I recently ordered a Blue Life USA Water Colors adhesive aquarium backfron from Doctors Foster and Smith. I didn't want to paint the tank, but I wanted something better than taping some colored cardboard in place.
I ordered the 48"x30" piece for my 90 gallon. What arrived was a long skinny box, containing a roll of background material, 30" wide by a bit more than 48" longth (not precisely cut), a credit card-sized piece of plastic ("squeegee"), and a small empty plastic bottle. Instructions are printed on the box. You mix up a weak dish soap solution in the bottle, and then are supposed to put it in a spray bottle; it's alot simpler to spend $1.79 on a 6 oz spray bottle and mix it up directly in that, however.
Only two colors are available from Blue Life, black or blue. I got the blue, and it looks great.
The vinyl material has adhesive on one side, covered by a paper backing. I noticed the backing was labelled "Calon by Arlon". Some research discovered this is merely the sheet vinyl that signmakers use. Blue Life just cuts a length off a 30" wide roll and puts it in a box. So if someone wants to go this route, I'd suggest that they check with a local sign shop, or sign supply place, to get some vinyl locally. It would probably be cheaper, and a wider choice of colors would be available. A video tutorial on how to use the soap solution to position the sheet properly is at http://www.americansignproducts.com/html/Vinyl/Vinyl_Tutorial.html ; see the third video.
I ordered the 48"x30" piece for my 90 gallon. What arrived was a long skinny box, containing a roll of background material, 30" wide by a bit more than 48" longth (not precisely cut), a credit card-sized piece of plastic ("squeegee"), and a small empty plastic bottle. Instructions are printed on the box. You mix up a weak dish soap solution in the bottle, and then are supposed to put it in a spray bottle; it's alot simpler to spend $1.79 on a 6 oz spray bottle and mix it up directly in that, however.
Only two colors are available from Blue Life, black or blue. I got the blue, and it looks great.
The vinyl material has adhesive on one side, covered by a paper backing. I noticed the backing was labelled "Calon by Arlon". Some research discovered this is merely the sheet vinyl that signmakers use. Blue Life just cuts a length off a 30" wide roll and puts it in a box. So if someone wants to go this route, I'd suggest that they check with a local sign shop, or sign supply place, to get some vinyl locally. It would probably be cheaper, and a wider choice of colors would be available. A video tutorial on how to use the soap solution to position the sheet properly is at http://www.americansignproducts.com/html/Vinyl/Vinyl_Tutorial.html ; see the third video.
