# Good aquarium background



## Wisey (28 May 2015)

Hi All,

I currently have a frosted background on my aquarium which was basically a self adhesive window film that I picked up from Amazon. I'm not happy with it because I can see the metal bars of my light rail behind the aquarium, so I think a solid background is going to be more suitable.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good quality background, preferably something that does not need gluing, or uses glue that is easily removed? I'm probably going to go for black, but may consider a solid white rather than frosted white.

I have seen a few cheap ones around that get poor reviews, so hoping someone can hook me up with a link to something that is decent please?

Thanks in advance!

Wisey.


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## Iain Sutherland (28 May 2015)

i use foam board on all my tanks now.  
like this... loads to choose from
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1mm-3mm-5...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item46030ead32
for smaller tanks coloured acrylic works well too.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Colour-Pe...Domain_3&var=500289861434&hash=item2ed3bf9084


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## Wisey (28 May 2015)

Interesting, Iain! How do you go about attaching that to the back of the aquarium?


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## Sk3lly (28 May 2015)

Im very interested in this acrylic too! Same question as Wisey


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## Wisey (28 May 2015)

I'll probably go with the foam board as looks much easier to cut to the actual size I need, plus I can just nip down to Hobycraft in town and pick up black or white without having to try and get it shipped. I guess it would be easy enough to attach it at the bottom as the substrate would hide anything you used to attach it. Would appreciate suggestions on cleanly mounting it flush with the glass though.


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## Iain Sutherland (28 May 2015)

Bottom rests on cabinet, top has a little black Sellotape sticky tab.  With the foam board it's attached to the wall behind.


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## Iain Sutherland (28 May 2015)

I Don't mount flush to the glass otherwise you get weird water marks if it dips or splashes down the back.


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## Wisey (28 May 2015)

Hmmm, more thought required then. I can't mount to the wall as I have the light rail that goes up from the cabinet, behind the tank and up and I need to hide that. I guess I could always mount the board to the light rail which would mean I could leave a slight drip gap down the back. My tank is visible from the side when you enter the room though, so I could really do with a solution that looks neat and tidy rather than a board down the back. Maybe some sort of vinyl wrap would do it?


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## Rahms (29 May 2015)

vinyl is what I'd go for! Looks pretty easy to apply, and people always seem to say "and easy to remove," although I've not seen any videos of people removing it. If you wanted to use foam like iain does, you could just make a couple of short inserts for the sides so the gap isn't visible


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## Wisey (29 May 2015)

I have ordered up a few feet of this:

http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/background-blueblack-per-12-p-1169.html

and this gel adhesive:

http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/seaview-gel-background-adhesive-p-2799.html

It's not that expensive, so thought I would give it a try and see how it goes. Will report back once I have tried it.


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## Andy Thurston (31 May 2015)

what about this
http://eu.banggood.com/Wholesale-Wa...dustrial-ukw&gclid=COzb9sH168UCFSrpwgodURoAzA


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## Wisey (1 Jun 2015)

Thanks, that looks like a good option, Andy. Will give that a try if the one that arrived Saturday is not up to the job.


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## roadmaster (1 Jun 2015)

I paint the back glass of my tanks with can of Krylon.
Comes off fairly easy with razor blade scraper/elbow grease.


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## darren636 (24 Feb 2016)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/d-c-fix®-Static-Window-adhesive-338-8011/dp/B005GJW8GY

Going to try this


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## Wisey (24 Feb 2016)

Wisey said:


> I have ordered up a few feet of this:
> 
> http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/background-blueblack-per-12-p-1169.html
> 
> ...




To feedback on what I used above, it was fine for a while, but eventually started to peel away at the sides and refuses to stick back down, even with more of the adhesive.

I'm about to rescape that tank and have bought new film to try myself:

http://activewindowfilms.co.uk/tota...window-tinting-tint-film-51-76-100-152cm.html


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## Barbara Turner (23 Nov 2018)

Has anyone found anything that looks like this without re-mortgaging the house to buy the ada led background light.


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## J@mes (23 Nov 2018)

LED light panels in all sorts of sizes for low ££ on a google search. I imagine would work well with a frosted background, the blue graduation on the ADA one could be replicated by a specialist acetate printer.


