pride Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 Hi All, Looking for some ideas with how this tank could look better. Its not plumbed for a sump so stuck with filters intakes and heaters. Its a 48x 18x 20 tank home to a young pair of Nics and some columbian tetras I dont have a very creative head and the tank just feels incomplete. Maybe to do with having rock at one end and wood at the other? Was hoping to not over scape to allow the Nics room to swim. Happy to hear any suggestions, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattG_Sydney Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 Hey, Any reason you don't have any plants ? I think having some plants would definitely make it look lot nicer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjoconr Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 (edited) You could use Poret foam in the corner to cover you heater and water pickup. https://fish2water.com/corner-filter-hmfs.php I've used these filters in my tanks for 6 years now and never had to clean them and they do help to create a cleaner looking tank. It also means that for tanks which have canister filter I remove all the foam and add matrix to the filter trays. Edited July 26, 2020 by mjoconr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckmeister Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 (edited) I'd tie up some Java Fern around your wood (or smaller pieces and place them) and maybe some Anubias maybe behind the rocks to help add depth or dimension and also colour contrast to the tank. Edited July 26, 2020 by Chuckmeister Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pride Posted July 26, 2020 Author Share Posted July 26, 2020 Thanks all, Never been one for plants as the fish ive always kept like to tear then up. I may try some anubias or java fern attached to the wood. The foam idea in the corner to hide the intakes is interesting and might see if it will work for the right side while plants to disguise the other. Will post some more pics after ive managed to have a go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slipshodman Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 14 hours ago, mjoconr said: You could use Poret foam in the corner to cover you heater and water pickup. https://fish2water.com/corner-filter-hmfs.php Hey , sorry to the OP as i do not want to hijack the thread Does anyone know where you can get this in Australia at all ? or an local alternative ? As for you tank @pride , I personally don't mind the sparse look in a tank depending, the others are right with some greenery could break things up but I don't often have plants in a tank due to the same reason you mentioned, but there is a rule of thirds in photography that can be adapted for aquascaping https://www.thegreenmachineonline.com/blog/aquatic-layout-guide-rules-composition-the-golden-ratio-creating-perspectiv/ Have a read, it might help, so my suggestion would be bring out you drift wood from the end to one third into the tank, make the rock look like its spilling away from the wood to the right , (large to small), leave a small one to two on the left side of the wood, just a thought Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 @pride I think look towards rounder river stones rather than the rocks you have also Nicaraguans lay non adhesive eggs and if you intend to spawn them you will need a pipe, hollow log or some kind of hard depression for them to spawn in with the timber stack being the best location I think for the heater and filter cover up Poret foam would act as a prefilter or like @mjoconr use the foam as the filter and fill the cannister with bio media the alternate is to make up a cover like a section of large diameter bamboo remembering to leave enough area to get flow to the heater and filter intake BTW Techden sells foam sections in different grades otherwise you can order Porets from NZ use the fish2water link from the post above Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pride Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Thanks @Link2Hell Chris The rocks are fake aquaone rocks i got cheap on sale. I used to have river stones but seem wrong for the pool filter sand substrate. Thanks for the info about the spawning tip for the Nics, I picked up the pair from Andrew at Labyrinth and keeping dighing pits all over the place and seem like ready to lay eggs but maybe cant find the right spot yet like you mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pride Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 So threw a cave in the tank and cranked the temp up a little to just over 27C and two days later the female was guarding eggs. This morning the male was looking a little sulky in the corner and the female looked a bit stressed and most of the eggs had disappeared. Watching the tank throughout the day the male keeps trying to get in to feed on what’s left and the female fighting him off..poor little girl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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