Painting back of tank

[bartman]

The time is getting closer and closer to actually PUTTING WATER IN THE TANK However another question has come to mind. I have seen where some people have painted the back of thier tanks black. Now i have not seen it in RL but the pictures made it look promising. Anyone else done this and what were your results.
Bartman
<img src="graemlins//angel.gif" border="0" alt="[angel]" />

 

[worm]

painting the back of the tank. now that's an idea!

 

[bluemarlin]

You realize that you do paint the OUTSIDE of the tank right? Just making sure to help out.
I painted mine blue. Its awesome. I love it. My tank is built in a wall in my basement office. Its 180 gallons of glory. (thats sounds good doesn't it?) The overflow is also painted blue so it doesn't stand out so much. I let the overflow dry for 72 hours before putting water in the tank. Just cautious.
The painted rear wall hides all the cords and filters. I can hang heaters or hang on filters without any care about what they look like because its just my fish room side of the basement that will see it! That is great!
Don't limit yourself to black. Black looks really good but so does blue, white and I've even seen a timid yellow that looked pretty cool. Your tank. Your choice.

 

[sal t. nutz]

I painted mine black as well, and I am so glad I did. It looks great. The reason behind choosing black over any other color was simple, all colored fish stand out on a black tank. I have seen all shades of blue and black at my LFS and the black did the most for the viewablity of the fish. Unless you plan on getting a lot of black fish, I would go with black.

 

[virginia reef]

I painted mine blue. You can use Krylon or Rustoleum paint. Be sure that the outside glass is really clean. It works like a charm

 

[crispcritr]

they only draw back to black is that it seems to absorb more light than the blue. it takes a lot more light to get the black to look as bright. the blue reflects the light better. just my 2 cents.

 

[mr . salty]

I also like the blue better.I had black and the live rock seemed to blend in too much..I didn't realise it till i switched to blue.The light is also much more intense with a blue background...One thing to remember is that most of the background will eventually be covered with rock anyway,so I would reccomend looking again at the blue....

 

[rockster]

Here's an idea, how about a mirror running the entire back of the tank. It will make tank look larger, will reflect light back to the tank making the tank look brighter, will make your live rocks look much more, it will hide the cords behing it as well...hmmm, oh and it will make your fishies think they all have twins

 

[clarkiiboi]

mirror---not a good idea, may make certain fish "fight with themselves" so to say and may cause problems. I still got a blue background on my tank, not paint. An idea might be to buy both the blue and the black background (since it is cheap) and see which one you like best and then if you want to paint it you know what you like.

 

[kalisad]

sorry if this is a dumb question but are all of you spray painting the back of your tank? How many coats?
Kalisa

 

[bluemarlin]

I didn't spray paint mine. I used blue pool paint and brushed it on. It took two coats and a little touch up in a few spots.
I have a tank with the rear glass being a mirror. I loved it the day I say it in the LFS. I bought it immediately. Fish will see themselves and try to intimidate "the other guy." Its funny until you realize that the fish isn't getting any smarter. It does look good and I don't have any problems with it but I have been very careful not to scratch it. I figured that one scratch may equal two.