new aquascape

CPFAN001

Knowing I would always want a natural look to my aquarium, I knew from previous experience black would be the best... let the colors in the tank do all the talking.

That said, when I got back into the game 4 months back I started with a new 60 gallon tank... The one thing I hated years back was the store bought backgrounds and agree with the poster of this thread... installing them can be a pain.

Solution: Buy a $5 can of multipurpose black spray paint and tape off the sides and places you don't want black spray paint and spray the back of your tank black. If you have never spray painted, buy 2 cans of paint and use the first one to paint a piece of wood or cardboard until you know you will not get runs etc.

Obviously you need to do this before you place the tank or put fish in it.

Purchased black tubing etc and it looks great!

konstargirl

The tank looks great! I'm sure your tetras will love it.

SinCrisis

Well good thing i have an extra Anubias on wood! its jsut that part of the wood is cut so it looks artificial, gonna need some moss to cover that up. However, the wood and plant is not very big, only about 2 inches in width, theres around a 5-6 inch gap around the center, would another sword work? Ive been itching to get a melon sword but was unsure of how it would fit in with the aquascape.

@CPFAN001: I actually have a lot of experience with spray paint, i use it on my acrylic tanks. however, the major drawback is that its permanent. The stuff i found is self adhesive, so getting it on right (lots of bubbles to work with) was the main reason it was such a pain. I bought 19" height and 3ft wide, but the store gave me like 24" high and 4ft wide, which is nice, but cutting it to the right height evenly was a terrible ordeal, cutting it right alone took 30 minutes. In case I ever change my tank and would require a different background, this solution allows me to change it if necessary. Also with spray paint, for it to adhere properly, i would have had to scuff up the glass so the paint sticks properly and that would take around the same amount of time I spent applying the background. Although i have to admit, its a lot more fun when painting, on one of my acrylic tanks, i managed to get a deep royal blue coat, dabbed with magazine and then coated in black. Looks a little like those street spray-paint textures you can find.

CPFAN001

Did not have to prep my glass with the brand of paint I used. No signs of wear or peeling or anything like that. In most situations I'll want the black background so did not worry - took less than 5 minutes to paint.

I'm still a newb so probably the boldest move I will make in the next year or so is go from communict to Chilid or some other freshwater variation. Sounds like your are subject to change so understand the applied background.