Non-painted background?

[Bri Guy]

Need help with aquarium background. I don't want to paint my tank but I do like the look of the dark to light blue fade. They sell the regular decrative blue backgrounds, so far so good. But Ive had them before and they never stick on the back so it looks worse than if I didn't even have it on there. Hence why people paint I understand that, but I don't want to mess up mine I know I can't paint.

So Im looking for a sure fire way to keep the background from coming off, Should I glue the hole back to It, Or just around the edges. I don't like it when the background sticks to the back of the glass in some spots and has a differant color so would gluing it to the back create this look. How? Any help would be great.
P.S. I also have 2 bulkheads drilled in the back.

 

[dap42]

Just paint it...

Just paint it...

I just painted mine...and screwed it up.

It took about 1.5 hours to scrape off with a razor blade. No big deal.

 

[Bri Guy]

See thats the point I know for a fact that I couldn't achieve the nice Dark to Light blue fade myself therfore looking for a way to attach the background and have it look as nice and stay on like a good paint job.

 

[Shy_Koi]

I used lightweight foam core board, cut to size, painted, and slid in behind the aquarium. The bottom edge of the foam core is supported by the tank's bottom molding. The top is held in place by the canopy's rim.
It's a cinch to change out if you don't like the color...
I've not had any problems with salt creep or water spots (yet).
HTH,
~Tamara

 

[Ken-21]

I taped my background on and I haven't had any problems with it.

 

[TAB]

on glass tanks I have used a very, very thin layer of silcone. then useing a rolling pin I roll out all of the air. never had a prob with on coming off.. In a reef I would just leave it alone, algee( of all kinds) will natuerally grow on the back wall.

 

[$$sucker]

I took 1/8" lexan cut it to the back dimesions of the tank and painted that i did a fade with aqua -top,royal blue-middle , dark blue bottom. and if you don't like un tape and repaint best of both worlds .

 

[Bri Guy]

BULKHEADS TO HOLD IT ON

BULKHEADS TO HOLD IT ON

Thanks those are some really good Ideas I might just put something else like a thin board , or plexi-glass on the back and try my "Master of the Stick Men" skills on it, after a good laugh then I could always attach the background to that.
If I drilled two holes in the new board, and put it up to the back of the tank would it be ok to use the BULKHEADS TO HOLD IT ON or is that going to effect how they work?

 

[CraigG]

I purchased a black background that actually sticks, it is just a black window cling material trimmed to size, works great.

 

[NCreefwannabe]

just go get 5% window tint and call it a day. Or just wait and you wont see through the back glass for long, coraline should cover up any background eventually anyways.

 

[bunsmonkey]

you can take vegetable oil and rub all over background and then stick it to back of tank and it always stays on so you dont get that bubble look where the background isnt touching. i did this to my old tank and it looked great. just dont get any oil in tank, wich really isnt hard to avoid. i taped the top edges just in case, but never had a problem. good luck.

 

[bwayne315]

I used a little scotch tape on mine and had it on the back for 3 yrs with no prblems.

 

[Bri Guy]

Any one know If it is safe to use the bulkheads to hold on another piece of glass or acrylic on the back. Another words the bulkhead would go through both pieces of material and then I would screw on the back of the bullkhead.

Or would this effect how the bulkhead retains water, there is enough tread on the bulkhead to let me use 1/8 sheet.

 

[TAB]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7320585#post7320585 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by podheadx
Any one know If it is safe to use the bulkheads to hold on another piece of glass or acrylic on the back. Another words the bulkhead would go through both pieces of material and then I would screw on the back of the bullkhead.

Or would this effect how the bulkhead retains water, there is enough tread on the bulkhead to let me use 1/8 sheet.

That would be a bad idea.

 

[geo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7317752#post7317752 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NCreefwannabe
just go get 5% window tint and call it a day. Or just wait and you wont see through the back glass for long, coraline should cover up any background eventually anyways.

That is how I did mine as well. It works very nice