Aquarium background??

[KristaButler]

What do you think the prettiest background cling is? Solid black, rock, or plants. It is hard for me to decide.




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[dalto]

Solid black. IMO, all the fake ones start to look out of place.

The only fake backgrounds I think look good are the quality 3d backgrounds.

[aqua_holic]

Solid black for me too. Painting it produces much better results than a cling in my experience. Another option is to use window tint, but painting it will get the deepest black.

[KristaButler]

What kind of paint do you use? Like lowes paint? Latex?


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[Fresh2o]

Following because I'm curious about which paint to use. Due to my setup, I'd rather roll it on using a hotdog roller than spray it.
Currently I have black blotter board on one tank and a black plastic garbage bag on the other. Threw them on temporarily to see if I liked the effect. That was two years ago


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[aqua_holic]

Yes I used latex paint, though I don't remember if it was flat or glossy. A small container did a 125.

My first tip is to position the tank so that sunlight passes through it. You'll be able to see where you need to apply more paint.

Definitely Use painters tape

Also, it may take more than one session to get the job done.

I used a foam brush - not sure if that's easier or more difficult since that's the only tank I've painted thus far. It took several coats. At first I painted the back like I was painting - left a lot of streaks. It looked cool in it's own right - very "starry night". After a few coats like that, I let it dry. Then round two finished the job. Instead of painting with strokes, I dabbed it on, filling in the streaks. Again, having sunlight pass through the tank will show you the spots you've missed. The streaks provided texture for the paint to grab with the dabbing, which then completely blocked out all light. The result is a deep deep black that makes everything inside POP.

I've also heard of people using spray paint to do the job, which would be easy to do on small tanks, since you can lay them down so the back is facing up. Not really an option for me working on a 125 by myself.

Krylon fusion sticks to plastic and many people use that to paint their plumbing pieces. That's next - painting the XP intake tubes which are blue for whatever reason.

[PB_Smith]

Originally Posted by KristaButler

What do you think the prettiest background cling is? Solid black, rock, or plants. It is hard for me to decide.




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black is the safest and most versatile.
rockwork or planted ones can look great if the tank is nicely/heavily planted and the plants/rockwork is the same/similar as what is pictured on the background. Then it gives a great sense of depth to the tank.
My ten gallon has the cheap picture that came on the tank (Petco 1$ sale) and once the plants filled in you don't really notice it, but if I remove it and leave the back plain, it certainly stands out even with a ton of plants in the tank.

But when those backgrounds are used in relatively bare tanks, they look like fake crap.

[Tacit Blues]

I put a ricepaper pattern cling on mine and I think it looks pretty nice, though since it's white it does show algae a lot better than black would.

[RussSerio]

If you spray paint it will last longer as long as the glass is very clean and dry first. Also cover the opening with cardboard so you dont get overspray inside. Painters tape the frame.

But i prefer variety. For mine I went online and searched underwater photos. When I finally picked the one I wanted I went to a copy store (almost any one will do) and had it enlarged to fit the tank and laminated.

Neither too pricy or too cheap, but it's unique, fits my taste and will last a long time.

[mattcham]

I used plastidip spray paint. Easily removable from glass when needed.