My 55 gallon freshwater

[james77]

Hello all. My wife got a me new 55 gallon for my birthday in October. Had a 20 gallon for 3 year's and upgraded to this. Been aquqscaping it for 2 months now and it's just about finished. Currently I have 45 pounds of fossilized river rock in it and lot's of driftwood. 2 pieces are the Maylasian that I still have to add that I'm currently soaking to get the tannin's out. I have 2 Penguin 350's on it for filtration, 60 lbs of small gravel and an Aqueon pro heater. My stock is 10 bloodfin tetras, 7 Glofish, 2 Angel's, 5 Rabauti cory's, 2 Peppered cory's, 2 GBR and 2 golden ram's. Down the road I will switch this over to a Cichlid tank but now I will enjoy the friendly community fish that i have now.

 

[H2OJO]

Looking good!

 

[Majbarsalona]

Tanks looks awesome. But not to sound critical at all, I would move the driftwood slightly to the left or right just so that the focal point of your tank is not directly center

 

[james77]

I still have 2 pieces to add. But my goal was the center of the tank to grab someone's attention.

 

[Majbarsalona]

Makes sense, also your hold rams look excellent

 

[deb_unlimited]

I love your tank! I am going to throw my two cents in with Majbarsalona. I'm a newbie and am planning my first 2 ten gallon betta tanks (somehow I ended up rescuing a second one from WalMart) and a 30 gallon I picked up second hand because now I've got the bug. I'm already day-dreaming about a 50, 75 or ... When I look at the picture of your tank, you are correct about the driftwood grabbing my attention. My question is, do you want the driftwood to grab my attention or do you want the fish to grab my attention? I am trying to think of my aquarium as a beautiful portrait, with my fish being the picture and everything else serving to frame that gorgeous living picture. Just a thought...

 

[james77]

My goal was to grab the persons attention. That's why I have 6 glolights, they will see the bright and Then when they start to look they will see everything. So it's a combination of both. Also I went with a lot of white and black colors of fish. That way they don't really Stand out. So when they look close they will see all the fish. My center piece fish is a huge black marble Angle that blends in with the background perfect. Sometimes you can't even see it then when you do, pow! People are usually like wow I didn't even see that. And as far as size goes of the angelfish let's just say I couldn't put in neon tetras cause the angel will eat them. I tried to add the black neons and when I was floating the bag I thought that Angle was gonna eat through it.

 

[james77]

Yeah I think it's safe to say I put too much thought in this tank I guess.

 

[deb_unlimited]

just a suggestion...

I think you have come really close to nailing it, maybe a little bit of tweaking will get you there. Perhaps flip the big piece of driftwood around so the tallest part is more to the right, and removing or lowering some of the other stuff that is sticking up in front of the rocks. Just an idea...

 

[james77]

Well I still got 2 pieces of Malaysia driftwood soaking to get the tannins before I put it in the tank. They will be going on the right side.

 

[Fresh2o]

Below is a link to an article that explains where to place the focal point of a tank and why. It also describes why not to place it in the center. Has something to do with your eyes panning left and right and not making for a relaxing experience.

http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/aquascapingprinc/aquascaping101.html

 

[james77]

To each is their own I guess.

 

[james77]

Ok here's the tank now with the other driftwood added to the right side of the tank.

 

[deb_unlimited]

Great article

Below is a link to an article that explains where to place the focal point of a tank and why. It also describes why not to place it in the center. Has something to do with your eyes panning left and right and not making for a relaxing experience.

Aquascaping Principles

Thanks! Really great article! That will help me when I design my tanks.

James, killer tank! I hope mine look as good... Can't wait to see it evolve as the plants fill in. I think that is the fascinating part of aquariums, like gardens, they are never the same, always changing.