You Know, In Considering a New Theme/Aquascaping Design, I Got to Thinking...

[ArtesiaWells]

What about a "classy" twist or take on the classic "pirate shipwreck" scenario? In my last 60 gallon goldfish setup, we did blue gravel (to match some of the decor in our upstairs loft where the tank resides) and pirate-oriented decor pieces, such as this as the centerpiece:

Top Fin&#0174 Schooner Bow with Fabric Sail - Decorations - Fish - PetSmart

And these pieces:

Top Fin&#0174 Pirate Treasure Cave Bubbler - Decorations - Fish - PetSmart

Top Fin® Pirate Skulls with Dagger - Decorations - Fish - PetSmart

Yet since starting the tank up again (it's in the midst of an early cycle after a bacterial infection breakout crashed it), my wife and I decided on a non-pirate theme this time; my first intention was to go with the natural look so popular amongst serious enthusiasts of the hobby, but with fake decor and plants. We also played with the possibility of doing the Asian-themed decor because we plan on keeping fancy goldfish (and did in the last setup). So we started this time around with the natural-colored gravel from Petsmart's Top Fin line:

Top Fin&#0174 Premium Quality Aquarium Gravel- 10lb - Gravel & Sand - Fish - PetSmart

And proceeded to add tall green and red plants to the left side of the back, near the Aqueon filter's intake stem, which look like this:

Top Fin® Ambulia Plastic Plants - Specialty Pet Month - Featured Products - PetSmart

Top Fin&#0153 Ludwigia Plastic Plant - Decorations - Fish - PetSmart

Then added, a little while later, this "tree stump" piece which we positioned towards the left off-center of the tank, in front of the plants pictured in the links above (it actually wasn't this exact stump, but one like it; they sell varying kinds at the store):

Top Fin® Grey Tree Root Ornaments - Decorations - Fish - PetSmart

And then we added some of these small "up front" foreground plants to kind of stick out of the holes in the base of the stump for effect:

Top Fin&#153 Aquarium Mini Plants - Specialty Pet Month - Featured Products - PetSmart (the red and green one pictured we stuck out of the front holes of the stump)

Top Fin&#0153 Mini Hairgrass Plastic Plant - Decorations - Fish - PetSmart (these we placed coming out of either side of the stump for effect)

And -- on the right side of the tank, all we have right now is this:

Petco Asian Gazebo Aquatic Décor at PETCO

Incase we wanted to go with the Asian theme; around it, as sort of a "Japanese garden" effect, my wife cut up pieces of this:

Marineland® Boxwood Plant Mat - Decorations - Fish - PetSmart

And, on the back wall, we're running two 18" Petco bubble bars side by side for a "wall of bubbles" or "bubble curtain" effect...

But here's what I have been thinking: I really, really like the "pirate ship/treasure" kind of theme in a tank, but if not pulled off properly, it of course comes out ultra cheesy and childish; what if we incorporated a "sunken ship" kind of thing with the natural/tree stump layout we have going now? Perhaps get another ship decoration of some kind depicting a sunken pirate cruiser of some kind (my goldfish loved the previous one we had from Petsmart above; they swam in and out of the hole in the base of the ship all the time) and place that in the center, with lots of lush planting around it? Would that be possible with this theme, do you think, and what would be the best way to go about doing it so it's not cheesy or chintzy?

 

[ArtesiaWells]

Here's one of a guy with a Discus tank; this isn't the one I was specifically talking about, but it's pretty bad (I have the exact same gravel as him, but I would have opted for more plants):

Astounding 220G Pirate Shipwreck Discus Aquarium - YouTube

Here's another:

my tropical fish tank (galleon ship) - YouTube

And HERE is the one I was talking about -- the huge Galleon shipwreck with the red LED's coming out of it....REALLY wicked IMO. At the time of this video, the owner didn't have any fish in there; tell me what you make of this:

Shipwreck Aquarium - YouTube

And check this guy's tank out with the nighttime lighting and pirate skeletons, ships and such:

FISH TANK SHIPWRECK AND SKULLS - YouTube

 

[tamtam]

I do think it's completely possible to do a themed tank that looks pretty sweet it just takes a lot of thought while picking things to be consistent.

I like the last one you posted but am not a fan of the lights, I think it's just the color I don't like.. maybe a blue would look better but red seems out of place to me.

I really like this ship though it's less pirate and more viking

Aquarium decorations and ornaments: Zanusa Aquatics Sunken Galleon at Foster & Smith Aquatics

I think the big downfall with the ship theme is people go more cartoony than they should, if a ship is under water for any length of time obviously those big flowy red sails aren't going to stand up. lol. I think you could pull the look off with what you have if you remove the Japanese set up

 

[ArtesiaWells]

Hello, tam!

Thanks so much for your input and feedback...it's MUCH appreciated!

I do think it's completely possible to do a themed tank that looks pretty sweet it just takes a lot of thought while picking things to be consistent.

Thus, the tremendous challenge...

I like the last one you posted but am not a fan of the lights, I think it's just the color I don't like.. maybe a blue would look better but red seems out of place to me.

Wait -- do you mean the NEXT to last one, with the red LED's? If so, yeah, that one looks way cool to me, as well; I wish I knew if that guy ever put fish in his tank, and what kind...

I really like this ship though it's less pirate and more viking

Aquarium decorations and ornaments: Zanusa Aquatics Sunken Galleon at Foster & Smith Aquatics

Indeed; I've seen this one before, in the three pieces -- I was looking, I think, for something more along the lines of a piece that had sails and masts, like the schooner piece I had previously (see the first link I referenced in the original post from Petsmart)...

I think the big downfall with the ship theme is people go more cartoony than they should, if a ship is under water for any length of time obviously those big flowy red sails aren't going to stand up. lol.

Indeed -- in our last setup, the bright white silk sails of the schooner ship decoration looked very bright to begin with, but then they began to get algae all over them, to the point that it was disgusting looking (brown and green patches everywhere), not realistic as an underwater wreck...

So I'm not sure, now, if "sails" are the way to go, at all...

I think you could pull the look off with what you have if you remove the Japanese set up

Honest? Thank you for your input here; I will post pics of my setup as soon as I can so you can get a look at the tree stump thing I'm talking about, in addition to the gravel color and plants...

 

[ArtesiaWells]

Just as a point of reference with regard to the decor pieces I have been mentioning in this thread, THIS is the "tree stump" ornament I keep talking about from Petsmart:

This isn't my tank, but I stumbled upon this one when doing some Google Image searching; like this tank, we too have the stump off to the left, but we have added some small plants coming out of its many holes for effect...

Still, I don't know exactly how this is going to tie in with the Asian-inspired decor we want to go with as well; my wife swears that by the time it comes together, we'll have a kind of "Zen Garden" effect in there, whereby we will have the "Chinese gazebo" piece on the right surrounded by plants, the tree stump on the left and...G-d knows what in the center...

What do you guys and gals think of the stump decoration seen above? We also have the same color gravel as seen in that pic (natural/pebbble beach)...