Carl June 4, 2006 June 4, 2006 Has anyone put LR or something else across the entire back (and/or sides) of their tank? I'm thinking if I can do this it gives me one less thing to clean every week - as I don't like the partial clean look. I thought I saw a booth at MAGNA that was selling some man-made, coral-like, white rock to put against the back of the tank. Of course it will only take a matter of time before stuff starts growing on it...and make it fit right in. -Carl
emissary June 4, 2006 June 4, 2006 Has anyone put LR or something else across the entire back (and/or sides) of their tank? I'm thinking if I can do this it gives me one less thing to clean every week - as I don't like the partial clean look. I thought I saw a booth at MAGNA that was selling some man-made, coral-like, white rock to put against the back of the tank. Of course it will only take a matter of time before stuff starts growing on it...and make it fit right in. Yeah that should be a good look I think. I'd probably go for that if I had a tank that was deeper. Right now my tank is 24" deep and I think putting rock against the back would make it look too shallow. Hence I think I"m going for a black background. But yeah, saw the same booth. Those guys get their stuff from the same people that make the Tunze deco rocks. Same material.
Carl June 4, 2006 Author June 4, 2006 Yanek, If I do something similar to this...I agree...I wouldn't want it to be too thick/deep. Depth of the tank - front to back is good! I did a google search for the Tunze deco rock...no luck...do you recall what it was called? or where I could find it? -Carl
emissary June 4, 2006 June 4, 2006 Yanek, If I do something similar to this...I agree...I wouldn't want it to be too thick/deep. Depth of the tank - front to back is good! I did a google search for the Tunze deco rock...no luck...do you recall what it was called? or where I could find it? The tunze deco rock is designed specifically to hide your tunze steam pumps. I have two of them. They look like this: And also to clarify -- just HAVING something on the back of the tank that is an obvious "end" Makes the tank look shallower. It's like... if you look down a shallow dark pit, it looks really deep. But if you can clearly see the bottom, then it looks exactly as deep as it is. So for instance insteading of covering the whole back of the tank with something you can clearly see, I was thinking to cover the back of the tank with just black... to provide the illusion of greater depth.
Carl June 4, 2006 Author June 4, 2006 You're 100% correct... Then it comes down to cleaning the back a couple of times a week vs. putting rock there. Did you see that guy on ReefCentral...weatherson...that put a black piece of plexi across the back of his 240 gallon tank...but painted it several shades of blue...increasing the darkness towards the bottom. It looked very nice...as long as it's kept clean of course.
emissary June 4, 2006 June 4, 2006 You're 100% correct... Then it comes down to cleaning the back a couple of times a week vs. putting rock there. You're right. I need to keep that in mind, given my laziness.
Lee Stearns June 5, 2006 June 5, 2006 My concern was placing anything on the glass because it was going to coraline up at some point anyway- anything too thick and you need to get flow behind it to keep there from being dead spots - I have 4 maxi jet 1200s on two strips that basically keep the flow coming along the back of the glass and towards the front of the tank. They are totally hidden by the rockwork,, but can be pulled stright up for maintenance. For beginning the tank the plexiglass darkened would work till the glass encrusted. I certainly would not want to clean the back glass.
Carl June 5, 2006 Author June 5, 2006 So Lee, if you look down into your tank, from the top, along the back, is there a gap between the glass and the rock? And you can see the plumbing from the top only? Does your rockwork go to the top of the water? Can you see your back glass from the front? It sounds like you don't clean the back glass. -Carl
BeltwayBandit June 7, 2006 June 7, 2006 I have the back of my 24" high tank painted black. It looks fine, and actually the corraline algae doesn't look too bad growing in spots, until of course it was taken over and is now covered with xenia.... Go for xenia.
rocko918 June 7, 2006 June 7, 2006 the back of my 75 is completely covered in corraline. It is not painted at all. I used to be able to see the wires but now it all corraline. I dose with Iodine once a week.
emissary June 7, 2006 June 7, 2006 Anything special about painting glass? Special paint? Special brush? Not a brush?
gastone June 13, 2006 June 13, 2006 Check out about 2/3 of the way down. http://forums.marinedepot.com/Topic35284-4-1.aspx Garrett.
Carl June 13, 2006 Author June 13, 2006 Check out about 2/3 of the way down. http://forums.marinedepot.com/Topic35284-4-1.aspx Garrett. Yes Garrett - thats the stuff I saw at MACNA. I think it would have cost me $1000 to purchase it from the vendor...There's got to be a way to make something like that on our own...use sand, crushed coral...just need some non-toxic bonding agent... -Carl Craig - They don't list pieces 36 inches high...but assume they would cost a little more than the pieces that are 29 inches high at $180 a piece, plus shipping. I'd need about 6 of them...so figure over well over $1000 in the end for my tank...there's no way I'm spending that on the background. Has anyone at WAMAS done something like this? and liked the result? either made their own? or purchased this from captive oceans? And again, there's got to be a better - cheaper - way to do this on my own. Purchase 4 bags of crushed coral and sand...mix it with some glue...and have my kids make finger designs in it...
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