# Aquarium Background Color



## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

I currently have a painted light blue background on my tank.
It doesn't look very good with plants so I want to remove it and paint a different color.
I am thinking about a solid black glossy paint but I am not too sure that is why I would like your comments and suggestions.

Thanks


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

I would do a matte black on it. Glossy black might add a weird shiny background. Navy blue also works very well, but again, use a matte paint.

You could try a dark green, if you are feeling creative and want to be a little different. A friend of mine has the back of his tank painted with a dark green, and uses a ton of yellow and red plants. It looks very cool!


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

For photo shoots, a background held a few inches behind the tank is best. Especially if one wants to add gradiants/tints/different colors


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## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

I had dark green and hated it, too much green in the tank. Flat black is what I like best.


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## Hashbaz (Apr 23, 2006)

I really love the black backgrounds, but I have seen some nice navy ones also. Mine is one of those plastic ones. It is more reflective than I would like. If you are going to go with paint use a matte or other non-reflective.

I have not tried a painted background. Does the refelectiveness of the paint even matter when you are viewing it from the back of the painted surface?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I use either black or dark blue backgrounds.


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## freakmonkey1423 (Jan 21, 2007)

I got an inexpensive black film background, put about a teaspoon of regular cooking oil on it smeared it all over and used a credit card to squeegie it onto the back. It looks like it is painted on but it is easy to remove so you could try different colors until you figure out what you like. Might not be what you are looking for but it's easier than scraping paint off if you change your mind.


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## nswhite (Aug 25, 2006)

I painted 5 tanks all with flat black and I think it looks great my 75gal planted tank has it and it brings out the greens and reds. I also recommend not gusing the gloss I think it will be to shiny. Good luck


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## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

nswhite said:


> I painted 5 tanks all with flat black and I think it looks great my 75gal planted tank has it and it brings out the greens and reds. I also recommend not gusing the gloss I think it will be to shiny. Good luck


Are you using a water-base or what?
I can't remember if it was acrylic that holds on to glass better.


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## yildirim (Nov 25, 2004)

Matte black film, easy and nice looking.


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## Ancillo (Aug 24, 2006)

matte black hard paper background. very good and effective, also easy for removal and change.


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## flandjm (Dec 28, 2006)

I taped one of those big industrial black garbage bags on the back. It was originally too wrinkly, so I took the hair dryer to it and shrunk out as many wrinkles as I could. It was cheap, easy, and water proof. You really can't tell that it was a garbage bag.


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## Hashbaz (Apr 23, 2006)

A garbage bag and a hairdryer!?!?!?! Thats really cool.


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

for the longest time i used one of the plastic aquarium sheets taped to the back. the colours themselves were good, but the it was very reflective. on my new tank, i painted a matte black latex (water based) paint. i guess because the paint is so much "closer" to the glass, it does not reflect as much.

with the latex paint you have to be careful when adding subsequent coats not to wrinkle the previous coat (which i happened to do... d'oh!).

if you don't want to paint, you go with the fancy paper method that steven_chong mentioned


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## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

Can you guys please post some pics of your tank with black background?


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