THE COLOR SAND TUTORIAL: a different approach to substrate

[FINWIN]

So I'm thinking hell, I'm still an artist. How to combine this with fishkeeping? And I had an idea. We're going to art school now. A fun dive into the world of color, and why some tanks look so good without having crazy decorations and frills. Very effective for minimalist tanks too.

To start with, color is relative. When colors are next to each other they change as opposed to looking at them in isolation. The basics start with the color wheel. Too many colors make a muddy mix. You'll end up with a warm or cool grayish color. It won't be flat gray like you would get with black and white. It might be the look you want though.

Neutrals are
Beige
Tan
Gray
(Warm Gray = gray with either red, yellow, or orange added) think "Oyster" gray
(Cool Gray = gray with either blue or purple added) think "Battleship" gray
Or gray with no undertone colors, completely neutral.
White/Cream
Cool White (add blue, purple) think icebergs. This is 'super' white.
Warm White (add yellow, red) think cream
Black
Brown
Beige and Tan are just brown with lots of white, and some red/green/yellow and or blue thrown in. That's why some beiges and tans have different undertones. Think paint chips.
Gray is unique. If you put it next to a color it appears to have some of the opposite color mixed in! So say you put gray next to green...it will look reddish.

Two ways of getting a neutral: either black and white, or mix complementary colors (opposite on the color wheel). Equal combinations of these colors will get you a neutral grayish color. The effect will be richer than black/white. Now you can get a nice mix by using adjacent colors in the same family. They will share one common color. Say Blue, Blue Green, Green. Or Red, Red Orange, Orange. Etc.

The really cool thing is you can compliment the color of your fish this way, even if you don't have mad decorations. A long time ago I had goldfish with a sand mix of white/red/orange. Everybody loved it. Just white sand with a little craft sand. It really doesn't take much color to make dramatic difference in white sand, no more than 10-15 lbs per 100 lbs. You can even 'stripe' color sand over white or black, and let your fish mix it when they sift around!

So here are the mixtures I ended up with, using Pink, Danube Blue, and Baja Blue sand. The third pic is all three combined:

 

[FINWIN]

The mixtures of Pink/Danube Blue are similar mid tone so the color shift gives a smoother effect. With the Baja blue the appearance is more 'gritty' and textured because of the contrast of deep tone against mid tone. Another thing to keep in mind is that color intensifies the more of it you use. This is true of painting color walls. You go a tone lighter with larger area. Depending on lighting it will also look different. Take a small sandwich bag with a sample mix and put it under your aquarium light. There's nothing worse than buying a bunch of stuff and having it look totally different than what you expect.

You also notice how Danube Blue looks totally blue when it isn't next to the Baja Blue. And the Pink has a orangish 'Coral' look at 100 percent, but the blue added makes it appear more magenta. The last pic has a combination of all three colors. Since they all share the color blue, its a nice blend and not muddy. Color is really about light and perception. No light, no color to see. And pigments are different than spectrum color in sunlight.

Color wheels make it easy.

Complementary colors make each other pop. Wow factor. They also mix to gray (or mud) in equal amounts.
Analagous colors have nice harmony in any tone because of the one shared color.
Triads are tricky, but you're basically using one primary color with two opposite secondary colors. You can also use split secondary colors with another secondary. Think a "Y" shape on the color wheel. They can get out of control quick if you aren't careful though.
Neutrals generally mix UNLESS there's an undertone. Pinkish beige looks nasty with yellowish beige. People find this stuff out when they paint
their houses. All neutrals are not the same.

Some basic wheels with comments attached.
Class dismissed! Have a colorful world...