Question About Backgrounds...

[sakaspuds]

this might be a daft question, but when i go to fish shops and they have the white sand/plain blue background thing going they look real nice, but when i do the same thing the blue doesnt look 'very blue' at all, so what i want to know is am i doing something wrong?, i stick the background on the outside of the tank with a bit of tape, i have noticed that when some water gets down the back between the tank and the plastic background it goes very bright blue

 

[debiasir]

it could be something to do with the lighting in the two tanks

 

[eric1514]

You need to do one of two things.

1) Paint the back of the tank.

2) Attach your background more securely.

I vote for 2 and here's how. Take of your present background. Clean it well and clean the back of your tank well also. With a lintless cloth, smear the back of your tank and the side of the background you want to see with vaseline or vegetable oil. Get small tabs of tape ready. Then, with the help of someone if you can, apply the background to the tank. It will stick and be hard to reposition so get it close to where it needs to be the first time. Smooth out all the trapped air bubbles with a credit card. Keep at it and secure it with tape as you work.

This is easier if you have nothing obstructing your work like a HOB filter. Remove it. It will only take 5 min to apply the background

Good luck,
Eric

 

[sakaspuds]

thanks for that i'll give it a go

 

[Arfie]

The lfs paint thiers, I have doen it on one of my tanks and will be doing it to all of them in the future.

Just 2 or 3 coats of normal emulsion will cover it great and the best thing is, it will come off quite easily if you want to change the look in the future. If it gets scratched just touch it up.

I did a 48" * 18" tank back, using 2 tester pots

Do it, it looks better.

Arfie

 

[anvil63]

Another option is to coat your background in vasoline or vegetable oil. I know it sounds weird but this makes your background much brighter. Like it looks if you've ever spilled water in between your background and the glass, except with the oil it stays that bright forever

Carl

 

[Aquascaper]

Further to what Arfie says, emulsion works very well in that it can be removed easily using a razor blade. However, over time with exposure to moisture it will start to peel and bubble and eventually you will need to re-touch it or even do it all again.

If you're after a more permenant solution go for a one-coat tile paint. Choose one that is suitable for bathrooms and it will leave a rubber-like coating which water just flows off. Luckily bathroom paints come in some lovley shades of blue.....ideal for the discerning aquarist

With any painting job on glass make sure the glass is very clean and dry otherwise you will see any little mark from inside the tank. The best way to apply emulsion is with a foam roller but with the tile paint it doesn't matter as it is so viscous the brush marks don't show.

 

[SamUK]

i was wondering about this!!

i have a rock photo background that looks ace.......but only when i wet it and stick it down again.

after a few hours it looks like a bad algae growth spurt and by the morning it back to being barely visible.


have to try the oil thing out.

 

[tidytourniquet]

For the 2 tanks that I have backgrounds on I used the vaseline, its easy to do and looks great. I didn't use any tape though cause once its on there, its on there, unless you actually peel it off which I think is good for whenever you wanna change it