# Rear Wall of the Tank?



## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

Hello all,

I am in the process of planning out another aquarium and going over the details in my head and I am curious, what do you folks do with the rear wall of the aquarium? I've had tanks with this wall blacked out, covered with plastic photoprint background, and most often just left bare allowing me to see what's behind it. I may go with a blacked out background on my next tank simply because I am loathe to see all the equiment I have stashed back there. What do the rest of you do? 

Thanks,

Jason


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## tropism (Jul 21, 2006)

I personally like black backgrounds. I was really surprised at how much difference it made when I put the background on the tank. What I'm using is just the cheap plastic stuff you can get at almost any pet store. I tried the other side too (light blue fading to dark blue), but the black just looked better with my tank. I knew that by putting a background on the tank it would hide the stuff hanging down behind the tank, but I didn't realize how far it goes in making the equipment (as long as it's black or dark grey) inside the tank less visible.


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## DaFishMan (Dec 4, 2005)

Welcome aboard Jason !

I use black construction paper, dull side in.


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## cwlodarczyk (Sep 18, 2005)

Painted black here... and I agree that it really hides equipment and helps keep the focus on the foreground.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

cwlodarczyk said:


> Painted black here... and I agree that it really hides equipment and helps keep the focus on the foreground.


What kind of paint do you use?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I use a black piece of mat board held in place by velcro pieces on the back of the tank and the mat board. It's cheap, easy, and if you want to change colors, just get a different piece of mat board of a different color.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I have 2 tanks in front of windows, so I don't put anything on the back of those as I want them to get sunlight. On my other 2 tanks I have navy blue (almost black) polar fleece hanging from the top frame with sticky backed velcro. I can easily flip it up to see what's going on in the back and it dries very quickly in case of splashes.


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## Tom Higgs (Mar 2, 2006)

I used a mirrored film on a piece of 1/8 inch hardboard, it slides right in between the top and bottom trim and holds tight. My tank is heavily planted, so it gives the illusion of being underwater and seeing things off in the distance since the film give a kind of blurry appearance. Its pretty cool. I saw one guy years ago that built a shadow box behind his tank that was pretty awesome. Just about anything beats wires and plumbing !


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

Ok, I'll bite - Whats a shadow box?


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## Tom Higgs (Mar 2, 2006)

He had the tank built into a wall, like under a stair case. The tank was flush with the wall, but he extended the "shelf" holding the tank back about 3 feet past the back of the tank. The extended shelf couldnt be seen from the outside since it was under the stairs and closed in. He then did some rock formations and artificial plants behind the tank. It made the tank look 3 feet deeper (front to back).


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## SkinniMini (Mar 26, 2006)

I cut & paint thin peices of aluminum-it slides easily under my equipment,4 peices of scotch tape, & it's done.


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## troybernard (Oct 29, 2006)

I have had them painted black, different backgrounds from the pet store and mirrors. I plan on making some rock like formations out of styrafoam since those seem to look the best to me.


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