# Do you find with or without ?



## shaky76 (Apr 30, 2008)

Hi guys

Do you find with or without a background on your tank is better? If with a background what colour would you use? I currently have 2 tanks one with a group of Duboisi and another with a group of Ikola

Regards

Ricky


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## mr.fuji (Aug 30, 2007)

Unless it's dividing a room I prefer backgrounds.
I always use black.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

For me the background is essential and I spend more on them than the tank almost. Mine are gray. Color doesn't matter so much though, since the algae covers a lot of the original color. I use the in-tank backgrounds from Pangea. Looks like actual rock and the heaters/filters are hidden behind, not to mention you can't see through the glass background to see all the hoses and wires.


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

i black out all my tanks.you cant see the equipment hanging down and it seems to relieve the stress on the fish by having an area thats darker to hide.i had a d.i.y background with caves built in.i didn't like how hard it was to catch the fish when needed so i took it out.
the pangeas are nice but spendy, and after awhile i think they look bad,at least the few I've seen in person.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What happens to the pangea's fishwolfe? I've only had mine two years.


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

ok *** only seen 2.im unsure of how the tanks were maintained or how long they were in use.that said,they both had a build up of algea/poo/gunk.the guy who ran the store said thats suppose to happen since its a filter as well.not sure if hes right, but they didn't look that appealing to me.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Huh. Well, mine are clean as when they were bought in the back (filter area) and the tank-facing side looks just like the rocks in my tank.

We will see what future years bring!

Anyway, I like em and I'm planning to install another in my new year first of the year.


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

do you have any pics?do you clean yours at all?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I've never been able to get good pics of my tank, and too proud to post a pic that doesn't do it justice. I'm getting a new camera maybe for Christmas, so I'll try then.

I run a scrub brush over the background (not squeaky clean) maybe once a year when I remove all rocks for some unrelated reason. The rocks all get scrubbed then too. So it really looks no dirtier or cleaner than the rocks at all times, which is the whole idea, right?

Last time I had the 250 pounds of rocks out was last Christmas to catch and remove the Socolofi so I could replace them with the Cynotilapia.

Drawback: I do have to vacuum behind the background...just one quick swipe at the beginning of a water change. And fry do tend to swim through the grates when newborn and then grow up back there until I remove them...which can be challenging! But since heaters and filter intakes fit, the net fits behind as well.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

For me, backgrounds are a mustâ€¦

Painted is my preferred method. Iâ€™ve used both spray paint and water based house paint. Both work very well, rolled on house paint was easier (over spray in a residential area was a pain).

I also use a fiber board found near the Plexiglas at Home Depot or Loweâ€™s. It has a rock face print on it (such as granite, sandstone, marble, etc) and comes in 4â€™ x 2â€™ sheets.

Standard aquarium background is also an option. I personally do not care for the way it looks unless I use an adhesive to stick it to the glass. When simply taping it on it looks â€˜too fakeâ€™. Iâ€™ve used Vaseline to stick it on and it worked very well for a very long time, but moving a tank with Vaseline on the back isnâ€™t easyâ€¦

As far as color goesâ€¦ thatâ€™s personal preference. The most essential thing to consider is the way equipment will look with your desired color.

The last tank I painted I used left over paint from our bedroom and Iâ€™m extremely happy with itâ€¦


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