# Background colors...



## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

What color would you use with this layout?


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## random_alias (Nov 7, 2005)

Nice. That stone adds a great contrast.

I'd say the colors are too bright to go with white, think it would wash it out. I don't think blue would look good with the stone. That setup just screams classic black, all the way. Either that or orange.=;


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## jeff63851 (Feb 23, 2005)

I think the background should be black. How would you paint the aquarium when it is already set up? I am thinking of painting an black background on my aquarium, but there is only 5" of space between the back of the tank to the wall.


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## Ajax (Apr 3, 2006)

I think a basic black would be perfect for that one too.


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## yildirim (Nov 25, 2004)

Darker, better.


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

Thanks all....All my tanks are painted black so, this one I thought I would decide on a background after the layout. I'm going to use something that can be placed behind the tank and removed when-ever.

Any thoughts on what that material could be used for this?

I think once I decide on a material, i'll try all the colors.


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## raven_wilde (Nov 16, 2005)

I use matboard purchased at the craftstore in their framing department... nice quality, stiff, smooth surface, and there is a wide array of colours available. It will however, ruin easily if it gets wet so you have to be mindful of it when doing maintnance... usually I just remove it as I attach it to the tank with binder clips. On a larger tank this probably wouldn't be feasible but on one your size it might be just the ticket- and the color choices are amazing!


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> I'm going to use something that can be placed behind the tank and removed when-ever.
> 
> Any thoughts on what that material could be used for this?


 Roy, what I have done on all my tanks is placed some velcro on the corners on the rear. Then I have cut a piece of mat board (black in my case) to the dimensions of the rear, and placed the corresponding velcro piece on the corners of the mat board. If I need to remove it, I just remove it via the velcro. That gives you an easy way to change backgrounds if you want to. 

Ninja posting! All great minds think alike?...


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## Ajax (Apr 3, 2006)

Countertop laminate that you can get at Home Depot wouldn't be as prone to getting ruined.


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

Good stuff folks...looks like I'll be busy for lunch today!!


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

Well when to a frame shop at lunch today and they were out of the orange matte board I wanted. So I went to a craft store and picked up a piece od orange construction paper for a test and this is what it looks like:
Any thoughts?

btw I did a trim job on the R. macrandra 'green' in the back left before taking this shot.


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## Aquaspot (Jan 19, 2006)

Our opinion would be to have the orange fade into white at the top. Or else get another shade of orange.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

I concur-I would recomend a brighter orange to start and maybe a fade to white. Why not find a thin piece of acrylic and paint it whatever you like and tape it to the back?


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

Well like I said this is just a test with a piece of construction paper. I order a matte board that is a marigold color which is more brighter than this paper. I didn't want to use the typical "pumpkin" orange either.

Painting a piece of thin acrylic is a good idea, if I knew how to airbrush (if i were to fade it from orange to white)

Also, the photo with the orange background does not represent the true color. I'm using a 2.0 mp camera and i'm sure i'm not using the right setting.


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## travis (Oct 5, 2004)

Roy, if your tank sits a few inches from the wall, take a cue from Norbert and buy some matt board from the store and put it on the wall behind the tank. You can then add a light above the matt board at the top of the tank to give it that diffuse glow that Norbert achieves so gracefully. I've tried it on my 125G and it works amazingly well. That way you can change out your background color as easily as pinning some new color of matt board to the wall behind your tank.


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## raven_wilde (Nov 16, 2005)

travis said:


> Roy, if your tank sits a few inches from the wall, take a cue from Norbert and buy some matt board from the store and put it on the wall behind the tank. You can then add a light above the matt board at the top of the tank to give it that diffuse glow that Norbert achieves so gracefully. I've tried it on my 125G and it works amazingly well. That way you can change out your background color as easily as pinning some new color of matt board to the wall behind your tank.


So that's how he does it! I'm so totally trying this on my own tanks! Excellent, thanks!


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

travis said:


> Roy, if your tank sits a few inches from the wall, take a cue from Norbert and buy some matt board from the store and put it on the wall behind the tank. You can then add a light above the matt board at the top of the tank to give it that diffuse glow that Norbert achieves so gracefully. I've tried it on my 125G and it works amazingly well. That way you can change out your background color as easily as pinning some new color of matt board to the wall behind your tank.


Travis...Thanks, I too was wondering how this was done.


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## Winzzy (Apr 24, 2006)

Hey Roy,

I like the black better but if you are wanting to go with the fade I have an airbrush and compressor I haven't used in a long time, I could bring it over to your house some time and we could experiment, airbrushing an unmasked fade isn't that hard.

Tim


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

Hey there's an idea...


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## imatrout (May 12, 2005)

I would use a mirror!


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## JKCoyne (May 1, 2006)

travis said:


> You can then add a light above the matt board at the top of the tank to give it that diffuse glow that Norbert achieves so gracefully.


How is this done exactly? You place a light, not over the water column, but on the back of the aquarium, and direct the light's trajectory towards the wall? What kind of light would you use?


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