Your background ideas

[Lady Hobbs]

I was wandering the store yesterday thinking of something different for a background and was thinking a person can use a lot of things other than the piece of background for fish tanks that cost too much and all look the same.

I almost grabbed a straw rug but it wasn't long enough. I thought of fabric shower curtains that are water resilient. Even the vinyl ones or vinyl table cloth covers from the dollar store. You could do a lot of tanks with one of those for a couple bucks.

One of my tanks now has a leopard print background that I cut from a sheet.

I need more idea's!! I change my backgrounds about every 2 months because I get bored with them. I have all black on two tanks and like it fine but it makes the tank too dark and the lights have to be on all day to see the fish.

Now I'm thinking of going to the fabric store and seeing if I can find some faux suede in gray.

I need some idea's guys.

My silver dollar tank. NO PLANTS!~

[crackatinny]

How about them bamboo placemats you can buy?

[Lady Hobbs]

You know, I actually looked at them. They had some awesome wood ones, straw too, but dang, it would take a bunch of them. Ya know, I wonder if Home Depot has bigger straw rugs. hummmmm

[crackatinny]

Try some garden places, maybe you could get something like a thatched straw divider for a reasonable price.

[Lady Hobbs]

Sounds like a plan. It's hell getting behind those tanks so I want something I will stick with for awhile. LOL

[Dave66]

No idea for a background :) Just wanted to say your clown loaches look in real good shape.

Dave

[Lady Hobbs]

Thanks Dave. I snuck up on them when they were sleeping. I told you before they were 2 years old but after I thought about it for 2 seconds, they are only one year old. Two must be girls as they are larger than the others.

[Futureboy]

my friend has a bamboo sheet across his pool fence that just looks like the place mats but much bigger

perhaps a hardware store or landscaping place would have something like that

couldnt be much for a few meters

im currently trying out making a foam back ground on a smaller scale then normal (about a 10g tank) to see how hard it is because i want to do one for the 100g

[cocoa_pleco]

dont know if you remember, but on my old 15g i made a foam background out of those thin foam sheets from the dollar store. it looked pretty good

[zackish]

Everyone recommended a plain black background. I went out and bought a piece of black foamboard to fit my 29 and I love it. The only thing is now inthe sides of my tank I think my fish see their reflections or something and they like to swim into the wall. I don't know it may just be me but my rasboras started acting kind of funny when I got my black background. I haven't been home in a week though so they might be used to it now.

[Lady Hobbs]

They see their reflection and think they have new friends. One of my angels ram into the glass because he thinks he has a rival.

[zackish]

It kind of annoys me because sometimes it seems like they are swimming vertical and going to die. As soon as I go up to the glass or put my finger near them they dart to the other side of the tank.

[AquaQueen]

What about some Wall Paper?? I seem some cute stuff at Home Depot that I was going to do in the bathroom but decided to just paint instead...much fast and easier...lol I also was thinking about the Posters I saw at walmart the other day...the were ocean scene's and dolphins and there was a really cute one with all different plants and funky colors I thought it looked like a tank background...that's why I remembered it while reading this...lol Well I am a Leopard Print FREAK!!! I love anything in any Big Cat print to be honest...I think it looks Great, I absolutely LOVE it!!

[zackish]

That's not a bad idea aqua queen.
I remember when I got my black background my girlfriend wanted me to get bright pink......
Ya right...I have a planted, really natural looking tank and I am going to slap a pink background on.

[Nick89]

hey now, what ever happened to the old fashioned scenic backgrounds like under water? with the plants and rocks lol i like that and i have one on my tank. The other side is black and im not sure if i want to keep it on the scenery side or black. Whatever you decide to do, make sure to get some pictures i could use some ideas as well.

[Lady Hobbs]

Here's another one of my dumb ideas. I siliconed the rocks to the back of this tank. I would like to have done the sides too but it took too much silicone on these larger rocks.

This is just my "nothing" tank. I just keep it for a quarantine tank. I just did this because I was bored.

"Someday" I might take the gravel out of the bottom and plant the tank but I don't know what to put in there. It's only a 10 gallon. And I don't want shrimp.

[2manyfish]

Love the leopard print Hobbs!! The rocks look pretty cool too!

Backgrounds....I have used in the past some brown felt on the back of a 20g heavily planted tank that I used to breed rams in. Looked quite nice actually. I have used on a 5g a piece of crumpled up aluminum foil. That looks nice and makes the tank nice and bright too. On the 30g I have now, there is a piece of wrapping paper back there. It's actually a lavender color with some swirly bits of white.

First pic you can see the 5g with the foil pretty good. Second pic is the 30g with wrapping paper (these are old pics but you get the idea).

[2manyfish]

Oh, and I have read of people using corkboard within the tank and putting plants like java moss, java fern and anubias on this board so that it covers the whole thing. That looked pretty good but I have never tried this as I was rather reluctant to put the board in the tank!

I have used a piece of eggcrate (lighting diffuser) with the same kind of method though. In an tank I used to have (eel tank) I had a piece of eggcrate maybe 8" wide by 20" tall and on it I had a bunch of java fern and anubias. I used that to propagate the plants and it made a nice partial background in the tank.
I have been trying to do the same thing in my 55g blood parrot tank only it isn't working nearly as well as my BP likes to shred the plants.:confused:

[Lady Hobbs]

Some silicone bark to the back too. I wouldn't mind the cork board idea, either. You could just pin the plants to it until they took hold. I have no idea how long it would last tho.

I just like something different other than a piece of paper.

I do have foam pieces all cut out and was going to do a tank that way but right now I need all my tanks so probably won't get to that for a while.

Thanks for the ideas.

[Drumachine09]

Nice background!

[corycat7]

i think plain black backrounds look really clean and nice.

[Dixie]

I agree. That double sided background paper is way over priced. I didn't really like what came with my tank so looked in the LFS for another piece and when I saw the price I thought forget it. I didn't really like anything I saw in the LFS either so I settled with the one side of what I had. It's just green plants with some fallin wood as the design. Kinda looks like the forest floor. Hubby is into hunting and the outdoors so I figured he'd like it anyway lol. I was afraid it would look dumb with fish swimming in front of it unless they were fish that looked like they would be in a mountain stream or pond but I wanted colorful fish so what the heck I went with colorful even if it is dumb. I gotta be happy too right? lol

I have lots of acrylic paints because I like to paint and thought about painting a background on the back of the tank but didn't want to take the time to do it and now that the tank is in place it would be impossibe. Would be a fun process though. I painted a clear glass dinner plate on time. You kinda have to paint backwards if you know what I mean. On canvas you paint the background first then work your way up painting to the foreground. On glass, to see the painting looking through it, you have to start with the foreground and work your way to the background.

Post a pic for us when you come up with something, please. Will be anxious to see.
Good luck!
Dixie

[Dixie]

Oh, forgot to say... I like the gravel glued on the back. Cool idea and looks really nice. I also like the one pic 2manyfish posted. The gift wrap paper, wasn't it? It looks like the desert sky and the gravel and things in there look really nice with it. Very pretty.