To paint or not to paint

[wetbehindears]

Ok so this weekend is go time on my 6ft 125 I'm do a large 4 ft overflow box w 2 returns and closed loop.

So what I'm getting at is their is a lot of plumbing. I like the look of no background. It makes the tank look so deep but their will be a lot of pipes. I will allow coraline to grow but I still don't know

Anyone have a large tank not painted black with a lot o plumbing w fts Pics or any input.

 

[superkat]

Brandon...is there a way to route the pipes into one area...like the corner....so that the jumble is just in one place? gotta be a way to do this to keep the back free of clutter...

coraline takes a while to grow...so my next question is...how long do you think it would take...and can you live with seeing all of that plumbing while you are waiting for it to fill in?

 

[solRNY]

just curious what would i see looking thru ur tank besides pvc?

if you have to paint it, this is what i did maybe it can help you decide,

on my dads 50gal, i ended up cutting a large sheet of flexiable plastic down to size, something i got out of repographics department-almost like paper printable material, painted it, then stuck it on back of the tank, my dad ended up removing it, not going to tell you what was behind the tank...

on our 30gal, becuase it was smaller we end up cutting plexiglass down to size and painted it bluish gradient, again stuck it on the back of the tank,

this allows you to play with the paint scheme, gradients, colors, and remove it if you dont like it,

 

[xpxdx]

i really like the look of a clear back, it looks like the fish are floating in the room almost.

sometimes the reflections can be annoying tho, as you can see in the pic. i prefer to scrape the back also, which could be a pain on a bigger tank, this is a 40 breeder. i also kept the plumbing and wiring simple...

good luck!