Miami Reef
10K Club Member
Before you jump on me for making ANOTHER thread about this…let me explain.
My tank was originally painted blue on the back. I contemplated about going black because I want my fish to stand out.
After months of deciding, I went black! It was awesome and the fish coloration was outstanding. It made the tank look a bit smaller, but it was really nice.
But here was the problem: every little particle/spec/dust etc showed like a sore thumb. My tank looked dingy and musty. Here’s a short video of the dusty appearance.
I’ve tried EVERYTHING to eliminate the particles. 1 micron filter socks, water changes, closing all pumps etc. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but it makes the tank look dirty and gross.
SO…after a few months of going black it finally hit me that I’ve never had these particles before!
PS: I had to get custom black acrylic sheets to go from the INSIDE of my tank because my tank was against the wall and pre painted a bright blue color. And the overflows are also prepainted. (250 gallon). Having the background removable on the inside of the tank made cleaning 100 times easier, so I will never go back to the regular painted back. I just take it out, vinegar soak it and put it back. And every spot goes away! It’s a perfect solution for my large tank with rock work that I’m afraid to break apart.
Anyway, yesterday I found this nice blue background (plastic roll sheet) from LFS and I glued it to my black acrylic sheets. It looked so awesome. It was a little darker than my original blue color, so fish slightly stood out. I still find that it was a bit too light, but magically all the particles were gone. The fish looked like they were flying for the first time instead of swimming in the dust bowl.
But the only “issue” was that the glued paper background looked so wrinkly and bubbly. It looked fake and cheap.
So…it appears I want a darker blue background (but not TOO dark that dirt will show). I also want it to be single acrylic piece instead of gluing a background to a sheet.
PS: my lighting is on the whiter side, so every background looks lighter than how it appears outside of tank.
Im making this thread just to clear my thoughts.
Here are my blue options.
My tank was originally painted blue on the back. I contemplated about going black because I want my fish to stand out.
After months of deciding, I went black! It was awesome and the fish coloration was outstanding. It made the tank look a bit smaller, but it was really nice.
But here was the problem: every little particle/spec/dust etc showed like a sore thumb. My tank looked dingy and musty. Here’s a short video of the dusty appearance.
I’ve tried EVERYTHING to eliminate the particles. 1 micron filter socks, water changes, closing all pumps etc. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but it makes the tank look dirty and gross.
SO…after a few months of going black it finally hit me that I’ve never had these particles before!
PS: I had to get custom black acrylic sheets to go from the INSIDE of my tank because my tank was against the wall and pre painted a bright blue color. And the overflows are also prepainted. (250 gallon). Having the background removable on the inside of the tank made cleaning 100 times easier, so I will never go back to the regular painted back. I just take it out, vinegar soak it and put it back. And every spot goes away! It’s a perfect solution for my large tank with rock work that I’m afraid to break apart.
Anyway, yesterday I found this nice blue background (plastic roll sheet) from LFS and I glued it to my black acrylic sheets. It looked so awesome. It was a little darker than my original blue color, so fish slightly stood out. I still find that it was a bit too light, but magically all the particles were gone. The fish looked like they were flying for the first time instead of swimming in the dust bowl.
But the only “issue” was that the glued paper background looked so wrinkly and bubbly. It looked fake and cheap.
So…it appears I want a darker blue background (but not TOO dark that dirt will show). I also want it to be single acrylic piece instead of gluing a background to a sheet.
PS: my lighting is on the whiter side, so every background looks lighter than how it appears outside of tank.
Im making this thread just to clear my thoughts.
Here are my blue options.
