What kind of background for a planted tank?

Yuri De Lima

Yuri De Lima

AC Members
Nov 2, 2005
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Alexandria,VA
I will soon be setting up a 55G tank which I intend to make planted. For the substrate I will use Eco-complete (already got the bags here).

I was wondering what kinda of back ground would be good? I have one of those two-sided backgrounds, one side is black and the other is blue.

Which side looks better? More natural? Blue or black? what would chose?

I am also thinking about painting the back pernanently.
 
I have a planted tank and I have always used black for my backgrounds. I happen to dislike blue backgrounds (I feel it looks like the person tried to hard plus I have never found a shade of blue I like) but some people swear by blue. I guess its a matter of personal preference. My vote is for a black background though.
 
Personally I think the blue takes away from the fish' color. I would go for black. This project looks really cool though and I'm planning on doing it with the black behind it:
Grotto
 
so, I have a sorta related question. What about a mirror? I have a large mirror attached to hte wall in my living room where I want to put my new tank. I was hoping to use the mirror as a backgrond, or will this freak the fish out? Should I cover the mirror or take it out?
 
I would think that the mirror would cause some unnecessary stress. If you use an adhesive background though the mirror would become a moot point and you wouldn't have to take it out.

As for the original question, I much prefer the aesthetics of black backgrounds for my tanks (planted and not). I personally use Krylon Fusion, color Satin, spray paint (easily found at Wal mart) to do the backgrounds on my tanks. I've done 7 this way and love the way each one has turned out.

Obviously though that is only an option for a tank that is currently empty and you need to take precautions to ensure that no residue gets in the tank or left on the rim (painters tape and cut garbage bags do it for me).

The other option most on here would probably recommend would be to adhere some poster board to the back of the tank. Fine option as well.
 
Of the two, I think the black is a better choice for showing off the fish and plants, but I find even black can be a little "high-tech" looking IMHO. I once had a nice dark brown background on my planted tank that looked great, & the cool brown tones seemed to fit in with the earthy colours of the gravel & plants (similar to what you find in nature--brown wood, green plants). Just a thought, if you decided to try something else.

But of course, blue gives a nice "deep sea" look when you have coral reefs, rocks, etc. (rather than plants). I think blue might be more suited for a salt-water/reef tank.

It really all depends on what kind of mood you're trying to create in your tank...
 
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I have black on mine and like it, but I would like to see a tank with the brown. That could be nice. That grotto is very cool, too.
 
On my 75g I have a blac background then on my 10g planted I have Dark green wrapping paper taped on the back and I like it better then the black background and its cheaper.
 
black, blue, green ,etc etc...i have tried all that before. instead of painting the background, u could use one of those foam background, or better still use oak skin which is rather expensive.

DSCN2452.jpg

in this setup i used root shape foam for background as u could see on the water line.
 
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