Night Shot of New Background

[poconogal]

Picture on the left is during the day, the picture on the right is what the light blue becomes at night with the tank light on. I think its weird that it turns gray, but... Big difference, isn't it?

I think once I get that brown junk off the plants etc. yet again it will look much nicer, I am getting used to it.

[LizStreithorst]

Well I take it all back, Connie. I love the look of the tank at night. Oh well...

[fishmama]

Which one matches your room decor better? I painted one of my tanks sea foam green because the room had greens in it and blue wouldn't look good with my home decor :-)

[Kindredspirit]

Hmm.....so no more dark blue? Perhaps you would like that dark blue better if it was not glossy? What ever happened to that bubble background?

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_1_226.gif

[poconogal]

Well I take it all back, Connie. I love the look of the tank at night. Oh well...

I'm starting to like it too. But can you believe that it becomes that color? I was amazed...

[poconogal]

Which one matches your room decor better? I painted one of my tanks sea foam green because the room had greens in it and blue wouldn't look good with my home decor :-)
Fishmama, both match I guess. How does the sea foam green look? Did you post pics?


Hmm.....so no more dark blue? Perhaps you would like that dark blue better if it was not glossy? What ever happened to that bubble background?

Nah, the glossy doesn't bother me, I just want to see what happens to my Stendker Blue PB - if she will unpepper some. Every time I look in the tank, its an eyesore to me, to see that peppered fish that I actually paid for! But she was not nearly as peppered when I got her. Oh, bubble paper - I haven't gotten around to buying it yet, Marie, but I did have the poster board and the contact paper already so I finally made the background.

[fishmama]

Connie-

Here is the green tank (sponged on a green then brushed on 3 coats very light green). My current pair and fry are in this tank.

[LizStreithorst]

I'm starting to like it too. But can you believe that it becomes that color? I was amazed...

I'm amazed too, but to me it's quite an attractive color.

Fish Mama, I really like that look. Maybe I'll try that using Marie's Periwinkle Blue and the darker blue thatI already bought.

[Ed13]

I like it too, Connie! Its like watching two dif tanks

Connie-

Here is the green tank (sponged on a green then brushed on 3 coats very light green). My current pair and fry are in this tank.
I love that stand and the tank is not bad either!;) You normally don't see breeders in show like tanks.

[poconogal]

Connie-

Here is the green tank (sponged on a green then brushed on 3 coats very light green). My current pair and fry are in this tank.

Fishmama that looks fantastic! I love how it looks with your light colored tank too, and the sponging adds some interest to it. Thanks for the pic!

[poconogal]

I'm amazed too, but to me it's quite an attractive color.

Fish Mama, I really like that look. Maybe I'll try that using Marie's Periwinkle Blue and the darker blue thatI already bought.
Liz the Periwinkle and a darker blue done like Fishmama's will look gorgeous, I think!

[fishmama]

Thanks Ed-yeah, it is kinda overkill for a "breeder" tank but, they are my only current pair so they live like King and Queen!

I found a guy who could stick build a stand and canopy to my specs for a 30 gal long, and I trimmed, filled nail holes, sanded, caulked, primed, painted with the same oil base paint on our bathroom cabinets to match, then put on matching handles. Now it fits in seemlessly to our bathroom (did this when hubby went away on a business trip)...but he still noticed the added tank, ha :-) Can't get anything past him!

Connie-make sure you stick with light paints as they look much darker once the tank is filled. Different lights also make it better/worse. My original light was way too harsh/bright. I put in a Coralife Colormax in and liked it much better.

I do LOVE that periwinkle!!! Would have worked with my decor ;-)

[fishmama]

Liz-you might try a test chip with the paints you like and tape it to the outside back of a filled tank. This way you can get an idea of what it will look like under the water and your lighting. I brought home 30 paint chips home from Lowe's and taped them all to the back of my already full tanks and looked at them for a few days before I picked the two colors I liked best. And yes, I am a bit type A! Okay...a lot ;-)

[LizStreithorst]

EXCELLENT IDEA!

[poconogal]

Thanks Ed-yeah, it is kinda overkill for a "breeder" tank but, they are my only current pair so they live like King and Queen!

I found a guy who could stick build a stand and canopy to my specs for a 30 gal long, and I trimmed, filled nail holes, sanded, caulked, primed, painted with the same oil base paint on our bathroom cabinets to match, then put on matching handles. Now it fits in seemlessly to our bathroom (did this when hubby went away on a business trip)...but he still noticed the added tank, ha :-) Can't get anything past him!

Connie-make sure you stick with light paints as they look much darker once the tank is filled. Different lights also make it better/worse. My original light was way too harsh/bright. I put in a Coralife Colormax in and liked it much better.

I do LOVE that periwinkle!!! Would have worked with my decor ;-)

You did a beautiful job on that setup.

Dont have to worry about paints and me... I don't paint the tank backs! My new background is poster board joined together, covered with vinyl contact paper - that's the light blue - in case of water splashes! That's why if I dont like how it looks, its no big deal, I just remove the strips of scotch tape holding the poster board on. I do have a colormax bulb but I decided to use the all glass bulb that came with the light strip. Its a T8 and a lot brighter than the colormax. I found even my low light plants not doing as well with the colormax bulb which is why I switched. I have another light strip that takes two lights so I may try that one day.

[fishmama]

Connie-never thought about using vinyl contact paper...nifty idea! You could go with much deeper tones since you are using brighter light with your plants.

All this being said, that color you have now is growing on me! It does look pretty interesting at night. I like tanks that have some element of surprise. I wonder what it would look like with a small led lunar light at night? I put one on my green tank with fry and it is so fun to watch them in the dark! Not to mention the color looks completely different.

[poconogal]

I like it too, Connie! Its like watching two dif tanks

Ed, that's exactly what I've been thinking and its really growing on me. Best of all, my Stendker's peppering has been fading nicely.

[poconogal]

Connie-never thought about using vinyl contact paper...nifty idea! You could go with much deeper tones since you are using brighter light with your plants.

All this being said, that color you have now is growing on me! It does look pretty interesting at night. I like tanks that have some element of surprise. I wonder what it would look like with a small led lunar light at night? I put one on my green tank with fry and it is so fun to watch them in the dark! Not to mention the color looks completely different.
Its growing on me too, especially the night version... lol! I do have moonlights on the tank and the background then looks like the sky during a full moon!

What I liked about the viny contact paper is that it really had little to no smell - I was concerned about that - many years ago, I put up a new shower curtain and you know how they smell! Well, the next day I had a bunch of dead fish - not Discus thank God! My tank was in the kitchen at that house and the bath was off the kitchen, so the vinyl shower curtain smell was in the kitchen too. I don't know what happened, but it was too coincidental for me!

[pinkertd]

Hi Connie,
The new background really does look nice, even at night! I have that brighter blue background on my tank and IMO, doesn't lessen the peppering at all.

[poconogal]

Hi Connie,
The new background really does look nice, even at night! I have that brighter blue background on my tank and IMO, doesn't lessen the peppering at all.
Yes, I noticed my Stendker getting more peppered in the tank, which is why I wanted to try the light blue instead of the medium bright blue.

For anybody that's interested, its called "Robin's Egg Blue" contact paper. I bought a 4 ft. long roll from someone on Ebay, cheap.

All I did was buy thick poster board, taped two together, cut off the excess, and then covered it with the contact paper.

I may try white one day too!