Aquarium Terrace

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Aquarium Terrace

What is an Aquarium Terrace? Aquarium Terrace is a means of accessorizing your aquarium. Your taste, imagination, and initiative drive the display arrangement of your aquarium. Aquarium Terrace is one such very popular decorative technique of tank ordering that requires your customization. Aquarium Terrace building involves the layering of the substrate to varying heights by using support materials such as, Wood, Rock, or Support Structures, aligned directly with aquarium walls.

Needless to say that as its all about creativity, and there is no set rule governing the design of a terrace. The size of aquarium, its type, the size of its inhabitants, décor budget, your creativity, and your preference, usually determine the design of your Aquarium Terrace. The succeeding paragraphs elaborate some basic principles that need to be borne in mind while setting up an Aquarium Terrace.

Aquarium Terrace – Building Materials. The most commonly available materials in designing an Aquarium Terrace are Sand, Stone, Cork, Wood, Plastic Decorations, Decorative Rocks, Colored Pebbles, Gravels, and generally anything that does not pollute the environment and is self-sustaining. Build the banks of sand and keep them in place with barriers of some sturdy materials such as, Bogwood, Natural Rocks, and Colored Stones. Some common ingredients used in building Aquarium Terrace are briefly described below:

Bogwood. ‘Bogwood’ implies to the pieces of Trunk or Root, which have been preserved. It is different from unprocessed ‘Driftwood’. Before using Bogwood in the aquarium, soak it in water to get it waterlogged so that it gets heavy and does not float or drift in the aquarium. Scrub and clean the Bogwood before putting it in the aquarium.

Stones. Stones are one of the easiest, the sturdiest, and the popular additions in an aquarium for constructing walls and Aquarium Terraces. Due to their heavy weight and the low center of gravity, stones are ideal for benthic arrangements such as, the Bedrock of the landscape. If placed high, an accidental toppling of these stones may hurt the fish, while also damaging the other decor.

Cork. Cork is another suitable material for this purpose. Since Cork floats, it needs to be attached to heavier and more stable materials such as, Plastic or Acrylic, which can then be attached to the aquarium’s glass body. The dark colored Cork blends well into the shadows and can even be covered with Shells, Sand, Gravels, or Pebbles to get a diffused look.

Aquarium Terrace - Design Principles.

Dimensions. Decide the position and the height of the Aquarium Terraces you want to build and draft out a plan before going in for their actual implementation. As a standard, Aquarium Terraces, running parallel to the front of the tank are not very eye-catching, as they give no illusion of water depth. For a better effect, place the Aquarium Terraces at an angle of 30-45 degrees to the front wall of your tank. In addition, the Aquarium Terraces should be at different levels and be built up in steps, beginning at the bottom and working up. Similarly, start at the front of the tank and work backwards.

Stability. Needless to mention, the bottom layer materials of the Aquarium Terrace should be heavier and more stable than the top layers. One major challenge in Aquarium Terrace arrangement is that after a while, the Substrate shifts and tends to fall forward. This worsens each time you disturb the Substrate while cleaning or re-planting. This effect is reduced by solid construction rather than keeping an unglued and a haphazard placement of material.

Terrace Arrangement. Good aesthetics demand that symmetrical arrangement be avoided and Aquarium Terraces on the left and the right of the tank should be distinct.

Terrace Décor. The over-decoration of Aquarium Terrace should also be avoided. The foreground can make or break the entire façade of aquarium decoration. The Gravel should be placed as low as possible, against the front glass. The thickness of the Gravel should increase from front to backwards, instead of beginning thick. Loose decorative materials such as, Plants, Rocks, or Woods, should not be pushed against the glass walls. The foreground should look tidy, well designed, and not haphazard or cluttered. The design of an aquarium is limited only by one’s own imagination. One should not put large plants in the foreground so as not to obstruct a clear view of the back. Avoid commonplace arrangements like putting a dominant plant dead center like a centerpiece or at the center of extreme back. On the same lines, small plants need not only be in the foreground. An imaginative combination creates a wonderful sense of depth perception and it is visually powerful.