King of DIY review: ‘’Most realistic aquarium backgrounds ever!”

The most trusted King of DIY aquarium hobbyist on the planet and famous vlogger Joey Mullen did an amazing review of our products. In case you don’t know who Joey Mullen is, he is a young YouTube star who is well known for his “The king of DIY” channel. His passion for Aquarium DIY and numerous useful tutorials resulted in more than half a million  subscribers and more than 125 million views.

We sent him four aquarium backgrounds of his choice and added some complimentary wood and rock samples. While providing him with an overall experience of our products, we wanted to give him a nice variety to work into his tanks. Recorded in his well-known cheerful manner, his YouTube review goes back and forth from joyous excitement to literal jaw dropping. And that is a high compliment! Because when it comes to aquarium décor, Joey Mullen has really seen it all.

He has also tried it all and summed up a decade of experience in the only book of its kind ‘’The ultimate DIY handbook for the DIY aquarist’’.

So, let’s see why the king of DIY liked our products so much and what he shared with more than a half a million of his YouTube followers, besides the words ‘’awesome’’ and ‘’so realistic’’.

 Famous Joey Mullen testing out our aquarium backgrounds

The King of DIY about our classic rock aquarium background

This is a modular background and it comes in pieces. The pieces are numbered, which makes them easy to set up. With a touch of silicone they go together seamlessly.Joey likes this background for a number of reasons.

It has a Styrofoam core, but on the surface it feels just like a rock. The Styrofoam core makes it light and easy to handle and a very hard surface prevents your fish from picking at it. It doesn’t take up a tremendous amount of water volume, only being an inch or two thick in the back.

And it has a tone of crevices and dynamic features, which give it so much character. The hand-painted details really stand out and make this background a work of art.

Every classic rock aquarium background is entirely customized to the build of your fish tank and matches perfectly the exact dimensions of the inside, its bracing system and the placement of your filtration.

Because it comes in pieces, it would ship in a smaller container and probably be cheaper on shipping.

When it comes to recommendations, Joey prefers this background for a cichlid African tank, specifically the tank which would resemble Lake Tanganyika.

The king of DIY cheking out classic rock aquarium background decorations

Wood aquarium backgrounds

All models of wood aquarium backgrounds come in one piece. They have rock backings and different wood features like roots and branches. Also, they can be combined with various additional items such as separate logs, branches or sticks. Joey’s review includes three different types of our wood aquarium backgrounds.

Trees, roots and rocks model

(Model 1)

The first one is one of Joey’s favorites for a couple of reasons. It is an entirely natural and an extremely realistic looking aquarium background that looks really great in combination with some free standing logs. When grouped close together, the logs add far more depth to it. The logs have little platforms on the bottom, so you can silicone them to the tank in individual places.

Also, it is a hollow style background which takes up no water volume and allows you to build your filtration right into the back of your fish tank.

Because of its Amazonian feel, he recommends it for discus and angelfish.

Second model from our wood collection

(Model 2)

The second one is far more of an aged looking hollow style background. Its rock definitely has more details and more color than the previous one. Joey believes it would almost come to life, once it gets a little bit of algae growing on it. He recommends combining it with some subdued lightning or maybe a little bit of shimmer in order to get astonishing results.

Last but not least, last model from trees, roots and rocks collections

(Model 3)

The third wood background seems like a muddy river bank and it has more of a rustic feel than the previous two. It is also a hollow style background. The king of DIY likes it because it brings a broad set of options when it comes to fish choice, as a result of its both South American and south-east Asian looks.

Complimentary rocks and wood

As we mentioned before, we sent him some complimentary rocks and four types of wood too. It turns out the rocks were a lifesaver for Joey! Having a variety of them is certainly going to come in handy. And the incredible attention to detail, as he describes it, really caught his eye.

Additional decoration wooden-like logs

This piece of aquarium décor is easily described as a weathered looking log or a piece of wood that has lost all of its perks. It perfectly resembles the kind of wood that could be found on the beach after long exposure to different weather conditions. Not very heavy, though, but it is clear that it is going to sink in the water

Realistic branches

‘’If I tossed this in your yard outside and you walk by, you’d think it was a normal branch. This thing truly looks real.’’

Wood aquarium decoration piece looking just like a regular old tree branch. Rich in details as properly colored spots and knots and little grooves like the bugs were eating through it. Also, it is partially exposed due to the ripped off bark.

And to quote Joey once more ‘’I am impressed, just to say the very least.’’

Stumps and chunks

Besides their very realistic appeal, stumps and chunks turned out to come in very useful. Big pieces of wood tend to look great in a spacy aquarium, but they often leach contaminants in your tank and rot over time. But a big peace of fake wood does not affect it at all. Especially when it doesn’t look fake at all, so both your tank’s health and aesthetics are intact.

Just to say very least, we are thrilled with the review Joey Mullen did on our products. Coming from such a prominent aquarist, it’s an honor. Also, we were glad to hear that our 3D aquarium backgrounds are going to be a part of his aquarium gallery. A breath taking racking system composed of ten of 120 gallons aquariums, four of which will be Aquadecor.

It’s nice to know that we are contributing in a meaningful manner to his project and hope that this aquarium gallery is going to be inspiring to all of the fellow and potential hobbyists as well.