Replace it with a course sand, not too fine.
I've been contemplating the "Rules" to having a professional looking tank. Here's some guidlines.
1)No equptment visable in the tank. It should look as normal as if you were looking through a large scuba mask. That goes for cables and cords.
2)Water as high as possible, preferably with no rim on the top of the tank. Sometimes this is not possible, and the tank needs to have the black trim around it, but if that's the case then the water line should be hidden by the trim.
3)Keep the area around the tank clean. Not too many photos of really great looking tanks include, test kits scattered around, and food containers, wrenches, tongs, etc. Scattered around the tank.
4) Keep the algae scrubbing tool out of the tank when taking the photo you're going to post on the internet.
5) Keep salt creep at bay. Daily wipedowns with a damp cloth to keep away the salt creep are important.
6) hidden or attractive light fixtures. You absolutely don't want to see wires, or bulbs visable from the main viewing direction. Limit the light spillage out the sides by the shape of the fixture or an enclosed canopy.
7) Cover the backgroud, and keep it clean. Either keep the back wall painted to complement the tank inhabitants, such as the Japanese tanks, or put up a back drop that's dark blue, or black. And keep it meticulously clean from coraline algae growth. (Others may argue they like the coraline on the back drop, but to me it brings attention to the container, not what's inside.)
8) Keep the substrate clean. White or light sand is much more attractive than diatom blooms.
9) Keep scratches to a minimum. No acrylic tanks with large circles from the algae magnet. Either buff them out, or get a glass tank.
10) No microbubbles. They look like dirty water particles when they are blowing around. Turn off the main pump when taking photos to settle the detritus out and let the microbubbles clear.
You do those things, and you'll have a tank that's second to none!
Aaron
