Should I change my tank background to black?

[Hermie]

Hi all, for many months now I've had a faux rock background on my tank, (affixed with seaview). However over time, the background has "texturized" as water and salt seeped between the paper and plastic film layers, so it's not quite attached as perfect as it could be.

My question is... should I leave it up or should I replace it with a "pure black" background? I may paint the background with acrylic black paint and a brush to make it "easy" on myself since it's so difficult to attach the plastic black backgrounds perfectly (all bubbles removed, have to move the tank, hope that salt doesn't ruin it, etc).

I also think a black background would put more focus on the rocks and coral... but I don't know.

 

[S2G]

I agree with you

 

[Steve9333]

Mines all black. I’d do a dark shade of blue if I did it again

 

[Scrubber_steve]

You don't need to do either, unless there is some equipment you want to hide?
Or if there's a brick wall behind it

 

[rfgonzo]

You can leave it the same or do black / blue. Either wayit will end up covered in coralline.

 

[Hermie]

You don't need to do either, unless there is some equipment you want to hide?
Or if there's a brick wall behind it

Well yeah it's a bit of a mess behind the tank

 

[Hermie]

You can leave it the same or do black / blue. Either wayit will end up covered in coralline.

That's a good point, maybe the coralline will start to grow once I get this algae under control, and with the kalkwasser I just started.

 

[jcolliii]

Latex paint pick a color and paint a couple layers. I think black looks great!

 

[Pickwun]

I like the faux rock effect. It adds a lot of dimension to the tank, but in your case it seems to be catching too much blue light and competing with your stuff so I voted to switch.

 

[flsalty]

I think that background photographs well, but I'm guessing it doesn't look as good in person? I'm a big fan of black paint.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I prefer dark blue over black. I feel black shrinks the tank but blue gives it some depth. I used sticky vinyl, no issue with bubbles but I did attach when the tank was empty so I had plenty of space. If I remember rightly it was cobalt blue. I’ve had black in the past and wouldn’t choose it again. If you have enough space behind the tank you can keep the back clean with an algae magnet which is what I do.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

Personal preference I guess. If you want it black, paint it. If you decide to paint, look at plasti-dip. You can just peel the whole thing right off the glass if you want it gone later. If you use acrylic paint you’re gonna be scraping for a while with a razor to get it off.

 

[Waters]

I would paint it black or blue but use a low/0 VOC Latex Paint. Latex peels off much easier than others.