advice on painting back of tank

[jimbracco]

greetings all,
Id like to get some opinons...
I have a brand new 300 gal tank im just setting up and was wondering
does anyone have an opinion on painting the back?
If so, what color and how? my current 75 gal i left clear.
thanks!

 

[ckwatson]

I would go with a flat or semigloss Grey. I like that because you still get a good contrast for bright colored coral and fish, but you don't losses any of the fish that may have some black in them, Like clowns and some tangs. As far as how to do it, I just taped off the area I did not want to paint and used spray paint. I held the can away and just did a few light coats to start with and got heaver as I added coats. I think if you try to cover it all at once with one thick coat it will not hold to the glass very well. I let each coat draw about half way before the next.

Just through this out there, Has any one ever though of/ or tried to frost the back glass. I know you can buy the home glass frosting kits, don't know how it would look as a back for a reef tank but it could be kinda cool.

 

[jimbracco]

ya i was thinking the same thing with the frost..but didnt want 300 gals filled before i realized i didnt like it

 

[ckwatson]

Yeah, I think one of our nano guys need to try it out so we can all see how it looks.

 

[tdwyatt]

Heh! WHATEVER color you use, mask off the painting area from the rest of your house with plastic over the doors, etc. I sprayed a 180 reef tank about 10 yers ago with royal blue Krylon aerosols and still find blue paint dust occasionally on the top of window frames, doorways, etc. in that house (it's a rental now). Took an entire weekend of dusting and washing and wiping to clean up windows, cabinet doors, picture frames, etc...

 

[derek_s]

Mine is black, and I love it. It was just spray painted on with $.99 stuff..

 

[raisingtwo2006]

i painted ours with semigloss black paint from- shhh- home depot. we had it extra around the house, so i just brushed it on. it did take 4 coats to not see any streaks of light coming through, though.

 

[glxtrix]

I've always had flat black on mine. I like the idea of going with a 50% grey as mentioned above. At least I know in the graphics world, 50% grey is used often to show/pop colors. Perhaps I'll try that on my new setup....whenever that may be.

 

[smoothie]

Foam it!
Black foam. Dr fosters has it, but you can get it at home depot too. Adds alot of great texture and you can attach frags to it like gsp and let it cover the whole back.

 

[michael ruppert]

I paint the back of my tanks flat black or Navy Blue.

 

[fish scales2]

I always use latex because if you ever decide you do not like it or decide to sell you can easily peel it off.