I just recently remodeled my aquarium - more of a riparium, I guess? It's not much right now because everything has to grow in, and I'm waiting until after Xmas to buy more plants for the back.

The water level ended up lower than expected, so the back wall looks really empty. I'll slap a background on eventually. I'd like to do something with the space above the water though. What would look best? A couple riparium planters in the middle? Putting in a small 'living wall' might look cool, or it might look crappy. And I don't want to shade out the submerged plants too much. Anyone have ideas for this?

Apologies for the ugly photo...

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Great little tank - looks very natural. Riverbank is what I am trying to acheive as well.

You could try an aqua-marine simple colour background, refer image. Not sure how to do it - I haven't worked that bit out yet. I intend to purchase a background screen the right colour if I find one, to attach to the outside back wall of the tank - I definitely wouldn't paint the outside glass - too permanent. A printing supply shop might have something like that? But it would look interesting. Ideally you want a background which goes paler/whiter towards the top to simulate the light source in nature. A blue-haze is what you mostly see under water in fresh water, as blue light filters the least underwater. A paler blue than the one shown here is what I am aiming for, to simulate shallow waters.

Just an idea.

Bump: Like this.

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Another tip - try using GU10 spotlights. IKEA sell floor/desk lamps with the GU10, 36 degree spotlight bulb, about 6-7W LED. They look great. Photo attached - hard to show as it is due to saturation. Have them fitted on a plant grow tank, not a display tank, but they look very good and are very cost effective for plants. Different spectrums available and bulbs (not just IKEA bulbs, any GU10 bykb will fit).

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ADA 30cm cube
PH8/GH10/KH7
ADA Amazonia V2, no supplement added, just soil
50% water change/wk
Seachem 1-2mL per day (pre-mix of 50% Flourish/50% advance)
2 x 7W GU10 bulbs (used to be 150W metal halide + 7W Spot LED).
No pump, no filter, heater only in winter, Eheim skimmer 350 5 minutes a day to clean water surface.