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White back grounds post yours

2K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  joeyNdana 
#1 ·
I really like the idea of an amano style background. I understand they are ussually staged for photos and would not look nice in a permanent display.

I've painted a lot of tank backs black, and I would like to see some painted white back grounds. Possibly some painted gradient backgrounds as well.
 
#2 ·
I've tried this with several of my tanks, and still waiting for things to grow in before I make a decision.



That's an etched glass window film on the back with white poster board behind it. There is an LED light strip in between so I can do things like:




But it doesn't really show up when the main lights are on :(

I tried this with another tank:



And just kind of sloppily mashed the two colors together somewhere in the middle. The idea was also to backlight it but again it's not really very impressive with the daylights on. Otherwise it looks like this:



That's backlit with an Aqueon 8000K full sprectrum from a 10 gallon I had laying around, there is also some daylight from a cliplight on a breeder box on the back of the tank.

I have a few other tanks with black paint and you really can't go wrong, unless of course you're going for that 'blue sky in the distance' look. :icon_mrgr Also, light colored backgrounds mean cleaning the back of the tank too, cause anything growing on that pane shows up REALLY well against a light background.
 
#3 ·
Wow!, I really like the backlit shots with the silhouette of the plants. I stuck a piece of white paper behind my 10g and it was very green, sort of like your first pic. I wonder how I can avoid the plants reflecting off the white, or if it's possible.


I may just go black, that's what I've always done, and liked. Light blues a possibility as well
 
#5 ·
Yeah there's some amount of magickry involved with those impressive photos when they take the picture, but I think it's entirely possible to achieve a nice-looking and permanent amano style background, though I've not attained what I want.....yet

On backgrounds, I look to Asia for inspiration in this department, lots of creative ideas. Check out this site, you can see some awesome aquascapes there too.

I've been fairly happy with the background on my 29, though it could be made better. What I did is buy low watt cfl daylight bulbs and a shower curtain from the dollar store. I got out the iron, set it on its lowest setting and ironed out all the creases...no issues there fwiw. Decide how many layers you want to use, I used two. Add the backlight and try out several positions. It looks like this:

Plant Green Botany Terrestrial plant Organism



I noticed that if you leave a few folds in it, you can get it to sort of look like sunrays coming through clouds, but I like it stretched tight.

In the end I spent $3-$4 and it was so worth it!
 
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