It's Time to Start Thinking About Aquascaping & Theming Our 60 Gallon Goldie Tank...

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THIS is what the MASSIVE, $50 each castle pieces look like; a bit too much in my opinion:

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I bet if you post here in the classifieds for some of the pieces you're interested in, you could get it for about half the price as new. Also craigslist or freecycle or whatever it is maybe. I missed pages 8-16 in your thread, so forgive me if someone already said that.
 
Pics

Sorry, I'm on the app and figuring out how to post pictures is beyond me and I got lucky one time but it posted upside down...:nono: I wish I could but I can't. Maybe I can take one with my moms camera and post it on the computer so ill give it a shot. Have you checked Craigslist for what you want? Sometimes people will give you stuff like that for free or almost nothing!;)
 
Thanks, guys, for the Craigslist suggestion; I have not checked that option yet...I want to first settle on a theme and then go from there...

Has anyone had a chance to take a look at the videos I posted that depict some of these themes -- notably the castles -- "in action"?
 
Also -- I'd like some feedback with regard to whether everyone else (who hasn't commented about this) thinks I can use the natural-colored "polished pebble" substrate I have in the tank now with either the shipwreck OR castle theme or not...

Ideally, I would think the castle theme would work with black or black and purple gravel, or perhaps purplish gravel by itself...but can I pull it off with the natural colored pebble?

Can the pebble, for that matter, be used with the Asian theme or the shipwreck setup?
 
Here's a tank I came across in another forum I frequent; it's a 55 gallon (the post this came from wasn't that current, so I don't even know if this person still has the same setup) with a shipwreck kind of piece off to the right corner...not sure if it's a "pirate" theme, but this is just to give more of an idea of what a ship setup could look like:



Let me know what you think!
 

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I found THIS castle setup with the "natural colored" pebble/substrate currently in my tank, to give you all an idea of what it would/could look like; what do you think?

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Also, guys (and gals):

It just occurred to me.....do you think the pointy castle pieces would be a risk for my fancies getting injured on them? If so, I won't even consider the castle thing as a theme...

Please let me know your thoughts on this in particular; thank you...:thanks:
 
Anyone?

Anyone with any thoughts regarding the castle decor and if it would be a bit dangerous for my fancy goldies? :hide:
 
If you have a Sand blasting supply company in a reasonable distance, call them and see how large their Garnet sand is, some is in the purple pink grey black coloration, and some are sunset - garnet red, amber black you can probably google it.

Some is very fine but some are very coarse, and differ in color depending upon the river/location they come from, and lots are in the purple range, and natural.

50 lbs are 18.95 in Denver Co from unitedwesterndenverdotcom they don't have pics, there are pics on google.
 
Your fish will be fine with or without the castle.

You don't think those pieces are too sharp on the castle? We went to look at them in person at Petco yesterday, and they do seem a bit pointy...but what concerned me more was the fact that the smaller castle piece (they didn't have any "full" sets in stock) looked pretty small up close and the larger, $60 one looked larger but still not as "massive" as I would have thought; still, I think either of these would work...
 
In continuing to consider my favorite decor theme of all, the "mature pirate shipwreck" and associated pieces, I did some more Googling via the Images area...

Now, originally, Kim, Convict and I agreed that the red and white striped sail-endowed ships looked kind of cheesy and childish...but I stumbled upon this large two-piece set made by Penn Plax that looked really, really good in someone's tank in my opinion, as seen here:

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And:
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The specs of the ship can be seen here at Amazon:

Amazon.com: Penn Plax Large Striped Sail Shipwreck Fish Tank Ornament Decoration: Pet Supplies

And perhaps THIS is one of the best examples of what grabbed my attention with regard to this particular pirate shipwreck set; I think this guy's tank looks amazing, though if you follow the thread this comes from, you'll notice where he changed it to a natural theme and everyone in the forum agreed with him...

First, here's the ship in his tank:
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And here's the thread it comes from:

View topic - 240 gallon Tank Renovation

Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on this particular Penn Plax pirate ship set? What do you think?

Still too "childish"...or can this be pulled off in a more "mature" setup? What are your thoughts about this versus going back to the Asian/Zen theme?
 
My concern, quite frankly, with these red and white striped ship pieces, is that they won't look all that "natural" in terms of a sunken pirate shipwreck as we have been discussing earlier in the thread...

But there's something about them that's cool...:hide:
 
LOL...

Just as a goof, I took the insert card/label thing that came with our Marineland tank (you know, the "picture" they put in the empty tank when it's on display at the pet shop showing the set up tank, some fish, gravel and a list of what Marineland supplies with the "package"?) and scotch-taped it to the rear of the aquarium as a "background test"...and everyone that suggested a background was spot-on...what a change in the look of the tank just by adding this cheesy background stand-in!

Suddenly, the fluorescent lights supplied with the hoods, that look AWFUL, suddenly didn't appear as horrifying and the tank was given a sense of "darkened depth" difficult to explain...but I like the idea of a background now!

Here's the thing, though: The scotch-taping of the Marineland tank "label card" thing to the back of the tank is really annoying me, and I have already left remnants of tape where I ripped pieces off on the back glass which appears very unsightly...plus, this thing doesn't even cover the entire back of the tank, forcing me to "center" it with "missing" areas to the left and right...

Should I just take this thing off and wait until I can get a "real" aquarium background? It really is kinda cheesy, as I don't even have it attached right or good...it's kind of lumped up...lol...

Ideally, I think I'd like to get one of those backgrounds that "cling" to the back glass so I don't have to deal with scotch tape...:banghead:
 
One thing you might want to look into (have not tried this) is the tinted material used for darkening vehicle windows. Not sure if would be the peel on/off material you are looking for but might be close.
 
One thing you might want to look into (have not tried this) is the tinted material used for darkening vehicle windows. Not sure if would be the peel on/off material you are looking for but might be close.

Thanks Fresh...(y)

I think I would actually just be more comfortable using those "cling" type backgrounds now sold at the LFS; any experience with these?

And I'm not sure yet if we want to go solid black back there or with one of those "lush biotope" scenes...
 
Somebody has used window frosting on his tank and it looks really awesome, I can't find a picture now though...
You could do a black background, or a mirror.
I just thought of a mirror, but I bet it would be nice!
 
Somebody has used window frosting on his tank and it looks really awesome, I can't find a picture now though...
You could do a black background, or a mirror.
I just thought of a mirror, but I bet it would be nice!

It would also send the fish crazy lol.
 
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