When deciding on which color scheme to go with for your aquarium, the first thing to decide is whether you want to go with a natural or artificial color scheme. Most aquarium owners go for the natural look, because they’re interested in recreating the natural habitat of the fish, effectively bringing a small cross-section of nature in their own home or office.
But after years of natural-looking aquariums, a few brave souls decided to go against this trend and do aquariums in unusual and eye-catching colors. The aquarium that we built for the movie Chi-raq is a good, if over the top, example of this. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see an aquarium designed to match the color scheme of a room or even of the company whose office it sits in. It certainly looks cool, and there haven’t been any reports of unnatural colors detrimentally affecting the health of the fish in those tanks.
Whichever one you end up deciding on, the design elements you have to play with are:
- Substrate (the floor) – you can go with gravel, sand, or even colored glass to set the foundation for your aquarium design
- Rocks and structure – the sky’s the limit here, from natural structures to spaceships—we’ve seen it all
- Plant life – if you’re going with traditional plants, your color palette is limited, but artificial plants can be bought in all the colors of the rainbow
- Inhabitants – of course, you can select the fish themselves with a certain color scheme in mind
- Lighting – one of the easiest thing to do, and arguably the most impactful—modern LED lights come in a variety of shades, and even include lights that can switch based on the time of the day into thousands of different shades
Overwhelmed by these options and don’t know where to start? We know the questions to ask to help you pin down the perfect tank for your space! Schedule your free consultation today!
