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i was wondering how often people use backround on their tanks? does it look natural?

I will be honest I do not like them at all. Either paint the back in a black or a blue, or use a plain black or blue backing.
I have seen some excellent internal backings used on FP but there is no comparison between the two.

Keith

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I have plain on most of my tanks, have a planted background on one and don't really like it @all but I had it so I used it .
My favorite backgrounds are the ones that are a single color with lighter on the top and darker on the bottom.

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what is the best plant that will fill up space in the back of my tank?

That depends on what your set up is Plants have specific requirements, it'll depend on light, temp, ph, even your tank size.

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-flourite plant substrate
-co2
-plantfood
-15w natural plant lamp
-proquactics 100
-tall 20usg
-78*
-7.4 ph

Last edited by BeastKeeper at 04-Dec-2004 00:51

Just about the only plant I can think of that'll be happy in that low of light would be java fern, if you buy it tall it'll fill up the back of the tank quite nicely . Plus it's a nice dark color so it should make the fish look good .

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Last edited by Babelfish at 04-Dec-2004 01:04

Jungle valls may do the trick, they aren't very light demanding, as most people think, at least mine arent and they are fast growers and make a great background plant. you may want to just get a couple and see how they do, if they do well they will start spreading as if were no tomorrow, you just have to guide the runners to the back of your tank, and that's really it.

i liked mine. When it was REALLY overgrown, any spaces that happened to show up were a lovely textured green.

When i thinned it out, it looked awful and faded

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

what would be the best plant lighting for a tall 20usg to have a good variety of plants? is there another way to get light then the space that the light has strip given me?

18" long bulb

If you get a glass lid from your lfs, then you can fit another tube over it, or you can go to home depot and shop around in their lighting department to find out what will fit over your tank. That has been the most resonable way to get light for me. You can get regular clip lamps and fit a compact flourescent bulb in it, or get a strip light, I think they have a two foot version. HD employees are usually very helpful, and will take the strip light out of the box and wire it up for you, just ask.

You probably want to shoot for about 2 watts of flourescent light per gallon, or 40watts. This will let you grow up to mid range plants. A lot of variety will then be available to you.

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 06-Dec-2004 15:25

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

The 2' dual bulb shop fixture from home depot works just fine over a petsmart 20gallon. Wireing isn't hard @all, just get the connectors and the plug while you're there so you don't need to make 3 trips .

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Most of my tanks have a solid Black background, this is what I like best.
However on some of my latest tanks, I have one background that is a picture of a blue sky with white clounds *it's actually very fitting for the tank, I'm about to post pictures of it*, and a black background with a cresent moon and foggy clounds around it *it's a pretty dark background over all* looks really nice, much better then I thought it was going to.

I agree with Calla. In a heavily planted tank it looks good but in a sparsely planted tank not as good IMHO.

I like a black background as it shows the colours really well.



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Well i think the 3D backgrounds looks really good
take a look at this site for some backgrounds http://picswww.fishathome.co.uk/backgrounds.htm

Last edited by robby1619 at 21-Dec-2004 06:44

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

I have bought the Juwel structured background about two weeks ago on a whim. I had to tear my tear my aquarium down anyway, and I saw it while I was getting some stuff at the shop and decided it to use it. It looks nice, but whether it is worth the price or not, I don't really have an opinion (but maybe I'll have one in the future). If you want I can post a picture of it (although I'm a little bit ashamed to post a picture of my tank as it looks now, the plants haven't caught up with the change yet).

Before that, I had the simple dark blue background which i tried to glue to the back with silicone. I was short on silicone and impatient to wait until I got some more, so I didn't cover the whole sheet with the silicone, but at the end it had a nice 3D effect which i was pleased with.

My other tank also has the same dark blue background, but it's taped to the tank and doesn't look too good. I plan on paiting it one of these days, but that means getting to the DIY store first to get some paint.