whats with the blues ????

[arpanlib]

hi,
have seen many pics on this forum and have seen many of our friends here like to put the blue background.

i just wanted to know if this is done purposely for a reason or something else.

yes i understand that the fish look good and the tank looks much brighter.

what is the material that is used for the BG ??? is it the normal BG's we get at the LFS or something else. how to put it ??? inside or outside the tank.

thanx for the help.

arpanlib

[chuck]

either way, You can buy BG from the LFS and tape it to the back, or you can use latex paint and paint the outside of the tank and it's bottom, usually you paint it if you know your not going to change the color like on growout tanks and tanks located in the darkest corners of your basement or garage.. ;D
As for the color blue, Light blue seems to bring out the colors better and they say it helps eliminate or reduce the pepering on pigeon bloods. also the light color on breeding tanks assists the fry in locating the parents since the fry are attracted to dark color. it also assists in reflecting the light in the tank expecially if you use a general overhead forescent light to light multiple tanks instead of a single dedicated light for each tank.
Someone probably can add more reasons..but that's all I know.... ;D
HTH
chuck

[arpanlib]

hey chuck,
thanx a ton for the great info.

also wanted to know, should i use the white flourescent lights or the yellow bulb lights ???

arpanlib

[Ryan]

I use standard white fluorescent lighting on my tanks because I feel that it brings out the color of the fish. There is a wide variety of bulbs that you can buy, but I've never had a problem with standard ones. They slowly go dim over time so remember to replace them once in a while. My tanks were looking dull a few months back so I put in new bulbs to replace the old ones. Wow, what a difference it made!

Ryan

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Arpanlib
I use regular latex house paint for the outside and bottom of the aquarium, it holds up well and if you want to remove it later it is easy to scrape off with a razor blade scaper. This is for glass tanks, do not paint an acrylic tank.
Dennis

[arpanlib]

thanx everyone.........

gonna paint one blue and see the effect.

will post pics soon of the new tank.

arpanlib

[Chris-C]

Hey Arpanlib
I just wanted to let you know that I recently used a pink styrofoam sheet cut to the size of the glass and taped to the tank. It acheives the same effect as painting the tank plus I've noticed that my heaters dont have to work as hard
Chris

Most aquarium Flourescent light manufacturers recommend changing the bulbs every six months. I used to think Triton bulbs were too expensive in comparison to the others, but the manufacturer recommends changing when they burn out--sometimes a yer or more. I think the Triton bulbs are great! Joe ;)

[arpanlib]

hey chris,
thanx for the new idea. will try that out soon. ;D

i think that i will have to stick to the florescent bulbs itself.

arpanlib