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Now, what colour?


catcher

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As above,

what is everyone's suggestion (can of worms) In general what colour background shows off the fishies? Wayne at Extreme Aquariums Taren Point, has a background colour on all his tanks that is a light blue/green and seems to always gives his tanks a crisp clean look. I suppose this will only mean something to whoever has been in his business. But, that type of colour is what I'm thinking of.

Over to you guys if you have a colour that really looked good as a display tank background.

cheers

glenn

p.s. do your thinking quick huh.gif , I'm doing the tank over the weekend. wink.gif

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Perhaps a blue/grey tone or a darker blue?

Light blue looks good in dealers tanks because they are often small. I like a bit darker in displays (shows off larger fish like your Copadichromis and Aulonocaras better)

Whatever you do stay clear of white of anything too light, it looks shocking with a bit of that calcerous green algae over it! dry.gif

-worm-

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Hi Glenn

Ad Konings recommends a green or terra cotta colour for showing off a fish's colours to the max.

Personally, I can't get a grip on green but tried the terra cotta on a few and I am very happy with the results - the fish look stunning against it thumb.gif

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Terracotta eh? Interesting smile.gif

I too am thinking about adding a background colour to my tanks. Luckily for me I have access to the back of all my tanks, so it's just a matter of painting them while they are still full.

What is the best paint to use? One that is easy to remove later on would be nice wink.gif What is the paint that peels off as a sheet when you want to remove it?

If and when I paint mine, I'll probably do each row a different colour (or possibly a different shade of the same colour).

I used to do my tanks in black which look great, but show up any floating particles. I will try the terracotta in a few tanks, as I just can't overlook any advice by Ad (or Anita LOL.gif )

The terracotta behind the phenos or maingano would look great I reckon. Any fish that displays red or orange colours might not go so well.

I always thought navy blue looks great with electric yellows in front.

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Thanks Anita,

If you've seen any pics of my display tank in the forums you will notice it is a earthy colour, not terracotta but earthy. This colouration tends to darken the tank IMHO. So I'm going to give the more traditional blue/green shades a go, far be it from me to question you or that Ad bloke LOL.gif but I've seen the earthy colours already.

cheers

glenn

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Andy,

Any paint will do the job, as it gets seen through glass it doesn't matter if you go for a gloss, semi gloss, satin or flat. (And really no paint actually bonds to the glass, it just holds on tight)

In my experience t is easier to remove enamel as it is oil based and tends to remove in sheet form if on a smooth surface such as glass.

In saying this, the difference between removing enamel or acrylic paint is very little. And wouldn't really be sufficient enough to choose one over the other ( I would take price any day, due to my first point)

What ever is the cheapest in the colour that you want is the go IMO.

Just ask the shop if they have any mis-tints around and see what colours they have stuffed up( normally a quarter of the price) other wise get the paint shop to mix you a sample pot "100mls" ( that should be more than enough to do a standard four footer.)

However the sample pot will be acrylic.

This is just my opinion. And no discussion will be entered into ( as there is no totally right answer). LOL.gifthumb.gif

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I tried two colours spray a flat type branch pressed against the glass with blue then followed with yellow to fill in the gaps there is no sharp lines and can be compared to dappled light on the water IMO.

Neil thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

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I think black is the only colour to have. It give the impression the tank is bigger than it is, The fishes colours are shown off to thier best, as everything contrasts with black, except black...duh. The tanks lighting seems to work much better too. Its more subltle/neutral, and doesnt stand out like blue, green or terracotta. When you see coloured tanks, you notice the colour, when you see black ones, you notice the fish, aqauscaping, and lighting. you are less likely to get sick of it one day too.. just my thoughts.

You could always put some coloured cloth or card up back to see how ya like it first. Signwriters vinyl is heaps cheaper than contact and comes in decent size sheets. Black is not really an earthy colour either. Will you be doing 3 sides?

Cheers,

Jason

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Hi Glenn,

I have used many different colours on my tanks (including multiple colour on some). The frontie tank that I just set up has an aqua background (somewhat similar to the darker colour on the "oceanic blitz" skin here). I think it looks good. I have never used or seen the terracotta but am willing to give it a go next time around. I use acrylic paint...just buy a $5.00 sample pot and use a roller. It will peel off easily if you want to change it later. There is a product (whose name escapes me atm...ezy prep or something) that will make the paint stick more permanently. On my planted tanks I used a combination of greens and brown flecks (sponged on), that gave a camoflague type look. It looks great on the plant tanks because you don't have large blocks of one colour appearing through the vegetation. Much more natural look IMO.

merjo smile.gif

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For acrylic the product is called ESP(easy surface preparation) which you wipe on first. For oil based paints the product is called penetrol which you mix in with the paint. Beware as merjo said it will NOT be easy to remove if you do it with this stuff

Cheers,

Jason

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I know Jason wont mind me saying this, thumbsupsmileyanim.gif ( as we had similar views on a similar topic before)

I wouldn't worry about adding anything to the paint, while yes it will hold a lot better, it is not necessary for the most part the tank back will face a wall and not be subjected to bumping etc.

When you want to remove it, it just comes off, nice and easy.

For the record I like very dark blue for backing paint.

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I've used black in the past, and liked it.

I am now using a colour by Wattle called Paris Nights. It's a very dark blue and it looks a little more natural than the black I think, but still gives a nice dark "depth" to the tanks.

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i dont think you can beat a latex background(or a home made for that matter) for a display tank , but in the past ive gone to the newsagents and got coloured card and stuck it on the back of tanks with sticky tape, its available in a range of colours including pastels , looks effective and if you get sick of it you wont go through all this again!

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