A background for marine tank?

[LittleParr]

Does anyone know a good background to place on the back of the aquarium? I don't want to look through the tank at the wall, and I think the fish will show up better with a background...

 

[fishfreek]

Most of us will spray paint the background of our tank with a flat blue.

Paint the outside of the back of the tank and let it dry.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

painting is so much easier than a background, you dont have to worry about the water on the back, in between the background and the glass, just looks so much more professional. i used blcak on all of my tanks, and am quite pleased. just used acrylic paint and a roller....

 

[Snoopybdb]

I have a background that I got from my lfs. It's called Greek Ruins. I love it, it's blue and has a statue and columns that are tanish colored

 

[dscount]

Yeah I picked up for $10 a background from the LFS with BLACK on one side and BLUE on the other. But I'm starting to like the painting idea more.

 

[Brenden]

I painted mine. Works great.

 

[LittleParr]

What kind of paint, what kind of colours, and how many coats?

 

[AquaReefer]

I just have an all black background. I taped it on and that was it

 

[sdellin]

I used rocks and plants behind the tank. I can see the scene through the tank and it makes the tank look deeper.

 

[LittleParr]

I would prefer to paint mine...more of a permanent and neater setup. Can anyone give me a hint on what kind of paint, what colour, and how many coats?

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

i painted all of mine black, the color is up to u, just grab a roller. i tried to paint wilth a brush, but you could see the strokes, i didnt like that, but its totally up to you. i used acrylic paint from walmart, its like 44 cents (in the craft dept) it took about 3 coats for full coverage.

 

[dscount]

Just plain ole Acrylic Paint from Walmart? About a pint enough?

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

i have the 8 ounce bottle and i didnt even need that much. i painted a 20 gal, 30 gal, and 5 gal.

 

[Fireworks]

I found a background called "Deep Blue Sea", which starts out a light blue at the top and gradually darkens to almost navy blue at the bottom. I think it looks great, and I like being able to flip the bottom up to see though the back if I need to.

 

[LittleParr]

How does the acrylic paint take to glass?

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

it takes to it fine, you do have to becareful about scratching it after its dry. as long as you are carefull when you put the hardware back on, it will be fine. i never have to get the the back of my tank either, so i dont have to worry about scratching it. if you are cncerned, have "glass" paint that you can buy, but its expensive and harder to get off if you arent happy with it later.

 

[ferretttt]

Hard to paint after the tank is up and running, isnt it?

 

[Graybeard]

As posted above...

painting is so much easier than a background, you dont have to worry about the water on the back, in between the background and the glass, just looks so much more professional. i used blcak on all of my tanks, and am quite pleased. just used acrylic paint and a roller....

 

[dicjones]

I had my local hardware store tint some primer to blue because I was worried about regular paint sticking. I put several coats on just to help resist scratching.