What's on the back of your tank?

[lesleybird]

What do you do with the back of your tank? I have heard of people painting it with some type of paint, using plastic pre-made backgrounds, etc. I here that a lot of people like blue or black. I was thinking about painting the back of the tank, but it is already filled with fish and 5 inches from the wall. Even if I could get back there, I am kind of afraid that the fumes would get into the tank. Anyone have any thoughts on the type of paint, or the fume issue? I just got a piece of that plastic stuff that one can tape on the back and realize that it shows the salt water spots that drip behind it and one cannot use the magnafloat thing on the back of the tank with it on the back. Also, I think the royal blue side looks too fakey, and the black too harsh. I would paint the back, but am afraid that I may commit myself to a color that I cannot change.
My favorite two ideas are as follows: I thought of getting some picture of a tropical beach/ocean and having it blown up and laminated, maybe even with a sunset or something.....until my husband said that most printers will only use your own shots if you have to negatives because they are afraid of copyright laws. So, my second idea was to experiment by getting some clear contact paper and painting on the non-sticky side so that it would show the color thru when I place it on the back of the tank. I was thinking of getting two or three pastel colors and a sponge and kind of blending them in like they sometimes do for special effects on walls. Gee....got to thinking of maybe several shades of light blues together, or maybe even white and pale yellow with a golden yellow, or several shades of light turquoise together, or even maybe lavender shades, or lavender with light grey? Anyone have any other good ideas for a tank background? I don't even know if paint on clear contact paper will work well, but it is not permanent if one does not like it or grows tired of it. Maybe I can even use my magnate over it? So, anyone have any good ideas? I have live rock covering up half of the back but need something to make it look even better.
Anyone? Thanks, Lesley

 

[kingbrd1]

I have painted a 50 gal blue before and was very happy with it. The only problem was that I had brush strokes and the back was against a wall with a window, so the light kindof brightened the back some. It was actually kind of neat now that I think about it. But I have since started a 20 and I put a black plastic background up. I cleaned the glass really well and then taped it up with duct tape so that water can't or shouldn't creep along the back. If I did it over I would have bought a can of spray paint and done it several days in advance. Please ignore the salt lines on the front of the tank, I haven't yet bought myself anything to clean the inside glass, it is still cycling.

 

[wvlegend]

I velcroed a piece of blue-green material to the back of my 125gal tank. That way if I decide to go lighter or darker, I just buy a new piece of material.

 

[janelle]

i have the black plastic background cuz im not willing to commit to painting the glass. (If I did, I'd go with dark blue or black.) I just clean the glass real well and clean the plastic occasionally.
i wouldnt paint the glass while you have fish, it would be too difficult and uneven and messy.
I dont know about the draw-your-owns, ive seen a few and they look bad, but you may be a great artist. I say try it (draw or paint on some material and then attach), what can it hurt? If you hate it you can always try something else...

 

[wrassecal]

I used velcro strips and black canvas. I can't see painting the back of a 135

 

[robchuck]

I'm setting up a new tank right now, and I spray painted a sheet of plexiglass that I taped to the tank with packing tape. I painted the bottom of the background black, and faded it into a dark blue. I think it looks really nice, and wasn't hard to do at all.

 

[bbreaux1]

i used a blue plastic back ground with vegetable oil and double sided tape to secure the edges. just oil upt the back slap it on line it up somewhat and use a credit card to get out all the bubles then do a stip of double stick tape on the verticle edges. did this about two years ago and im just getting a few bubbles where it came undone but after this week illh ave time to undo it and re stick it. comes out very bright

 

[saltysyd]

I've gotten pictures blown up/ copied with no questions asked. If you go to a local walmart, k-mart, etc... that has one of those kodak machines they don't seem to much care. also the back of the photo will say that it's copyrighted if it is, it's worth a try.

 

[jrpage]

very inexpensive, but gives a polished look. Also, since I did this as an afterthought to setting up the tank (such as yourself) it was extremely easy! Good luck

 

[murray bmf]

I use just plain ole blue backing taped to the tank-the look I was going for was from when I lived on Kuaui Hawaii and used to dive, when your look off into the distance, it just looks blue, hard to explain, but thats what I was trying to re-create, the blue back drop.

 

[cindyski]

i have mentioned this before on another thread, but a piece of black formica cut to size is wonderful. being your tank is set up already you could just carefully slide it in there & use tape or velcro to hold it. g/l with your choice

 

[janelle]

pic of the black background you buy at the petstore

 

[dea_mt]

I just have boatloads of coralline algae. it painted the back and sides of my tank for me!!!

 

[sinner's girl]

both 55gl and 75gl are painted blue.
I thought of getting some picture of a tropical beach/ocean and having it blown up and laminated, maybe even with a sunset or something.....until my husband said that most printers will only use your own shots if you have to negatives because they are afraid of copyright laws. S
what size would you need? Would it be possible to break the image up, and then just print say 8x10s or whatever will fit? You can upload you pic's to walmart.com, have them shipped to you or pick them up in the store. If you do one hour, they don't care, if you have them printed and shipped to the store they care. You'll have to fill out a form and fax it to them, of course if you don't have a fax, like me, then you'll have to pay more for one hour. Or if you have a good printer, print it yourself.
Depending on the quality of the image, use photoshop, blow it up, and crop in into different pieces, save those images, and print. There ya go.

 

[dougai]

i have a plain blue(same as my lfs)
i have noticed it gives more color to my FOWLF tank

 

[vanos]

I went to ***** and got a blue background for 8 bucks. They had to cut it to match the back of my 55G.

 

[jambi0n]

I just bought 2 cans of black spray paint and sprayed the back of my 90. It came out real clean. Just do light coats evenly until you cant see through it anymore. Much better than a brush, cuz you dont get the brush marks.