Removing black background on Red Sea

Mz. Fix It · Jul 4, 2020

Ok....so I'm sure some would cringe at this idea....but I still want to do it if possible. I have historically only had freshwater tanks in my aquarium room but had a hair brained idea last year to try my hand at saltwater as well. It has been an interesting, expensive but enjoyable journey. However, one thing I have done with my freshwater tanks (I do not use backgrounds) is to add a large mirror on the wall behind the tanks so I can see what's going on "behind the scenes " so to speak. My salt tank is a Red Sea 525XL and although I do like many things about it I absolutely hate the black background (don't even get me started on the lousy sump configuration). I would like to try and remove the background and do my mirrored wall with this tank as well. Anyone ever attempted to remove one from their tank? Could it possibly be scraped off with a razor blade? Could I delicately use my heat gun to perhaps loosen glue to peel it off? Perhaps it's painted on? Any suggestions anyone has will be greatly appreciated.

SPR1968 · Jul 4, 2020

I’ve never seen one but it actually sounds a great idea, I see your logic with it. Hopefully someone will chime in with how to do it

If you do it post some pictures it will be very interesting to see

Mz. Fix It · Oct 26, 2020

SPR1968 said:
I’ve never seen one but it actually sounds a great idea, I see your logic with it. Hopefully someone will chime in with how to do it

If you do it post some pictures it will be very interesting to see

Hey Shaun,

I was looking over some of my older posts today and saw this one. Although no one else chimed in.....I did remove the back covering. It was just a sticky film....stuck on pretty hard but I took my time removing it gently so as not to tear it in pieces and make my job that much harder. I absolutely love my tank without the black background. I even found a dead fish in the back once I could see through!

Although it sounds crazy.....all my tanks are on movable carts that I have built with industrial grade wheels to hold the weight. I learned years ago when I started in freshwater tanks that I hated a tank being stationary. There was always something I needed to reach in the back and it was a true PITA. On my 2nd freshwater tank I started with the carts/wheels and I haven't looked back. Granted, I do not constantly move the tanks around, as that would not be good for the structural integrity....but when I am going to move one I lower the water substantially then gently reposition it.

I tell you all this to say that thankfully it was easier for me to remove the back covering because I moved the tank away from the wall so I could get behind it and work. I liked it so much I decided not to move it back. My equipment was scattered all over my fish room, in the aquarium stand and around the tank. After pulling it out I put up new shelving and moved equipment to the back wall and moved hoses higher so I can easily get behind the tank to look at the full 360 of my tank. Now all my equipment is out of the way, not cluttering my tank cabinet and is far easier to access/manage. I opted out of the back wall mirrors since I decided to leave the tank pulled out. I love that I can check the full 360 of my tank daily without having to get my ladder and climb up to look around to the backside. Oddly, freshwater tanks are sold without backing so it perplexes me why the saltwater tank makers decide to put the film on the back blocking any view. However, since the standard is to have the tank against the wall it has not been a issue for others that want to look through the back and I'm sure the visual if only looking through the front looks better with the colored backing.

I will take a picture or two as soon as I can get around to it so you can see how it turned out. The bad part now is I can see "things" inside my overflow that I desperately want to clean out....couldn't see that before. Sadly the overflow on these Red Sea tanks are hard to get down into with their pipes taking up all the room so I couldn't squeeze my hand down in there nor could I get any of my long handled cleaning tools to maneuver down in there.