Black background questions

[Stacey W.]

I think I've finally given in and I want a black background for my tank that is already setup. What is the best and easiest way to place the background? Also what material is the best to use?

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[lunch]

Check out Joey

http://youtu.be/EqWAl5TpzY0
If you can't easily get behind the tank, maybe use a screw in extension pole for the roller

 

[brennae]

I haven't watched the video because I'm not in an appropriate place but I've been told cooking oil on the glass will hold the background to it. Not something I have tried though

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[lunch]

Oh sorry, I miss read your question, I read 'place' as 'paint' that video is probably useless to you, I just use sticky tape to attach my backgrounds, less mess and swapping them around is as easy as pulling the tape off, bigger tanks may require some1 on the other end of the background.
A small piece of tape in each corner while you locate the background, when you're happy with where it's sitting put a long piece on each end, make sure the background is tight

 

[PassengerTN]

I think it was intended to be paint. I use masking tape for trim and edges, cheap craft acrylic available at Walmart and other places, around 99¢ per bottle, and a sponge brush or sponge roller depending what I have on hand. Clean the tank, apply paint in several coats. First coat go up and down, let dry, then go side to side on second coat, let dry. Up and down on third coat, etc. Shining a light directly on the backside of the panel your painting easily reveals spots that need touch ups when finished. The paint dries fairly quickly, but if you do heavy coats like I do, a blow dryer speeds things up.

Jesse

 

[CleverBs]

heres the problem with usign something that isnt pait. water is going to get behind it and drip down the back and you will be able to see it on the other side

 

[ScotJudd]

I wouldn't try the oil trick, it only really works if you have easy access to the back of the tank and you need a roller or scraper to get out all the air bubbles. If you can't move the tank then paint it with a radiator roller attached to a short pole, the roller is about 5" long and 1.5" in diameter.
IMO, black paint is the very best background. My tank was second hand and came already painted. I nearly didn't buy it because I've always had picture backgrounds. I've been very pleased with how the fish and plants look against the black background.


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[aclark]

If you can pull it away you might try something like plastidip. That way you could easily remove it in the future to go with a different color or reapply if it gets scratched up. Wish I would have done it before I filled and cycled my tank. Now I'll be stuck trying to apply some sort of vinyl or plastic taped on BG.

 

[Stacey W.]

Unfortunately there is no way I can pull it away. It's a 55g column style tank.

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[Stacey W.]

Maybe I can do vinyl. My husband was a window tinter for years. Does vinyl really look that bad? Also hesleyjk I meant place because I only have approximately 6" of working room.

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[PassengerTN]

You may be SOL aside from just taping a background on the tank, or getting very creative. As for the vinyl, as Scot said, you'll have to get all the bubbles out just like doing window tint. Having 6" of room to work will make that challenging

Jesse

 

[Stacey W.]

Boo! That's all I have to say

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[brennae]

It's hard not to get so excited about a new tank that you end up forgetting something. I know I'm always kicking myself about some small detail that makes things not "perfect" keep us posted

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[ImACoolguy]

Check out Joey

http://youtu.be/EqWAl5TpzY0
If you can't easily get behind the tank, maybe use a screw in extension pole for the roller

This right here works great. I'm a rookie at DIY and this was easy peasy.

I've painted 5 tanks with $2.50 bottle of acrylic black paint from Walmart.

Easy and only takes a few coats. If you use something like a blower dryer is speeds up the process way faster in between coats.

Here's a few I painted:

http://i.imgur.com/YC6m1Bo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/V7NGJj3.jpg


Caleb

 

[brennae]

Wow. I have that paint laying around in all sorts of colors. I never thought about using it to paint a tank. I assumed everyone was using a spray paint.

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[PassengerTN]

Spray paint works too. The craft acrylic is just easier, and may look better. Best part of painting backgrounds on glass tanks is its easily removed with a razorblade and a steady hand.

Jesse

 

[Mebbid]

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with taping a black background to the back of the tank.

I dont know about other people but ive never ever had problems with water dripping behind my vinyl backgrounds. If thats happening youre overflowing your tank or something.

 

[Fresh2o]

In the interim while you decide on what you are going to to, you could tape up a temporary background just so you get the idea of how it would look. Not the same as a painted background but should save your sanity in the mean time. Emptying, moving, and painting a tank takes some planning and time.
I've done this will heavy black blotter (poster) board and black garbage bags. Told myself that I would eventually paint the tanks. that was 2-3 years ago.


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[katiekelsey]

When I set up my 75 gal tank last year I tried to attach a piece of vinyl. I put oil on the glass then spent two hours squeezing out all of the bubbles. It looked nice for about two days then the vinyl started pulling away from the glass and it looked terrible. I removed the vinyl and now I have a piece of blue poster board type paper attached to the back. I'll probably end up painting it but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

 

[brennae]

There's a guy local to me who paints cars for a living. I think he takes his tanks to work and sprays them as I've seen pics. That's why I think I thought everyone was spraying theirs.
Well at least I know that the oil method I mentioned doesn't work. I never tried it so I wasn't sure.

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