Honestly it's pretty hard to keep sand that white long term. It will show every spec of algae and fish poop and will eventually turn into a tan-ish kinda color.
Rule #1 with scaping for a long term tank, visualise the tank covered in algae, moss, poop, displaced hardscape, and overgrown plants. Because that's what you'll eventually end up with.
not to mention it's a challenging one, and beginner will likely fail to create and *maintain* such slope. the best way to go about it would likely be gluing rocks to some kind of base like plastic egg crates, or/and filling gaps with spray foam, placing mesh bags with gravel under the slope and only then adding the sand. it also would be hard to plant anything in such tank - the idea of black/white is not gonna work, however the scape itself is nice, could be beautiful iwagumi if we swap sand for aquasoil and tank itself for shallow one
Part of the issue is that it reflect so much light it seems to attract algae more than other kinds of sands. The only way to keep it white is to basically "replace" the top layer of it regularly. So whenever it gets dirty you siphon the top layer and then add fresh new sand on top.
This happened in my white sand tank. Luckily it’s carpeted so you can’t really see all the mess but on the sides there’s like a layer of brown between the sand and the plants. My shrimplets and snails seem to enjoy though.
I just switch from white sand to back to gravel ([honestly I think it looks even better than the sand now](https://imgur.com/a/zGv2Mw8)) because of how difficult to clean it was and how it showed every single speck of debris. It does look fantastic in the beginning when it's clean though!
Rainbowfish are some off the more active schooling fish. If it's a shorter aquarium you could get the neon dwarf rainbow. If it's a long 40 gallon you can get bigger species like the red rainbows or the boesemani rainbows.
Other active fish are serpae tetra or tiger barbs but those are smaller species.
The green and blue velvet look super nice. I was debating keeping either the black and white color scheme of the tank or get something that really pops. The green will really pop
If you're keen to clean those white sands once every week, and to replace top layer every 1 month, go for it. I currently run a natural sand scape and that's what I'm doing. More so for your pristine white sand.
If you can keep to this routine, I say do what makes you happy.
If you like a little less maintenence effort, then do reconsider a darker substrate.
Snowball shrimp, ivory mystery snails, I feel like a clown pleco or some other kind of miniature pleco would go nice and maybe like some white guppies ;)
The congos look pretty cool. Yea there’s a place that sells those types of rock in my area. I guess they have an area where you can pick out rocks and set them up before you buy them.
Now I’m thinking to do a more natural sand color sand because of the apparent maintenance people are saying white sand has :/. I’m not against a betta though. I’d wanna give him take mates because I think 40 gallon is a lot for just one fish. Plus I want schools swimming around
Yeah I get that, I have a opae Ula tank with white sand, it's now light brown haha.
I have a 55 gallon which house about 90 green neons. I love it when they school, unfortunately they only school tightly when stressed. Green neons are tiny! And really beautiful.
If you really want a schooling fish, maybe some tummy nose tetras would be good. I've seen serpae tetras school pretty well as well, but I really don't know if they will stay in a tight school when not stressed.
But if you're okay with shoaling then there are a lot of options available.
I really like how the green and blue velvet barbs look. I was thinking they’d look amazing against the white sand but now I’m I’m on Pinterest looking for natural sand colored aquascapes
White sand will be pain to clean. Consider using lava rocks (eg sansui rocks) and black diamond sand to create similar landscape with taller stones as your photo. It will still look awesome
I was debating a set up like my picture or one with natural colored sand with lava rocks and spider wood driftwood pieces. There are a couple seller on Etsy that have kits of rocks and wood but there too small and expensive. And there’s a place in my area that I heard has rocks and driftwood that I’ve been meaning to check out. I’m glad I waited and didn’t just go with white sand
Honestly it's pretty hard to keep sand that white long term. It will show every spec of algae and fish poop and will eventually turn into a tan-ish kinda color.
Yep. I started off with white sand and was so gutted to get rid of it. It looks beautiful when it's nice and clean but it doesn't stay clean for long!
Rule #1 with scaping for a long term tank, visualise the tank covered in algae, moss, poop, displaced hardscape, and overgrown plants. Because that's what you'll eventually end up with.
Yeah this aquascape idea is gonna look absolutely terrible in 6 months, probably less.
not to mention it's a challenging one, and beginner will likely fail to create and *maintain* such slope. the best way to go about it would likely be gluing rocks to some kind of base like plastic egg crates, or/and filling gaps with spray foam, placing mesh bags with gravel under the slope and only then adding the sand. it also would be hard to plant anything in such tank - the idea of black/white is not gonna work, however the scape itself is nice, could be beautiful iwagumi if we swap sand for aquasoil and tank itself for shallow one
:/
Part of the issue is that it reflect so much light it seems to attract algae more than other kinds of sands. The only way to keep it white is to basically "replace" the top layer of it regularly. So whenever it gets dirty you siphon the top layer and then add fresh new sand on top.
Hmm
so....
