how is my tank? what should i change?

[bobsaget]

ok i got a piece of mopani driftwood, and tied some java moss onto it, and put it in the tank. but i dont really care for the look of it right now, and ned to know what to move/take out. so take a look, and give me ideas.

30g tank
2 german blue rams (pair)
1 bristlenose pleco (who i hope is still aive, havent seen him for days. partly why i got the wood)
11 tiger barbs

also, what are other plants i can put in my tank that require no extra lighting, or co2 or fertilizer? so far i have java moss and java fern. OH YEAH!!! and any tips at all about algae growing ALL OVER my sand? its too heavy for the syphon to suck it up!! and i almost burned out my filter by agitating the sand and breaking it up
(click the pics to make them bigger)

 

[67chevelle]

It needs a background. Black is best. There are lots of kinds of Anubias and Crypts that you could have. The algae looks like cyanobacteria to me. The easiest way to get rid of it is to leave your lights off for awhile. Then do not overfeed your fish, and don't leave the tank light on for more than 8 hours a day.

 

[bobsaget]

ah. where can i find some pictures of tanks with a black background? anything good on here? i might have to get that! ill take a look at those plants, but however; im scared to leave the lights off for to long because i dont want the plants to suffer? also, the tank is near a window :[ i might have to live with it lol.

 

[67chevelle]

I have lots of pics of tanks with black backgrounds in my profile. They are all painted on.

I would keep all direct sunlight out of your tank. With the plants that you have, leaving the lights off for a week should not hurt a thing.

 

[bobsaget]

okay thanks!

could i just take a black piece of posterboard over the back? would it really look black? or faded out?

 

[67chevelle]

Yeah, I have heard using poster board works. Never done it myself. But heard it works fine.

 

[Brian Anderson]

Paint is easier that you think. And easy to remove. Go get one 200ml tube of black acrylic water based paint from Walmart and a sponge roller. $5 project and looks great.


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[67chevelle]

Yeah. Painting is easy. Latex is the easiest to remove if you ever want to change it.

 

[shrimplover]

Really nice and i agree a dark background will make it more beautiful.

 

[bobsaget]

so thats what the tank looks like now. i was going to get some more plants ,but decided to wait. instead i took off the little new plants growing on the leaves of the java fern, and (sloppily) tied one little segment onto a clear marble rock thing. and then i tied another segment onto my fake log. lets see how that goes. and the tank looks really dirty cause ive been moving pieces, and siphoning.