Background

[zain611]

Sorry for so many questions but what type of background would you people recommend. I'm thinking of getting a frosted glass look on the back or just have nothing on the back as the tank will be on a plain wall

 

[Colin_T]

Fish need a backing to make them feel secure. Imagine living in a glass house with no solid walls.

Most pet shops sell aquarium backings that are rolls of plastic with pictures on them. You can use coloured cardboard or even a black plastic rubbish bin liner. Just sticky tape them to the outside on the back of the tank.

 

[seangee]

I just tape black card to the back of mine, as well as any sides that face the wall.

 

[Welshjonboy31]

Depending on the size of your tank. You could also print a background from the web.

JB

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Byron]

I agree that you do need a background, as others have mentioned.

If you have live plants in the tank, I wold not get any "photo" backgrounds with plants; these never look good. Fish often do not look good against colourful backgrounds either. The best is plain black construction paper or card that was mentioned in post #3. I use black construction paper on all my tanks. It increases the perception of depth in tyhe aquarium because with decor/plants/fish it is basically invisible. And everything in the aquarium looks better, regardless, as it is not competing with the background.

You want nothing shiny because it reflects light and is very noticeable. And it can disturb fish. Black construction paper works best for this.

 

[zain611]

Thanks guys the tank is 62 x 72cm so probably will be hard finding a pictured background that tall. On my current tank I have a background but I haven't really noticed it but that's mainly because I used to look at the tank from the side.

 

[AbbeysDad]

A neutral wall behind the tank 'sounds' okay except for cords and filter parts that stick out like a sore thumb.
I have black construction paper/poster board on my 60g secured with black vinyl electrical tape. I think a dark blue would be good too.
Many paint the backs and sometimes bottoms of [empty] tanks.
On a 10g (empty) tank, I taped off and sprayed with plastidip. On some other tanks in the basement, I have taped green polystyrene insulation board to reduce heat loss in the winter (Unheated 55 deg F space).
I agree with Byron that most of the shiny commercial backgrounds just don't look right in a planted tank. An exception might be one with just rocks or the bare look of a river bank with no plants. If you go that route, a thin layer of mineral oil then the background applied with a squeegee or credit card to secure will make a huge visual improvement.