand was making my ornates go very pale,and i think sand is easier to keep clean because as dudey said the debris just sits on top and doesnt get all the little bits of crxp stuck between it like gravel does.


Cheers steve