Aquarium Backgrounds

[tommygunnz76]

Hey everyone. Got a question for anyone who may be able to help me get my tank's background paper to look better than it does now.

I recently decided that I was not getting a good look at my fish and 'landscape' in the tank because the wall behind my fish tank is basically camoflaging them. So I went out and got a background, well actually it has been two or three. The effect has been great and the tank looks a lot brighter and better, but every time I apply one of these backgrounds, I get a 'splotchy'effect where some of the picture on the background is dark and some spots are really bright and easy to see.

I went out again today and got a new background which I decided to tape onto the glass using double sided tape. The tank again looks good, but I have the same spots of light and dark, especially where the tape is. So I am thinking that the background looks better when it is pressed tighter against the glass, but how can I get it all to be like that? In fact, I really dont care if it is brighter or darker really, I just want it all to look the same all the way around since this is a major attraction in my living room right now. I will try to post this picture of my problem to this thread, but I appoligize for it being a really bad quality! (I just took it with my camera phone). As you hopefully can see though, the background is all kind of dull except for the one large circle just under the reflection of the flash.

Thanks a lot for any help you may be able to give me!

 

[hondaman]

Well what i did for both my tanks is simply to tape the bkg to the top rim of both my tanks and let them free hang. It gives the bkg some depth and eliminates light and dark spots.

 

[TheZoo]

Another thread somewhere suggested using a light coat of veg. oil or vaseline to get it to stick and a squeegee to get bubbles out. Then tape edges down.

 

[JinxXx0085]

On my 10g, I used vaseline. I smeared the vaseline on the backside and then applied the background onto the vaseline. After I've done that, I'd get something flat and hard to "squee" the excess vaseline and air bubbles out.
I had the background on for a couple of months and it looks great. No tapes needed.
Another thing is that I was able to tuck the part of background under the trims with the lower part hanging over the trim so if any water even drips down, it won't get into the trims.
I hope that this makes sense :cool2:

 

[nursie]

I've seen baby oil used.

 

[OrionGirl]

Yep, any variety of oil on the tank, apply background, and smooth out the air. It makes for a crisp picture. You'll want to use a rag with a bit of ammonia on it to clean up any extra lubricant that might squish out, otherwise it collects dust and can get nasty.

 

[ragc]

Of course, if the tank is already set up against a wall the vaseline/oil trick doesn't work. Mounting it to a piece of illustration board, foam core board or plain cardboard and taping it to the rim works in that situation.