Little monsters: Have you ever tried to make your tank look bigger?

[Peace River]

Little monsters: Have you ever tried to make your tank look bigger?

There are aquascaping techniques that can make our tanks look bigger. Growing mangroves out of the tank, sloping the sand from shallow in the front to deeper in the back to add more perceived depth to the tank, and maybe even trying out Bonsai techniques with the corals – there are many ways that aquarium keepers have tried to make their tanks look bigger. Maybe you have added fish and inverts with big personalities to make the tank take on a monster-sized feel of its own. Have you ever tried to make your tank look bigger? Tell us about it in the discussion below!

Photo by @inland_reef; check out this link for more details about this tank.

 

[nuxx]

That's an interesting idea to expand the dimension of the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Great techniques mentioned. I scape and accept it for what it is

 

[Sharkbait19]

It’s all about the rock scape to me. Playing with the sizes and how they interact makes a tank look infinitely bigger (at least before the fish get in there). One big structure makes the tank look confined, but if you have it go from large to small - front to back, it adds much more depth to the tank and creates the illusion that your looking at a larger ecosystem.
Fluval 13.5 before:

After:

 

[Slocke]

I tried the sand sloping technique. However one of my engineer gobies disagreed. He wanted the sand sloped the opposite way. The goby won that argument as you can well see....

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Keeping only small fish makes a tank look bigger
I’ve also used a mirror for the background. It makes the tank look twice as big and also helps increase light. Use with caution, some fish stress over their reflection.

 

[Miami Reef]

Lighter colors tend to make things look bigger, so try a lighter blue background instead of blacking it out if increasing the perception of size is a goal.

 

[Reef and Dive]

Yes, I use bonsai techniques pretty often.
Trimming corals around here is pretty frequent. I have no intention to build a larger tank, so I have to control corals to keep it harmonic.

I have many times removed very big corals to keep it that way…

Some months ago (sorry too blue picture):

Bigger SPS removed, some moved to the back (keeping the more special ones):

Right now:

Did the same to my son’s nano, before:

Right now:

 

[Piscans]

how to make your tank bigger in 5 easy steps:

1. get chloroform

2.abduct your SO/FAMILY, use chloroform to sedate them, while they are sedated, wipe their memories with a labotomy.

3. Go to your Lfs or an online store, find a tank you like, order the tank

4. wait for the tank to come, make sure you erase all evidence of the purchase in case your abductees become suspicous

5. set up the tank, make sure its extra dirty because that will make them not focus on the size difference of the tank.


Alternative method (if you do not have access to Chloroform)


1. silently chip a hole behind your aquarium, make sure nobody notices, make sure you also have a background on your aquarium.

2. every time you use glass tableware, keep a peice of sandpaper under the table. while you are eating, pretend ot drop the glass then pick it up, sand it one stroke under the table, make sure the dust lands in your shoe. shatter one glass so you can use it to magnify the sun in a later step

3. once you have enough dust, start collecting dust to start a fire, use the peice of glass you made to light the fire.

4. cast the glass into panels and construct aquariums in progressive increments, make sure you hide them well.

5, every night, replace the aquariums slowly until you get the right size, destroy the previous aquariums to cast new panels.

 

[Sharkbait19]

how to make your tank bigger in 5 easy steps:

1. get chloroform

2.abduct your SO/FAMILY, use chloroform to sedate them, while they are sedated, wipe their memories with a labotomy.

3. Go to your Lfs or an online store, find a tank you like, order the tank

4. wait for the tank to come, make sure you erase all evidence of the purchase in case your abductees become suspicous

5. set up the tank, make sure its extra dirty because that will make them not focus on the size difference of the tank.


Alternative method (if you do not have access to Chloroform)


1. silently chip a hole behind your aquarium, make sure nobody notices, make sure you also have a background on your aquarium.

2. every time you use glass tableware, keep a peice of sandpaper under the table. while you are eating, pretend ot drop the glass then pick it up, sand it one stroke under the table, make sure the dust lands in your shoe. shatter one glass so you can use it to magnify the sun in a later step

3. once you have enough dust, start collecting dust to start a fire, use the peice of glass you made to light the fire.

4. cast the glass into panels and construct aquariums in progressive increments, make sure you hide them well.

5, every night, replace the aquariums slowly until you get the right size, destroy the previous aquariums to cast new panels.

Why didn’t I think of that?!

 

[MoshJosh]

Not with my saltwater tanks, but definitely sloped the sand in my freshwater set ups.

 

[Hhaynie]

i'm a freshwater aquascaping nerd, so that's bread and butter for freshwater nanos. lots of small detail and plants/corals/algae with small leaves/polyps help a lot. the tank below is 4 gallons.

 

[Fin]

When I do a nano, I use small pieces of rubble rock and scape like I would a larger tank. I also use small frags and once they grow out, I move them to the larger tank. This is a 7 gallon DIY tank.

 

[ScubaShane]

None of those things make a tank look bigger!

 

[Amphibious Wallet]

More of a diethyl ether fan, myself.

 

[MrGisonni]

Pay attention in your scape of focal points using the golden rule and or the 60/40 rule. Create depth within your scape the best you can, then place larger corals in the front and smaller ones in the back to add to the sense of depth

 

[kmzhq]

我的盐水箱使用倾斜的沙子。

 

[REEFCRAFT]

Scaling and using multi tiers front to back. Divided islands and create as many channels as you can

 

[OlafsReef]

Yes. Smaller fish, negative space using open sand. Layered visual depth to aquascape front to back, gaps or valleys that slope away at an angle to create illusion of larger valleys...

 

[qterry22]

285ish Gallon in wall with fish room behind it.
6ft x 30in x 31in
Multiple rock structures spread out at different heights. Creating bridges, overhangs, and ledges. I recently added live rock to the back wall via magnets. This added to benefits. It utilized some dead space that can now be used for corals, and it added texture to the back of the aquarium. I was hoping that a wall of coraline algae would provide the natural back drop I wanted. However it turned out to be lack luster at best, and I ended up creating live rock frag racks that fill the space and look more natural. Now I just need the coraline algae to grow on the new rock!