Background color

[snus29]

So I just installed a 20 gallon tank in my room. The water is crystal clear and it beautiful. The thing is, I want a background to go behind the aquarium so you can't see the wires. I have black gravel in the tank, right now that is all. I going out to get plants and a vertical structure to put inside before adding fish. What color plant and background do you suggest I get that will make it look good with the black gravel. Thanks.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I have seen mostly blue and black. I have blue and like it a lot, because I think the black makes it a bit too dark and less natural.

That being said, I saw a picture of someone on here who had a green background on a planted tank, and it looked great. Made the plants seem to fade into the distance - it took me a bit to even realize there was a background, and not just thick plant growth.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

This is the green background tank:

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/rate-my-tank-freshwater/65995-kennys-55gal-5ghex.html

Thinking about it a bit more, I don't think I would do black and black gravel, especially on a black-rimmed tank (though black on black in general I think would be too dark).

You can always try stuff out to see, backgrounds are removable (even painted on ones). You can hold up a piece of poster board or construction paper if you want to just get an idea, too.

 

[exhumed07]

caps makes a good point of the black being dark. I have a 55 gallon cichlid tank and it has black sand and a black background with white rocks. the black makes the fish absolutly pop. the yellow labs are super bright against the black background and sand. that is currently the only tank i have painted atm. my 20 had a custom sandstone paint job on it though before i converted it to my puladarium. I took gold paint and sponged it on and then went over it with a black spray paint and it looked realy good. one of my 30 gallon tanks i cut a mirror to fit on the back of it and it added alot of depth and made the tank look like it had twice the fish in it. there are many things you can do with a background. there is a guy on here that is doing a moss wall for a background. I've also seen people take a plastic sheet thats white or grey and then put a box over it with LED lights in it for a lit background. I belive it's in the post "urban aquascaping" on this forum. so I say use your imagination

 

[snus29]

God I'm so confused as to what I should do. I'm definitely getting white rocks along with some white/red/yellow/orange plants. I don't want the background to be black but it's the only thing that I think will work.

 

[Thyra]

I have used a mirror on two of my tanks and really like the effect. You can get plexiglass mirror or have a glass shop cut a cheap mirror to fit. I set it on the bottom rail and have it cut to fit just below the top one and then use two pieces of tape on each side to hold it in place - it doesn't take much. Take any good size mirror (even one with a frame) and prop it on back and see if you like the effect.

 

[exhumed07]

one good thing to do snus is to go on google and take a look at other tanks to get ideas.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Here's my planted fiddy-five with dollar store blue plastic wrapping paper and dollar store aluminum foil as a background:

 

[exhumed07]

this is my 55 with black on black with a large chunk of driftwood making it darker with its shadow. oh and the white rocks are covered with blackbeard algae. i've just kinda let it go in this tank. the pic don't make it look as good as i think it does in person. but that at least shows you what black on black looks like.

 

[exhumed07]

oh and another thing about aquascaping, remember to set things up in triangles to draw the eye around the tank and use the tank in thirds. don't center things dead center in the tank for a focal point if you are going for a natural look, say u put a tall plant in the back. put it to one side or the other and use smaller plants towards the center to form a triangle shape. it draws the eye away. don't know exactly how it works but it does

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Ex that is one heck of a driftwood piece in there!

 

[exhumed07]

it was a christmas present to myself a few years ago lol. i saw it at my lfs and had to get it. i had to cut the top of it so it would fit under the hood lol.

 

[exhumed07]

also my fish are the ones who put the sand all on the left side of the tank. i have to level it out about once a month cause they pile it all up on the one side and i want the weight to be as even as possible across the bottom of the tank. but thats what i get for having fish that love to dig and sift through the sand lol.