Background Colors With Certain Color Discus

[White Worm]

Lowes in the water heater section has RF-1 styropreme (1/4 styrofoam type material) or something..anyways..it comes in 4'x8' sheet ($8-$10 I think for one sheet) and you cut it to size with razorblade. One side has a medium blue color which looks nice. I'll see if I can find an old tank pic for ya. I like the color and that it helps a little with insulation (not much)......easy to fit and I just taped it on with painters tape (blue). Used it on the sides, back and underneath the tank. Mike

[Giniel]

I have used wrapping paper also in a light to medium blue and taped it on.Looked pretty good.

Debbie

[poconogal]

Guys, thanks for the ideas. I never thought of using some of the things suggested - great!

Amber, thanks for the pics. I'm sorry it made you feel sad.

Connie

[Dissident]

Personally BG depends a lot on the tank IMO.
BB tanks or tanks with a lot of wide open areas look best with lighter BGs.
Planted tanks a black background will contrast the plants best, and with the plants lit up with the 5W/gal the discus really show off their color.

50/50 bulbs tend to darken a tank unless you have a lot of 10K lights to go with it. The atinic spectrum has little to no place outside a reef tank IMO. I tried 96W atinic in my planted discus tank for about 2hours and hated how it made the fish look (and plants) they just looked sick IMO. 542Watts of 10K lighting is the way to go to get those bright blues

[poconogal]

Personally BG depends a lot on the tank IMO.
BB tanks or tanks with a lot of wide open areas look best with lighter BGs.
Planted tanks a black background will contrast the plants best, and with the plants lit up with the 5W/gal the discus really show off their color.

50/50 bulbs tend to darken a tank unless you have a lot of 10K lights to go with it. The atinic spectrum has little to no place outside a reef tank IMO. I tried 96W atinic in my planted discus tank for about 2hours and hated how it made the fish look (and plants) they just looked sick IMO. 542Watts of 10K lighting is the way to go to get those bright blues

Hi Diss. I had the 50/50 from earlier years. I had different colored Discus back then, different colored gravel, etc. and it worked well. But for the colors I have now, I'm not happy with it. Like you said, black background makes plants really stand out, also my RM and Golden PB look great. Thanks for your recommendation on bulb. I will try it, if I don't like how other background colors look.

Connie

[Audrey]

I painted mine with latex paint. I am pretty happy with it. My discus' colors look good against it. But I think that all discus' colors fade in and out depending on their moods.

11-20-2005-315.jpg

[Audrey]

I used to use the dark, shiny, crinkly background but didn't care too much for it. I prefer the medium to lighter colors.

My discus,April 2005(2).jpg

[poconogal]

Well, the vote is in. I tried the flip side of my black background, which is a medium blue, but that did not look good. I still couldn't see my BD. My BD is a medium metallic blue with hints of purple, or sometimes a neon blue, depending on how the light hits her. Hmmmm. Doesn't look like the light blue ones I see others have. I tried my amazon plant background from 13 years ago, that looks nice. I also put white up behind the tank, which looked great with all my fish. So for right now, I have the planted ground up, but later on I plan on changing to white.

Thanks again, everybody, for the suggestions and pics.

Connie

[used2bBubbles]

Hi, Connie, glad you brought up this topic again. I've been wrestling with painting my tanks, too. I've got bds and bts only; no orange or other colors. (I know, some of you will say BORING, but what matters is what I like!)

Anyway, I spray painted a tank with a light beige, which I thought would be really nice. ARRGHHH!! My bds are bleached out a lot.

I tried the sponge paint first, then paint with a lighter shade, and it's ok, but again, doesn't do a whole lot for my bds. I'm bummed. I've got a 55 that I want to paint for my discus, but I want to get it right. I painted a 45 with a light blue, but haven't filled it yet, so I can't be sure how it will look.

This is the sponge painted one with the light on.

[used2bBubbles]

This is with the light off...neither of the two is good, I think.

[used2bBubbles]

This is the spray painted beige. euuuuuuu

[used2bBubbles]

Here's a picture of the unfinished blue tank....

[used2bBubbles]

Does anybody else have a tank of just blue discus that they'd be willing to post pictures of?

Sorry for stealing your thread, Connie

[Timbo]

Does anybody else have a tank of just blue discus that they'd be willing to post pictures of?

discusdave's tank:

[used2bBubbles]

Thanks, Timbo! I like that! Is that a dark blue paint (not black)?