Hey there...
I have a black background on my tank, the standard plactic kinda stuff black on one side blue on the other.

I put the background on my tank about 6 months ago when i upgraded. When i attached it i wanted to make sure that i completly covered the whole back of the tank so i stuck it to the black plastic supports on the corners and top and bottom of my tank, this was a mistake. After a couple of weeks a few air bubbles appeard and over time the bubbles have spread and the whole back of the tank has air bubbles between the tank and back ground.

Now its not all that obvious but over time is has started to bug me and i now want to do someting about it, any suggestions how? I know i will have to remove the background and cut it to fit directly on to the glass and not the plastic supports, just dont know how to go about cause the tank is right up against the wall, there is just enough room for me to squeeze my arm behind the tank. Would it be possibal to fix the problem with out moving the tank?

I did see a good artical online where the guy used spary on cooking oil to stick the back ground and used something like a paint scraper to smooth out any bubbles, end results were great but as i said my tank is up against the wall.

how do you guys normally change your backgrounds?

bigtdotcom wrote:


I suppose with the tank off the wall...
I think it may be hard any other way, but maybe some other members have done it with the tank in place and will share some ideas!

have you got the old background off? I will assume you have not and will guess worse possible. That the old background is still stuck in places. I would fix a Stanly blade or craft knife blade to a length of stick and scrap any remaining parts off. it will not be easy but moving the tank is no walk in the park. Once all the background is scrapped clean I would paint it the colour of your choice using a radiator roller. (If it will fit). Again I assume you are colouring a plain base colour like black again. you can buy paints that will stick to glass. Painting will give a full black colour without bubbles. Nickisue just painted a tank black too.

hey guys and gals, if you ever want to change the background of your tank,
for black, just used a plain black illustration board, or any color you may
wish. easy to attain and easy to change. nobody will notice it is just a plain
illustration board at the back of the tank. any color will fit in

Hey dude,
Just paint the back of the tank with black emulsion then lacquer it to prevent spill water causing black streaks.
Backgrounds can be a pain in the arse to fit properly.

the krylon touch!

My 180g is under my stairs and so is against a wall. I stuck one of those backgrounds to the back with sellotape and in a couple of places it isnt touching the tank. In these places some dust has got in. Moving this tank is out of the question so i have to live with it. How i wished i had painted the back of the tank and i wouldnt have this problem. So forget sticking backgrounds on and paint instead.

what i was thinking was to pull the backgroung off as ist only stuck on with stick tape, cut it to fit directly onto the glass and then try stick it back on. Wouldnt be that easy to get it back on but but with the help of a mate i reckon i should be able to do it.....just gotta fing someone who is will to help i guess. Not sure if i like the idea of painting it, it to perment and that would also mean moving the tank.
thanks for the imput.

i had my large tank at my bros apt and while there he scavenged my background for another tank which was a 55 so i could not reuse it, when i got the tank back i didnt have the cash to get the back ground so i set it up with out it and when i had the $$ i went ahead put it on the thing i did was since the back is kinda open on the back is unrolled and me and a friend we just took the sides and slid it up and taped into place and i have no probs with air bubbles i use the back ground on all my tanks even my lizzard cage which is not a good idea for bearded dragons by the way but cut to size and taped into place i have no issues.

I got fed up with my background and just took it off completely. The wall behind is magnolia and doesn't look too bad. Managed to hide all the cables but can't hide the outlet pipe. I can live with that though. It's made the tank a lot lighter which I like.

With


Without (have hid the cable on the left now)

Tank still looks great, but to be honest I like the dark background better.
But that's just personal!

I prefer the dark background too

It is not permanent when you paint the back of a fish tank. You can always get a scraper to remove it if you wanted to