Looking for a background.

Speed6 GUy

I have a 60 gallon tank that is 24" high.

All of the background that i find are very dark and you can't even tell they are there. Is there a background that goes inside the tank?


Please any help is good.

Nate

gm333

You can try a little trick that Tommy has suggested before, rub the background and glass with a clear oil or vaseline, then squegee the bubbles out. He says it makes the background more visible plus keeps the waterstains fom showing.

BMueller777

Yup, that will work, water will also, it worked on my 10g tank, before I found out how this worked my back round was dark also but I accidently got water on it and saw that it got brighter so I got the rest of it wet and just taped it, still works today and I did that 5 months ago

You could tell us what works for you b/c I'm setting up a 55g and I'll probably have the same problem

Tommy Gun

I am going to be putting a background on my new tank this afternoon and will be taking pictures and writting up an article on that little trick. I really like using petroleum jelly for backgrounds, but you need to have good access to it so you can smooth it out with a credit card or something along those lines. If you can't move the tank to do it, try using cooking oil. It sticks the background to the tank well and is easier than the jelly to smooth out and get the excess out of the pockets that form. No tape is needed and in fact, tape sort of screws things up IME so I don't even use it at all. It makes backgrounds really bright and crisp without having to put them in the tank. Both the Jelly and Oil will keep the background on the tank for a really long time. The reason I like the petroleum jelly is because oil has a tendancy to slip if you need to move an HOB filter or something like that. I used jelly on my 55 gallon tank and it stayed nice and bright for over a year. When I changed it recently, it came off easy and the new background stuck right to it. You can put it on either the background, or sides of the tank that you want it on; it doesn't matter.

BMueller777

I've gotta try that with my 55g tank, I tried to tape my 10g up and its so annoying! I could only immagine how a 55g would be...

Tommy Gun

It does make a huge difference and I learned about it when I was getting mad about spending money on a photo background for my 55 gallon tank that I could not see clearly and would have been better off with a cheaper, solid color background. I was first told to use double sided tape across the entire background which, as you can probably understand, was nothing but a HUGE problem and mistake. So, then I learned about petroleum jelly as that problem was fixed instantly. I was discouraged at first because I could see some small spots of jelly, but within a couple days, that went away.

sovereignman

The best way to apply a background is with background sealant. I have found it at www.youraquariumcenter.com and it is called seaview aquarium background enhancer and is on sale for $4.49. It glues the background to the tank. It is removable with hot water. I would also think that it could be removed with a razor blade scraper that is made for scraping glass, almost all hardware stores carry these, but your background would be destroyed by this removal method. When using this sealant, don't forget to squeegee out all the bubbles until it's nice and smooth.

orb4me

My 2 cents worth.... dont use wallpaper, it shrinks.,