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Aquarium Decorating Tips
The decor you choose may be either 'dead' or 'alive.' The former refers to dead coral and shells, and various types of both natural and man-made rocks. Live decoration includes`living rock' and various living but generally stationary invertebrates. You may wish to start with dead decor and graduate to living decor at a later stage. You cancreate a background from anything you choose or you can buy ready-made backgrounds from your dealer. These are usually longpanoramic photographs of planted underwater scenes, which you cancut to length and apply to the outside back glass of your aquarium.Some dealers can supply three-dimensional backgrounds that make thetank look as if it has more depth of field. Plain-coloured backgroundsare probably the most effective options. Blue and black are the mostcommonly used colours, but it is totally up to you - the fish will notmind what colour the background is!
You can create a wide variety of background ideas. Crinkled upaluminium foil makes a good background applied to the outside, as dounvarnished cork tiles applied to the inside of the tank before addingthe water. Why stick to one background? If you make a few for theoutside of the back glass, you can have a swap around when the moodtakes you. If you are successful with plants and the stand you havechosen has room, you can fill the background with lots of real plantsand greenery. Set out carefully, they can blend in with aquatic plantsinside the tank and create a superb effect. Arranging Decorations Within the Tank When you arrange the decor, remember that your fish will not he bright enough to understand which is the front of the tank and which is the rear. Therefore, although you need to give the fish some places to hide,do leave plenty of free swimming places at the front, so that the fish will choose this area as their natural gathering and exercise territory. Take time and trouble to ensure that any rocks are solidly placed so that they will not tumble if the base sand is di.stur bed. A surprising number of fishes and invertebrates seem to delight in rearranging your carefully placed sand. And do not lean any rocks against equipment such as heaters or filters; you will regret it when you need to change or adjust these devices. If you choose to bury an air diffuser within a piece of coral or a shell, remember to put a convenient join in the airline so that you can change the diffuser easily - they block up amazingly frequently. Using Rockwork A sensible approach to decorating the marine tank is to use rockwork. Suitable natural rocks include turf rock, slates, sandstones and most types of granite. Ensure that the rocks you choose are clean. If you feel that granites and similar rocks do not look sufficiently exotic, there are an umber of man-made materials that have a more realistic 'submarine 'and craggy appearance. These are also far more porous, and therefore do not displace so much water as the real thing. One in particular,called grotto rock, is ideal to intermix with living rock, and another, lava rock, has a red hue particularly effective under a red light.You can also buy simulated rock pieces and low walls that can be useful to hide equipment and create ledges in the aquarium. Use aquarium silicone sealant to fix pieces together to make interesting shapes. Using 'Living Rock' The ideal decoration is known as 'living rock', and is in fact pieces of coral rock hewn from the coral beds, the best pieces coming from there'd Sea. Every piece is different, often interestingly shaped and full of small holes and caves, and each contains a host of sea life, including corals, polyps, algae, crustaceans and sea urchins. These creatures mayhem in a plank tonic form, which often develop into adult forms if theta's other inhabitants allow them to. There is no doubt that living rock is the most natural, the most beautiful, the most useful, and the most healthy type of decoration to choose for a marine aquarium. If you do choose living rock, then do not buy it until the tank is fully ready. However, you can use it to mature the tank naturally instead of alchemical agent. If you buy a large amount, you will find that you will get a very high and protracted nitrite reading, and you will need to perform a large water change after the tank is matured, before introducing the fish. If you use only a small amount of living rock to mature a tank, it is still better to buy at least most of the required amount before going onto mobile animals, if for no other reason than that it is unfair on sensitive marine creatures to keep disturbing them in their new environment. Living rock has a few disadvantages, not least its high cost, which rules it out as an option for many autarkists. One way of reducing the financial strain is to lay a foundation of cheaper rockwork and then cover this with living rock, from where at least some of the life will travel and encrust the dead pieces. A second drawback of living rock is that you have no control over the types of life it contains. It is no use complaining afterwards if you discover that you have inadvertently introduced a vicious predator, such as a mantis shrimp, or unleashed colony of bristle worms. These worms are harmless but incredibly fertile, and quite a few autarkists have ended up with a tank literally seething with a mass of un removable worms. A third problem with living rock is that since it contains life, it is counted as an invertebrate,and thus prevents medication being used in disease prevention. With these points in mind, setting up a fish-only aquarium is in many ways far easier and far cheaper than a more natural mixed fish/invertebrate system, especially for beginners to the hobby. Corals and Shells Dead coral and shells were once popular method of decoration in marine aquariums, but our awareness of the problems of habitat destruction has radically changed our thinking.Hard corals, whether dead or alive,are now listed under the CITES regulations (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) to prevent their international export, and are therefore becoming increasingly less available to the hobbyist. Nevertheless, pieces are still around and available for autarkists' use .Unless you are assured that the piece shave been pre-treated, then you should treat any chosen piece yourself to ensure that the coral, or in particular the shell, does not contain any of the original living inhabitant.To do this immerse the corals for 24hours in a solution of 50m1 of household bleach per lit re of water(equivalent to one cup in a gallon).In the case of shells, ensure that the bleach gets right into the core. After this period of soaking, put the piece sunder running water for 48 hours torso, until there is not the slightest smell of chlorine in the air. Again,ensure that the inner crevices of the shells are thoroughly washed. In somewhat more restrained surroundings, aflame angelfish (Entropy) wends it way overstuff rocks festooned tithed algae and among the green, almost artificial- looking fronds of a seaweed called Caulker. This pl antis surprisingly easy to raise in a brightly lit marine aquarium. There are several species to choose from. The well-known regal tang (Caricatures) has been describe das the bluest thing on earth.This is a truly gorgeous fish that rarely grows to more than 7.5-10cm(3-4in) in an aquarium. It is a good feeder, and mixes with anything. Once you have progressed beyond the damsel and clown fish stage,this is one of the safest marine fish to try, always bearing in mind the advice to provide adequate vegetable matter in the diet. The beautifully marked mandarin goby (Asynchronous) is a perennial favorite not easy to feed - it very rarely accepts dried or frozen foods, usually insisting on live friendship or roofers. For this reason, it is an ideal occupant in an aquarium with large clumps of living rock, but rarely survives in any other environment.
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