While bringing home an aquarium never fails to add to our excitement, adding decorations can further amp up the fun quotient. But with an array of available options, taking the final choice can be a bit tasking.
Keeping such things in mind, we have come up with a guide which can help you turn the aquarium into a paradise for the aquatic creatures.
Use gravel and aquarium sand
You can choose gravel and aquarium sand in a variety of colours for blending in with the end look of your fish tank.
Sand is good for eels, rays and knifefish.
Eels usually stay near the water bed while rays like burying themselves in sand.
A fun visual effect can be created by layering the aquarium with sands of varying colours. However, plain sand is recommended in the saltwater tank as the coloured variety doesn’t fare well in salty environments.
Make A Fun Habitat For Your Fish By Adding Rocks
The natural flair of rocks serves as excellent decoration items for your aquarium.
Here you can choose between quartz, lava rocks, slate or petrified wood. If you wish for a brightly coloured aquarium, then you can choose between honey onyx, red desert rock, rainbow rock and ice rock.
Imparting an extra dimension to your fish tank becomes easy with large multi-layer rocks having crevices. This can also offer a viable hiding place for your small fishes.
While the rocks can be bought either from pet stores or procured from natural sources, you need to test the pH level of the water for determining its viability.
It is advised to boil the natural rocks for 10 minutes prior to placing them in your fish tank.
Impart A Natural Touch With Driftwood
The driftwood decoration is best suited for people who like to infuse an ocean-like feel in their home aquarium.
Driftwoods can be easily availed either from pet stores or picked up from beaches.
Prior to picking them up, you need to make sure that they do not contain any living organisms.
They also need to be properly boiled before being placed inside the aquarium to prevent the spread of bacteria.
While a large piece of driftwood can be placed at the centre of your tank, you can sprinkle the smaller ones around the edges.
Use Seashells To Create A Mini Ocean
Infuse oceanic vibes to your fish tank with small, medium or big shells which can be readily found at pet stores or at the beach. However, shells shouldn’t be used in a freshwater tank as they might enhance the calcium content of water and disrupt the aquarium’s natural balance.
Seashells are usually available in shades of browns, yellows, pinks, whites, reds and oranges.
This needs to be kept in mind while deciding on the colour scheme.
Large reddish or orange scallop shells can create a mermaid’s home-like look on being accompanied with a novelty plastic mermaid.
Adding Some Live Plants
Choose aquatic plants and bury their roots in the substrate so that they can grow over time. Floating aquarium plants with varying leaf shapes can impart an interesting look to your fish tank. For an aesthetically pleasing look you need to place the shorter ones in the front and the taller ones at the back.
Plants like marimo moss ball, wendtii red, Amazon sword, cryptocoryne java moss, java fern and other aquarium carpet plants serve as excellent options for novice aquarium enthusiasts. Most of these plants can remove excess nitrites from water while adding to its oxygen reserve.
Place Plastic Novelty Items
Mermaids, plastic divers and treasure chests serve as fun options which can add a bit of mischief on being positioned around plants and rocks.
But the plastic items you use need to be suited for fish tanks as most plastics tend to leach into water over time.
Conclusion
When it comes to decorating your aquarium, the options are limitless.
You can even use food safe and unglazed ceramic pieces like saucers and teacups in nautical themes to jazz up the fish tank.
If you have a stringent budget to adhere to, then old bottles or glass jars in multi-hues can add to the vibrancy of your aquarium.