What's your style? Natural vs Unnatural

[Crazyhermitcrab]

Tell me what type of tank is your favorite.

Natural
Rocks
Woods
Live plants

Unnatural
Fake
Plastic
Colorful pebbles

 

[NanoJack]

Natural...

 

[Mcgolg76]

Natural

 

[CoeurSauvage]

Natural. Although I have done both.

 

[Luananeko]

Where's the "Both" option? I love my natural tanks, but my "mad science alien world" GloFish tank has it's own charm too. As long as it's done well, either option can look fantastic.

 

[Jev12]

I'm more of a natural person the fake colorful plastic stuff is just to ridiculous for me

 

[sealife]

Both but slightly more natural

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[MeCasa]

Believe it or not I have a 150 gallon half and half. Half the tank is a coral reef and half is rocks and sand.

I'm building this with my granddaughter and we started out building a saltwater reef tank, but Grandpa got too involved and started draining the fun out of it so we changed over to a freshwater cichlid tank and we build a fantastic looking colorful reef on one side and the other side is all natural, limestone, corals etc.

We even added live plants in the middle and we've worked very hard to make sure they will survive

The important thing is that we're having fun

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Believe it or not I have a 150 gallon half and half. Half the tank is a coral reef and half is rocks and sand.

I'm building this with my granddaughter and we started out building a saltwater reef tank, but Grandpa got too involved and started draining the fun out of it so we changed over to a freshwater cichlid tank and we build a fantastic looking colorful reef on one side and the other side is all natural, limestone, corals etc.

We even added live plants in the middle which we've worked hard to make sure they will survive

The important thing is that we're having fun

are you saying you put live corals in a cichlid tank?

 

[MeCasa]

I'm live South of Houston and only someone who cheers for the Dallas Cowboys would ask such a question

Real coral by Ocean Aquaria

 

[Dallascowboys16]

I'm live South of Houston and only someone who cheers for the Dallas Cowboys would ask such a question

Real coral by Ocean Aquaria

Sorry, I just read it and that's what it sounded like. Sounds like a texans fan still bitter about a 2-14 season! Lol.

 

[DragonFish71]

natural.

So natural that this past weekend I trimmed out 5 pounds worth of plants, and I still have more trimming to do.

 

[MeCasa]

Sorry, I just read it and that's what it sounded like. Sounds like a texans fan still bitter about a 2-14 season! Lol.

We're from Houston, we don't get bitter, we're loss hardened

 

[Old Scales]

Hey MeCasa,
I grew up in Pasadena. Lived there until I was 19. We were called refinery brats. OS.

 

[Fishfanboy]

Natural

 

[Nickolette]

I had an unnatural tank before it was 10 gallons with 3 little fish... They eventually outgrew my tank (I didn't know to do research at the time)... And every time I went to do a water change the water had such a fishy smell... My fish outgrew the tank so I got a 55 gallon decide to do everything natural and it might sound weird but now when I open the lid it smells similar to the earth after it rains cause of the plants and the driftwood, and I love it. Plus I think my fish are happier. My vote goes to natural.

 

[Britty]

Bit of both though leaning towards natural.

My tank is planted and also has 3 cuts of driftwood and 2 rocks.

But I have one resin decoration of a bansai tree (I liked the look of it and the base has a little cave in it which the neon tetras just love darting in and out of) but have also tied java moss to the tree branches which gives it a live flowing look.

It's my only fake decoration.

 

[MeCasa]

Really not a fair vote, because natural is being perceived to be cool and everybody wants to be cool. Poor Britty is almost ashamed of her one fake ornament.

El Natural



And Disneyland



And I'll bet both sides will smell the same

Kids love aquariums and kids love color

I love kids

 

[Luananeko]

Agreed! I may be an adult, but I still appreciate color too. That's why I love the contrast of having both unnatural and natural tanks.

My as unnatural as it gets tank:

My mostly natural, heavy planted tank:

Old pics for both, but you see my point... I like variety between my tanks, otherwise they start blending together.

 

[Pandicorn]

I prefer natural because of the benefits it has for my fish, and that the added oxygen means I don't need a filter waterfall, quieting the tank.