Please drop your preferred method to paint/cover a tank background

[Reef Wizard]

Please drop links, names, etc. for your preferred tank background . Whether it be paint a wrap or something else

I was thinking about painting the back with black paint

I'm specifically looking for black but other stuff welcome!

 

[Besieged]

Personally, I prefer using a wrap of... any kind, really, over paint.

Paint is a chore to remove if you decide you want to do something different, and that presumes you can get to the back of the tank.

A wrap, however, well, it may depend on exactly what you choose, but there's a plethora of options out there, from contact paper to standard vinyl sheets, purpose-made ones for aquariums, automotive wraps, and car window tint. All of them should be pretty easy to both install and remove.

 

[Reef Wizard]

Personally, I prefer using a wrap of... any kind, really, over paint.

Paint is a chore to remove if you decide you want to do something different, and that presumes you can get to the back of the tank.

A wrap, however, well, it may depend on exactly what you choose, but there's a plethora of options out there, from contact paper to standard vinyl sheets, purpose-made ones for aquariums, automotive wraps, and car window tint. All of them should be pretty easy to both install and remove.

I have painted a tank and did a wrap in the past. I believe that both have pros and cons.

Paint is not easily removed

Wraps can come off too easily or have bubbles over time

 

[shakacuz]

krylon, or plasti-dip spray paint. vinyl wrap seems like an easy, less messy alternative.

 

[Fish Fan]

I have for years painted all my tanks, including freshwater and even reptile enclosures. Recently I tried the vinyl wrap on my newest build, and I will likely never paint another tank again. It's easy to apply, no mess, no clean up and very easy to remove if you decide to. I had a very short tank, so I used a 13" roll of vinyl for those Circuit craft printers that I picked up at my local Mega-Lo-Mart, but you can get wider rolls online or I believe at any shop that prints signs would have the material.



Good luck!

 

[Besieged]

There's also always a thin sheet of expanded PVC board. Can be pretty easily cut to fit and accommodate things like overflows, etc. and just set in place on the back of the tank. That way you can paint and re-paint or wrap and re-wrap as you like just by pulling it off and replacing it later.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Rustoleum gloss or semi gloss black paint

 

[Mhamilton0911]

AUTO WINDOW TINT! Go as dark as you can, can't see through from the tank, but you can from the back so it's a win win. Doesn't scratch from magnets, easy to apply yourself after some YouTube lessons.

Example, 5% tint.
From the front

From the back, you can see the corals still, and I chose to leave the overflow sections uncovered so I could see back there better, So the white pipes are untinted.

I have better pics in my thread when I did this. I've done all my tanks this way. And easy to remove if you ever need to.

 

[Idech]

Black window film from Amazon. You spray a little water on it and on the glass and it will stick forever. You can easily remove it and even put it back. It’s perfect, and cheap.

 

[Reef Wizard]

AUTO WINDOW TINT! Go as dark as you can, can't see through from the tank, but you can from the back so it's a win win. Doesn't scratch from magnets, easy to apply yourself after some YouTube lessons.

Example, 5% tint.
From the front

From the back, you can see the corals still, and I chose to leave the overflow sections uncovered so I could see back there better, So the white pipes are untinted.

I have better pics in my thread when I did this. I've done all my tanks this way. And easy to remove if you ever need to.

Personally, I prefer using a wrap of... any kind, really, over paint.

Paint is a chore to remove if you decide you want to do something different, and that presumes you can get to the back of the tank.

A wrap, however, well, it may depend on exactly what you choose, but there's a plethora of options out there, from contact paper to standard vinyl sheets, purpose-made ones for aquariums, automotive wraps, and car window tint. All of them should be pretty easy to both install and remove.

Nice
Never thought about Tint before

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I paint the back of all my tanks blue. I prefer krylon fusion paint, but it has become so hard to find lately, so I've been using rustoleum brand lately.

 

[Rjramos]

100% vinyl wrap. Cleanest finish hands down. Just make sure you learn on how to do it, plenty of YouTube videos. Wetting the back of tank and vinyl contact side thoroughly is very important.

 

[rhitee93]

I've wrapped one with black window vinyl and I've painted one with black rustoleum (spray). I don't think I'll ever paint one again. The vinyl worked better, and was much easier.

 

[MagicPenny]

Third vote for window tint! I had a tank in front of a pony wall in my old house. It was nice because from the living room side it looked black but you could still see into the tank from the dining room side, so it wasn't like looking at the ugly back of an aquarium. We also got the tint for free so that was a big plus!

 

[JumboShrimp]

I used rustoleum black, with a very fine small sponge roller. Two or three thin layers, drying between each one.

But if I had to do it all over again, I think I would use some of the vinyl/tint techniques people have mentioned on this thread.

 

[mjszos]

Automotive window tint. Applies with just a little water, it’s quite inexpensive, and it comes off easily if/when you need to remove it.

 

[design.maddie]

I wrapped my tank a month ago, it is all covered in my tank thread. What I used worked well. With my size tank I really was happy to have a second set of hands.

I also picked up these two products and it helped so much!

Spray Bottle
Squeegee

 

[JayM]

There's also always a thin sheet of expanded PVC board. Can be pretty easily cut to fit and accommodate things like overflows, etc. and just set in place on the back of the tank. That way you can paint and re-paint or wrap and re-wrap as you like just by pulling it off and replacing it later.

That's pretty much what I did, but with a piece of plexiglass from Home Depot. I tried a few different colors of vinyl and ended up going with basic black. It took me a minute to figure out the best way to secure it tight against the glass, but have it easily removeable with no adhesive residue clean up. Turns out that a few tennis balls wedged between the wall and the plexiglass was the solution.

 

[Dburr1014]

Paint with a roller, not a brush.

I thought about doing window tint but the new tank was already in black.