# Natural Looking Aquariums?



## CodeRed (Jun 11, 2009)

Can you all help me out here? ^_^ My mother dearest is wavering on the idea of setting up my five gallon to be an actual, cycled tank, and I think a couple pictures of nice, natural tanks would help tip her over the edge. I WOULD go through the betta tanks thread, but geez... that thing is huge o_o


-I'm looking at you, SK. You know I love your tanks.-

Also, feel free to say what plants/rocks/decorations you've got in there, and how you set it up and put everything together ^_^ Thanks for the help? If anyone does? LOL.


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

You know me, I love posting pics.  All of my driftwood comes from Aquariumplants.com. Most of my plants come from there or from Petco/Petsmart.

Tango: The bell came from my LFS. Almost all his plants are tied to rocks with thread.









Senor Feeeeesh: The cave and columns came from Petsmart. The java fern is tied to the columns. Amazon sword is rooted. I have Eco Complete in there.









Guppies and Corys The vase came from Linens and Things online store. It's big. This tank is a wild and crazy mess.










Kilo: I have a couple Red Crypts. There's a big 3x5 mat of java fern in the back corner. They sew the plants to coconut fibers. I bet anyone could DIY that. Everythings weighted down with 'lead' weights.


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

janine your tanks are gorgeous!! what plant ferteliser and light do you use?


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## betta99 (Aug 16, 2010)

wow those tanks are beautiful


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

Goregous tanks Vaygirl!!!


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

Thanks! In the guppy/cory and Senor Fish's tank I use Ecocomplete substrate which has built in fertilizer. For the others I use liquid Flourish but not all the time. I usually forget. They're lucky if they get it monthly.

Most of the lights are between 1.5 and 2 watts per gallon and are Marineland daylight lamps. My guppy/cory tank has the least light. It's a 15 watt Nutrigrow bulb so it's 1w per gallon. I think that's balanced out by Ecocomplete. Plus, I use low light plants for all of my setups. And I have a LOT of snails. I think they help out more then anything. When I don't have snails I get diatoms, bad! I credit the snails with half my success.


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

my tanks dont have lights can i buy some sort of lights still to make the plants grow?????


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## JB5 (May 22, 2010)

This is actually a 6 gal but its still a small tank with a natural look.


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## bloo97 (Mar 6, 2010)

Oooh! Nice Tank! I am JEALOUS!


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## bloo97 (Mar 6, 2010)

No live plants for me! All silk. 
I don't know if this is %100 natural, but It's my most natural tank.


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## CodeRed (Jun 11, 2009)

WOW vaygirl o_o Your tanks are stunning O_O. Amazing. Beautiful xD THOSE are some nice tanks. You, too, JB5. Your tank looks more like a 20 gallon than a six gallon! Nice tank for you, too, bloo


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## Drift (Jul 26, 2010)

Durban's Jungle - Floating log, Willow Leaf Hygro, Java moss on coconut, driftwood with Anubias, and of course Hornwort.









Urkle's Jungle: Willow leaf Hygro, Driftwood with Java Fern, and Hornwort.










I removed the Hornwort today and did a good vacuuming and left it out.


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Just wondering - why did you decide to remove the hornwort?


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## Phoxly (Jun 14, 2010)

Driftwood = Instant Natural Look


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## Drift (Jul 26, 2010)

It was shedding needles crazy. I also have a planaria problem i'm trying to get under control and they are the main culprit for organic material i need to suck up. They also need a good trim down. They're hanging out in a spare tank for now.


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

The needle shedding is why I don't care for hornwort. At first, thought it was me & my water conditions (very hard water), but hear from a lot of people that they just do that. 

I am trying guppy grass as a floating plant & LOVE it so far!!!


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## Drift (Jul 26, 2010)

Mine shed like crazy! Haha!
I need to get some more plants for the tank. I might just chuck the hornwort into my pond and let it grow. 
I need a whole bunch of plants for my other 10 gallon. I was waiting till i get more money though. Plants can get expensive. =\


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

JB5 i love that tank!!!


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Drift said:


> Mine shed like crazy! Haha!
> I need to get some more plants for the tank. I might just chuck the hornwort into my pond and let it grow.
> I need a whole bunch of plants for my other 10 gallon. I was waiting till i get more money though. Plants can get expensive. =\


Tell me about it!!! I have a whole LIST of plants I would love to get, but have to watch the budget SOMETIME (I guess :-( ).


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Wow vaygirl, your tanks are beautiful! I too want a 100% natural tank. I hate the fake "artificial" looks of painted gravel, shipwrecks, and plastic plants. Right now Gabe is living in a small unfiltered tank with a java fern (I have a 6500k flourecent light shining on it for 8-10 hours a day). I do 3 water changes a week and the plant is still doing great. 3 weeks now and its still green, healthy, and no leaves have died on me. Anyways, I plan on upgrading the tank to a filtered and cycled 2-5 gallon and I want more plants. What besides java fern/moss would you recommend? I want to try those betta bulbs (some type of apongeton I believe) but I hear they grow HUGE.


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## bloo97 (Mar 6, 2010)

Lucky's tank! The rocks I found outside!
Lol, my dad said It looks like the Grand Canyon threw up in there. Pfft.


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

i giggled at that joke!


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

[email protected] Bloo! The grand canyon threw up. Hehehe. I think it looks really neat.

I love the jungle tanks  and the 6 gallon. They're gorgeous.

@Alex09 - Amazon swords are good. Anubias is always a good choice. I also like red wendtii crypts. They're doing well in all my tanks. Water wisteria is a good choice. Supposedly java moss is good too but I am the only person in the world who can't grow it.  I LOVE java fern and water wisteria. They're my favorite.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

i love it!!!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

It does look a little like the Grand Canyon. lol


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## bloo97 (Mar 6, 2010)

Lol!


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

i love the new look it looks so original and i would have never even thought of that!!!:-D


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