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well i just switched to having real plants, so i took off my background with plant pictures on it. what should i put there now? i want to cover up the wires and airlines in the back, while showing off my plants and make my tank look more interesting.

and when i put my fake plant background up years ago, it looked real dark until i put some hair gel on it, then it was bright. [just spent 20 minutes cleaning up the dried gel] so if i use colored posterboards and such, will it be dark too? i want it to be somewhat bright, but not like bling bling

i've just redone my 45gallon planted tank and replaced a planted background for straight black, it really shows of my plants. the link below is for the thread you can see the photos of before and after.
i also tried the blue side of the background it didn't look as good, you could try both.

my tank looks dark because i have low lighting, not becasue of the background
redoing 45g


www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

Hi,
Plant, plants that are tall. Stem type plants, along the
back and infront of the filter/heater tubes. Use a dark
sheet of construction paper behind the tank, and as the
plants grow and multiply, you should have exactly the
background you are looking for.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

In some tanks I've made I just painted the back of the tank with acrylic black paint, it looks wonderful while all the plants grow and cover most of it, it's easy un-messy and if it's a glass tank it will come off with some water and a little scrubbing. It can get wet, and still look undamaged and well you have a WIDE color option

i am outta luck with painting that thing, its pretty narrow in the back of my tnak, and there is no way i can move that thing.

so i visited this ultra expensive lfs today, and saw their backgrounds... they used colored tin foil for the back, and they crumble the foil so it looks like the back glass is not there, and looks like there are caves beyond the tank, pretty 3D, have any of you tried that? i wanted to try it, but thinking that i have my cannister hanging on my back glass plus the biowheel output, thats probably not the best bet for me.

so i'll probably go with construction paper.

I paint the back of my tanks with krylon paint. I found that dark greens in particular calm the fish. I had a similar problem painting the back of a full 75 gallon tank, but its nothing getting some wall paint from the apt. building super when we move out to cover the green splotches on the wall won't fix, lol. I used a small foam roller..with an extra long handle you can buy and screw it onto. Krylon paint peels off in sheets if I ever wanted to change it. Something to think about on the next tank, anyway.

I've used foil, both the shiny and matte side. Never crumpled it though, that sounds like an interesting idea. Otherwise I just stick with black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

yup, they crumbled it so it looks like there are caves in the back of the tank

I think that a black background is better, as the plant & fish colours are nicer with a black contrast.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com