So far I have 2 of my tanks with a painted background, When I setup that 29 gal thats against the wall I really regretted not doing so, im slowly working on adding more plants to tanks, so far I have 2 tanks planted, and yes I was going to plant the shellie tank, just needed more plants, problem is they dig alot, I mean alot, even with 2" of sand they will bury a shell so all thats visible is the hole. In the wild they do this more because there is bigger shell dwellers that actually picks up the shell and takes it back it his stock pile of shells. So when I setup this tank a couple months ago I made sure and put a thin layer of gravel first before putting the sand on top of it, so far its worked.