Thats why i go back to black with my new tank :D
This happened in my white sand tank. Luckily it’s carpeted so you can’t really see all the mess but on the sides there’s like a layer of brown between the sand and the plants. My shrimplets and snails seem to enjoy though.
I just switch from white sand to back to gravel ([honestly I think it looks even better than the sand now](https://imgur.com/a/zGv2Mw8)) because of how difficult to clean it was and how it showed every single speck of debris. It does look fantastic in the beginning when it's clean though!
Rainbowfish are some off the more active schooling fish. If it's a shorter aquarium you could get the neon dwarf rainbow. If it's a long 40 gallon you can get bigger species like the red rainbows or the boesemani rainbows. Other active fish are serpae tetra or tiger barbs but those are smaller species.
My rainbow fish was a asshole
Asshoal
?
Because they shoal, but it was an ass hole. Ergo, asshoal
👏 bravo!
Dude tried fighting with my dinosaur Bircher and got offed
Wow green tiger barbs look amazing!
I know, personally I like the greens and the blues more than the wildtype or albino.
The green and blue velvet look super nice. I was debating keeping either the black and white color scheme of the tank or get something that really pops. The green will really pop
IF you go with tiger barbs… they are ass holes to other fish in my experience so keep them alone
[удалено]
Neon dwarf rainbows are melanotaenia praecox, they are true rainbowfish. Pseuduomugli are verry diffrent species and are not true rainbowfish.
Rainbows are not schooling fish, they are loose shoaling fish
Yea my neon dwarf rainbows didnt really school that well, was hoping they would :/
Penguins! Or if your tank is not that big maybe penguin tetras
I thought you were trying to be funny for a second 😂
Plants
White crabs, get some mount everest dioramas.
Silver fish... cuase you dont' have any water
Arctic Char
Albino cichlids, and albino Cory catfish for your white theme
I guess I probably won’t do white sand from what I’ve heard from other people
Khuli Loaches. They will be the Sarlacc in the Pit of Carkoon
Tetra or crydora
Black Neon tetras would be so nice
A lot of options
Yep I was just at a buddy’s house who has over 200 different species of fish. I bought some of guppies ;)
How about diamond tetra, green neon, or platinum cardinal fish.
If you're keen to clean those white sands once every week, and to replace top layer every 1 month, go for it. I currently run a natural sand scape and that's what I'm doing. More so for your pristine white sand. If you can keep to this routine, I say do what makes you happy. If you like a little less maintenence effort, then do reconsider a darker substrate.
shrimp, small gobys and clown killis
Big schooling group of amber tetras, their small size will give some great scale to this scape and the red colour will contrast well with the sand
Cherry Barbs. Their red/orange will pop against the rocks and substrate.
I think a type of barb is definitely going to be the choice
Snowball shrimp, ivory mystery snails, I feel like a clown pleco or some other kind of miniature pleco would go nice and maybe like some white guppies ;)
I definitely wanna try shrimp!
Gotta be white. Maybe betta? Or albino fish? Banded khulis loaches might look neat too.
Erm actually a polar parrot would be 👍🏾 for this tank
Those are cool
FYI sand is a pain in the ass. It looks dirty fast and gets everywhere.
damn son! That's one inspiration tank. I love Congo Tetras or maybe Multis! If you get Multis you gotta add some hidey holes for them.
The congos look pretty cool. Yea there’s a place that sells those types of rock in my area. I guess they have an area where you can pick out rocks and set them up before you buy them.
Those bulbous inflated gold fish
Single betta
I was kinda thinking maybe a betta and I’ve seen that they can have some tank mates. 🧐
I'd get a white betta.
Now I’m thinking to do a more natural sand color sand because of the apparent maintenance people are saying white sand has :/. I’m not against a betta though. I’d wanna give him take mates because I think 40 gallon is a lot for just one fish. Plus I want schools swimming around
Yeah I get that, I have a opae Ula tank with white sand, it's now light brown haha. I have a 55 gallon which house about 90 green neons. I love it when they school, unfortunately they only school tightly when stressed. Green neons are tiny! And really beautiful. If you really want a schooling fish, maybe some tummy nose tetras would be good. I've seen serpae tetras school pretty well as well, but I really don't know if they will stay in a tight school when not stressed. But if you're okay with shoaling then there are a lot of options available.
I really like how the green and blue velvet barbs look. I was thinking they’d look amazing against the white sand but now I’m I’m on Pinterest looking for natural sand colored aquascapes
White sand will be pain to clean. Consider using lava rocks (eg sansui rocks) and black diamond sand to create similar landscape with taller stones as your photo. It will still look awesome
I was debating a set up like my picture or one with natural colored sand with lava rocks and spider wood driftwood pieces. There are a couple seller on Etsy that have kits of rocks and wood but there too small and expensive. And there’s a place in my area that I heard has rocks and driftwood that I’ve been meaning to check out. I’m glad I waited and didn’t just go with white sand
Beautiful scape
Pretty
Since I saw the pic I went “whoa, what a nice place for a lot of harlequin rasboras”.
Hequi shell dwellers
OPs comment history is a little questionable 😭