Paint a black background?

[Evaunitone]

Would it be silly of me to paint the back (outside) of my tank with black acrylic paint? I'm having trouble finding a black background at petstores.

[Blueiz]

I use rustoleum paint to paint the backs of my tanks. Use a flat paint if you can, it doesn't peel off as easily as gloss ones and will give you the same look. By painting it, you don't have to worry about the background coming off or lifting at the edges and it is cheaper too. I used a roller on mine and applied 2 coats.

[WhiteDevil]

I use it, I wont have anything but painted anymore.

This is my 40g tall that I painted the trim black and background.


when it was first filled with water


after cycle

I love it. I did mine with cheap wal-mart spray paint, used 3 cans..still have some weak spots in it but you have to have a light behind the tank to see em.

(in-tank filter is simply a canister for floss, its my water clarifier)

The only back part is that it scratches are hard to fix with the tank in place, when setting it up after its dried, use a piece of plastic sheeting or a thick towel and tape it around the painted surface then place the tank, when setting the filters use all caution when placing them, slow and steady will result in zero blemishes.

[HN1]

We paint all of our tank backs with Krylon Fusion.

[Angry the Clown]

An alternative to painting (in case you may decide you want blue later) is to get some fabric and attach it to the tank using adhesive hook & latch (i.e. velcro). I have been using this on my 75 gallon for the last few years, and enjoy the ability to quickly & cheaply change the background color to suit my plants, fish, and light (6500K, 8000K, 9325K, or 10,000K). Whole thing is <$5... ymmv.

[yohann976]

I love black backgrounds, especially with planted tanks.

[Evaunitone]

Thanks guys! I'll definitely paint mine. I think I'll use spray paint since it probably doesn't come off as easily as acrylic.

[barterking85]

What do you guys think of regular latex paint for indoors then if I ever sell the tank or want to change the color I can remove it I know it's not durable but if I put a price of construction paper under where the filter goes and be gentle it should be ok right? It's not like anyone goes behind the tank to scratch it