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## zozo (23 Nov 2018)

Barbara Turner said:


> without re-mortgaging the house



Yup!! Easily!.. But maybe easy to say for me.. How are your DIY skills? That's the first most important question.

Next how is you tank situated?

Do you have some room behind it to work?

Than if so. Frosted window film on the back of your tank.

Than take led strip DC 12 volt, flexible is ok.. No need for high performance.. It needs to cover the lenght of the tank

Take a white colored light from above and an RGB from bellow. Simply put the rgb on the cabinet behind the tank at bottom level.

Fix a way to mount a white colored light led strip to the top if the bak panel. This is where the diy comes looking..

If you manage this, the rest is peanuts. You need a controller/timer like <TC420>

The white light is controlled with 1 channel..

The RGB with 3 channels..

Now the white (sun from above) is simply always white in intensity you control it.. The RGB from bellow can be set to display any color RGB is able to display from below.

https://www.december.com/html/spec/colorper.html

This way you control color from bellow with light.. In a multitude of colors RGB light mix has to offer.. No need for paint, just a frosted back and a colored light.

Since white comes from above and colored from bellow and intensity in your own prefered choosing it can look anyway you like. In a very natural way 

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/my-first-3-of-life.38484/#post-417164


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## Barbara Turner (24 Nov 2018)

I like the idea of using leds at top at bottom, what you really need in between is a light guide plate.



 
I wonder what is inside a broken led TV.. 

The cheap solution if you weren't worried about the light would be to get something printed. 

I came across a link on ebay that reckons they can print on 180gsm matt finish polypropylene, slight surprise as I thought nothing stuck to pp apart from pp

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waterpro...-board-Snapframe-A4-A3-A2-A1-A0-/200955789960


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## Keetchy (15 Dec 2019)

zozo said:


> Yup!! Easily!.. But maybe easy to say for me.. How are your DIY skills? That's the first most important question.
> 
> Next how is you tank situated?
> 
> ...


Thread bump   I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. Sorry to original thread poster for hijacking but gotta question on this for @zozo. I'm wanting to go frosted background and will love to try this LED strip method too behind the tank. Question is this method is used in addition to the main tank lights right? So this is set up and used as well as the main tank lights?


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## zozo (15 Dec 2019)

Mark Keetch said:


> Question is this method is used in addition to the main tank lights right? So this is set up and used as well as the main tank lights?



Yes..  Since a timmer/controller/dimmer must be used, the light intensity is easily regulated. And also no need to buy or use high performing led strips.


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## Keetchy (15 Dec 2019)

zozo said:


> Yes..  Since a timmer/controller/dimmer must be used, the light intensity is easily regulated. And also no need to buy or use high performing led strips.


Thanks bud. So I dont bug anyone else on this thread, do you mind if I pm you?


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## zozo (15 Dec 2019)

Mark Keetch said:


> do you mind if I pm you?



Not at all.


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## Andrew Butler (15 Dec 2019)

Mark Keetch said:


> Question is this method is used in addition to the main tank lights right? So this is set up and used as well as the main tank lights?


In short; yes, this is in addition to your main tank light and for this reason alone you don't need to go technical with the light used though as it's 'purely decoration'.
There are some quite cheap and simple led strips and tubes out there which give you the ability to adjust the brightness, which I think is almost essential but there are also others that let you adjust the colour in addition to this which can be interesting and let you set a mood.
*Just make sure they are suitable for being around water! 
*
_*Sorry; for some reason it didn't show the post from @zozo onwards until I answered - strange_


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## Keetchy (15 Dec 2019)

Andrew Butler said:


> In short; yes, this is in addition to your main tank light and for this reason alone you don't need to go technical with the light used though as it's 'purely decoration'.
> There are some quite cheap and simple led strips and tubes out there which give you the ability to adjust the brightness, which I think is almost essential but there are also others that let you adjust the colour in addition to this which can be interesting and let you set a mood.
> *Just make sure they are suitable for being around water!
> *
> _*Sorry; for some reason it didn't show the post from @zozo onwards until I answered - strange_


Thanks bud. With help from @zozo I have come up with a plan of action to get the effect I would like. And at a cheaper cost than I expected


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