painting the back of the glass black

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Nice looking tanks guys.

That's a lot of cichlids! That particular blue is probably too "blue" for me though. Looks like with Plasti you have to mix to get an off color.
 
I always paint styrofoam insulation panels black, and tape them to the back, bottom and sides. Beside giving me the black background I want, it adds insulation for temp control. When I was in WI, power would occasionally go out, and in winter the panels would slow heat loss.
bartoni black background

bartoni blue background
 
I like black backgrounds. Some fish, like discus can darken, while other fish like cardinals really pop. I like how plants stand out. Here are 2 pic same tank. Different backgrounds and one has white starboard.

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Hart, I also prefer the black/black look between the two of those.

Nice rimless. Are you no longer keeping the discus?
 
Nope, the discus were nothing but problems. Very expensive problems! I put the remaining ones into a community tank and they don't get any special treatment now (weekly 50% WC from daily 70%). Couple thousand dollar lesson learned. Tank is now home to a single fahaka puffer - has a thread in puffer section.

The leopard snakeskin discus were definitely not as pretty with the black/black setup, but aside from that it's black for me!
 
As for me I like the plastic paper natural background you just tape on the back. I remember as a kid I used to n=buy the plastic 3 -d backgrounds put on my meteframe 10 gallon LOL
 
Keep in mind if you paint it black it is virtually impossible to restore it to what it was if you need to. eg., if you had a massive scratch on the front panel and the tank was small enough that you could drain it and flip it around to the pristine back panel.

Why don't you do a trial and buy a roll of black plastic background or whatever colour you want from your LFS and stick it to the outside of the back glass and see if you like it before you take the plunge? If your fish are lighter coloured it will make them pop, but may make darker coloured ones camouflaged. eg., my mate had black tahitian moon sand, black background, and had a foot long black shark in his tank that I could never really see.
 
I use sheets of 5mm gloss black acrylic personally, on the inside of the tank, gives a much deeper black when on the inside and takes 5min to install.
 
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