About: At home, you can find me with my wife and three boys, maybe practicing violin, guitar or piano, in the garage doing some woodworking, bicycling, at the computer, learning small electronics, video editing, surf…

A freshwater aquarium doesn't have to just be a home for fish. It can also be a canvas for a form of art if you want it to be. That form of art is called "aquascaping."

Like paintings, some of these aquascapes have names. I call this one "Is it Time to Go?"

This is an eye level aquascape: an effort to put you in the scene, standing there. For me, the aquascape is about facing death; not in the horror movie or slasher sense, but in the everyday and real sense, where people die of Alzheimer's, Leukemia, colon cancer, heart disease or simply old age. Before you is a dark path in the woods, leading to distant and unknown light. The leaves on the trees have fallen. Along the path, almost hidden in a clearing to your right, is an empty wooden swing. It seems out of place: "Why is it there?" If you chose, you can sit in the swing and experience a simple joy of life, closing your eyes and forgetting about the frightening things around or your remaining journey ahead.

In this Instructable, I'll take you back to the beginning, how the idea started and what changed along the way. I'll show you how I put together everything inside the tank, how I made the trees, the puddle, the swing and the fall-like leaf litter. I'll explain how I made the customized background, the trees and the lighting and the stand work together with the design. Of course, you could incorporate as many of these ideas into your aquarium as you want.

Hopefully, I'll introduce you to something you have never seen done with an aquarium before.