320 gallon display with equipment shed

cilyjr · Sep 23, 2024

The paint on the back of my tank began to peel. I had to remove it all.

Rather than repainting, I choose to use a backing that could be removed. I have never liked the light blue backing that have been around and have always used black. I also had been trying with a mirrored backing to give an illusion of depth. It would need to be tinted in order have a subtle appearance.

After experimenting, I came up with using a auto vinyl covering. I tried a reflective smoked black and a dark blue and decided on the blue, surprisingly.

Next I needed to mount the vinyl to something that would be sturdy enough to stay rigid but also allow my 4 vortec pumps to work.

I had some FRP board lying around and it worked great. I wrapped the smooth side and The textured side is facing backwards.

Now they can be pretty easily removed for cleaning etc..

Here are a few pictures
Old

New

When up close, you can see a little reflection which makes it seem deeper.

Jimbo327 · Sep 24, 2024

Did you ever get the swallowtail pair in?

The new background looks nice. Definitely don't put in the mirror background or your fishes will be ticked off fighting their own reflections.

cilyjr · Sep 24, 2024

Jimbo327 said:
Did you ever get the swallowtail pair in?

The new background looks nice. Definitely don't put in the mirror background or your fishes will be ticked off fighting their own reflections.

I finally did get the swallow tail pair. I think I spent 300 bucks on both. The male is kind of in transition. As they were on the smaller side. I'll try to get a picture.

I bought a dji action 4. Once I get it figured out I'll try to get some better pictures so it can pretty easily be seen how the backing looks.

cilyjr · Oct 12, 2024

Major algae in the frag tank. So I decided to do a massive teardown clean out and put back up. It went smoothly and only took a couple of hours.

Here's everything chilling out in a extra tank I have lying around.

Everything is back in and happy.

cilyjr · Oct 12, 2024

Also, I popped into the local store here to get a small timini to help deal with the algae in that tank.
They had these two guys. I have not had a pyramid butterfly since I moved to the West Coast. They simply didn't have them around. When I saw a A pyramid and a zoosters, I grabbed them both.

Here they are selling in isolation waiting for the lights to go out to be added to the tank. I only buy fish from 1 source I know and trust his systems. I know which have been in copper and which have not. Just to stress this point, these are some of the advantages of having a good relationship with the local shop.