Painting...

[Jann Josh]

Hi guys... I heard that the beauty of a SW aquarium will better shown if I paint the back of an aquarium. Is this true? What color should I use, better yet what paint? Is it just the back or should I include the side of the aquarium. Thanks for the info.

[Fishyfanatic]

I have heard of people painting the backs of their tanks black instead of using backgrounds. Make sure it's REALLY what you want though beacuse it will be hard to take it off. Don't do the sides, then you will be constricted to only a frontal view of the tank. BTW, you asked about SW tanks but posted in a FW forum. No biggie, just an observation.

[TygGer]

I painted the back of my sw tank dark blue. Black would have been nice also. I used Krylon Fusion navy blue... it bonds to glass and plastic well.

A less permanent alternative would be buying a solid black or blue background.

I know some people who have painted a sheet of acrylic and stuck it to the back of the tank. It's removable so you can easily change colors as you see fit.

[BASSNMAN]

I wanted a dark background on my 125 gal, so I taped a piece of tar paper on it. Looks great and is waterproof. You can buy a small roll cheap. I would try that before painting.

[Jann Josh]

Thanks for all of your advices.

[severum mama]

I just painted a 55 gallon that I am in the process of setting up at work. I used black paint (not sure what kind, just whatever was laying around) and it looks great! If you're sure that's what you want, go for it, but if you have doubts I would just buy a background.

[piranha]

I don't think it would make any sense to want to paint the back of an aquarium.With so many other options; foil or rock or anything that could affix to the back of a tank, at least it could easily be removed when a change is warranted.

[Fishyfanatic]

An advantage of painting the background is that it won't fade like the backgrounds that you purchase from the lfs. Also, if water spills on the back of the tank, you really can't see it from the front (water spots). And, you don't have to worry about the tape coming loose or whatever happening. I am fed up with the background on the 29 gal. It keeps coming loose and rolling up.

[severum mama]

I use black backgrounds on 2 of my tanks and I can tell you that the black paint looks much better and makes the tank look so much more vibrant, if you are absolutely sure you want a black background.