tank background

[jmac]

i'm thinking of putting a background on the back of the tank, is there if any benefit of having one?

 

[krisfal]

I do not know if there are any real benifits to the tank or its inhabitants by having a background, I think it is mostly asthetics. A background will help hide any equipment, plumbing or wires that hang behind your tank until your coraline algea covers the glass at which time the background will not be seen anyways.

From my experience putting a background on a tank that is already set up and has equipment hanging on it is a real PITA. I did this on my first tank. I also had issues with splashing water while I was working on the tank which ran down between the tank and the background leaving salt residue. The coraline is beginning to cover it all now (1 year old) so it does not bug me as much as it use to.

My preference (a friend gave me this idea and I do this when I set up new tanks) is to paint the back of the tank before I begin putting it together. I just use regular spray paint and it dries real quickly. On the last tank I put together I actually used several colors and attempted a water scene by painting some purple blobs towards the bottom (rocks :doubt green streaks (plant life) and then covered the whole thing with a very light coat of white before a final heavy coat of blue. It turned out pretty decent, if I do say so myself

On my QT I painted the back and both sides and then scraped out a couple of "portholes" on the side to peek in. I think this might help the fish feel more secure in the mostly bare tank (only pvc joints to hide in) as they have less area to see out and possibly startled by the activity. The portholes give me the ability to peek in and see the fish with less likelyhood they will be startled so I can view more normal behavior.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[Sherman]

Sure! You don't see the wall through the glass.

I've always run a solid black background. It works well for me, because the corals really "pop" off of the black. Here's the last photo I took of my tank before I added the background, then the very next photo, taken only a couple weeks later, for comparison.

 

[Snowboarda42]

Sherman your tank always makes me jealous that mine doesn't look as good yet.


Edit: BTW, what size Seios are those?

 

[Sherman]

Not to hijack, but the left is an 820, the right is a 620. Actually, in these two photos, they're probably both 620s. I didn't upgrade one of the pumps to an 820 until later, I think.

 

[spongebob lover]

Sherman your tank always makes me jealous

ya Jason always makes me feel very tiny too .

to be honest i'm a dirty woman :shock:, my background which is blue has tons of dried tank water which you can see clearly but i'd like to pretend is coralline :lol:

 

[MarineTeng]

ya i'd suggest painting it if it's not to much of a problem, i would if my tank wasn't already set up against a wall in my room, cause my background isn't attached the best and looks kinda messy, my other tank though is 3 side viewable and it does fine without a back ground specially since the one wall side has accumulated a bit of coraline to cover up stuff

 

[theJ]

I don't have a background, I just route my wires from lights/pumps behind the overflow and they hide nicely. I would imagine though, cleaning salt creep from between the background and glass would be a pita, if I had to make a decision I would paint it black. Sherman's tank looks awesome! I am curious, if the color of the background would matter, I mean something blue or white (white, eww..) would reflect more light than a black background.

 

[DrHank]

Backgrounds are more for hiding all the things that come up and enter the tank or hood from view. If you aren't concerned about that (and don't have anything really scary for the fish behind the tank) then I wouldn't worry about. For my tanks though it hides my plumbing and electrical from view and makes my wife happy so I have both tank backs spray painted navy blue.

My wife is happy and my fish don't seem to mind not being able to look out the back of the tank.

 

[Sherman]

to be honest i'm a dirty woman

QFT. Thank you very much.

 

[Sherman]

BTW, for me... I can't stand coralline on the glass. There aren't large walls of coralline in nature, you know? The blue backgrounds look like Tupperware dishes to me, or maybe like the LFS, which is NOT a look I'm after. I just prefer the black because it's like looking off into the distance, and your eye is forced back to looking at the corals.

I'm in the process of setting up a 120, and am thinking a lot about the background. Here's my current idea, a representation of depth. With influences like these:

I was thinking about something like this:

 

[plack]

Blue reflects some light also sand does...not black for what it's worth
Paul

 

[Snowboarda42]

Sherman, I think that's a great Idea. However I'd want to make sure it comes out as sharp as possible. The only other downside to that would be the fact that the mobile objects in it (swimming fish, diver dan, swaying corals/polyps, etc) are completely stationary and would draw some attention to the bacground instead of the objects you have in the tank...

I do like however the blue to black fade. Maybe you could make some sort of gradient to make the blue to black fade, have the lighter blue at the top and the black at the bottom. Thus simulating the light coming in from the surface and the lesser light at the bottom.

 

[Snowboarda42]

I was thinking something more like this, maybe continuing the top of the ocean across.

Although it kinda makes my previous point look stupid because the top of the ocean should be moving...






It'd be cool to have a projection on the back of the tank...

 

[Snowboarda42]

Heres a quick photoshop I did. If you like it, or want something changed, PM me and I'll make you a better one.

 

[Snowboarda42]

I like this one too, but I didn't make it.

 

[Sherman]

Yeah, either of those would work. I'm going to break the mold a bit on this tank, and not build the rock structure symetrically. The way it's shifted off to the right is how I intend to aquascape, so I wanted an offset background, as well. As for the background movement, don't forget that the shimmer from your lights WILL help create this effect, anyway.

 

[spongebob lover]

QFT. Thank you very much.

LMAO!!!!:lol::lol:.

are completely stationary and would draw some attention to the bacground instead of the objects you have in the tank...

in my case ....that'd be fine :lol:.
the last pic looks very kewl ....what kind of paper would you all use to print this though ?

 

[Snowboarda42]

LMAO!!!!:lol::lol:.




in my case ....that'd be fine :lol:.
the last pic looks very kewl ....what kind of paper would you all use to print this though ?

Probably something glossy, just like the ones you can buy at the LFS. I think that even something of a matte or dull lustre finish will work fine too. I might even reccomend something not glossy, since my anthias attack their reflections in the back glass once in a while...

 

[Snowboarda42]

Sherman,

Have you made yours yet? I'm curious to see how it turns out.

BTW, where are you planning on getting it printed at? Since It's probably a custom job and all...