My build is going to be slowing up a bit now as I just spent all the money I was going to spend to work on this on a bunch of crap to clean up my flooded basement, instead. *sigh* But I did get my paint for the background. I've got most of the glass cleaned up, but still have more scrubbing I want to do.
For my paint, I got four different colors of spray paint - brown, nutmeg (tan), oregano (olive-ish green), and sea glass (blue-green-greyish). I already had black. I had originally planned to make it so there was a vague impression of rocks and driftwood, more shadows than anything. I didn't like the way the first go came out, so I got to it with razor blade and completely bared the glass. Oy! The second time I like. I'm pretty sure I do, anyway. I started with black, putting a solid strip at the bottom, and working upward a couple of inches applying lighter and lighter. Then brown, solid coat over the black (to fill in anything that would show through) and then move up several inches, again going lighter and lighter. I did the same with the nutmeg, then the oregano, and then the sea glass. The entire back is coated over with the sea glass (housemate has a Masters in painting and told me the last coat should be white or light to make it work best). The effect I was trying for was sort of murky water type you'd find in a large, somewhat sluggish (seeming) river (AKA, the Amazon!) The back is not entirely opaque, so I think during the day I'll be able to have a small light on behind the tank with some tall wispy fake plants to give the shadowy plants-way-back-in-the-background look. We'll see.
Here's the pic. It's not great, but it gives you an idea. Ignore the little fake rock cave structure - I put it in there for something to focus on so the background would be a bit blurred out like it will when it's got plants and driftwood and fishies in it.
Whatcha think? When I've got the spare $$ again (come on, now, where ARE my state refunds already!!!) I'll be building the stand, getting my substrate and light, and redoing the lid, since it needs to be made backwards now. :lol2: It's pretty sad that the little 24 inch stock light from my 20H gives me more illumination in there than the 48 stock light that came with the big tank.
I'll update this as I move along!
Thanks for looking, and I look forward to your feedback and ideas as I go!
For my paint, I got four different colors of spray paint - brown, nutmeg (tan), oregano (olive-ish green), and sea glass (blue-green-greyish). I already had black. I had originally planned to make it so there was a vague impression of rocks and driftwood, more shadows than anything. I didn't like the way the first go came out, so I got to it with razor blade and completely bared the glass. Oy! The second time I like. I'm pretty sure I do, anyway. I started with black, putting a solid strip at the bottom, and working upward a couple of inches applying lighter and lighter. Then brown, solid coat over the black (to fill in anything that would show through) and then move up several inches, again going lighter and lighter. I did the same with the nutmeg, then the oregano, and then the sea glass. The entire back is coated over with the sea glass (housemate has a Masters in painting and told me the last coat should be white or light to make it work best). The effect I was trying for was sort of murky water type you'd find in a large, somewhat sluggish (seeming) river (AKA, the Amazon!) The back is not entirely opaque, so I think during the day I'll be able to have a small light on behind the tank with some tall wispy fake plants to give the shadowy plants-way-back-in-the-background look. We'll see.
Here's the pic. It's not great, but it gives you an idea. Ignore the little fake rock cave structure - I put it in there for something to focus on so the background would be a bit blurred out like it will when it's got plants and driftwood and fishies in it.
Whatcha think? When I've got the spare $$ again (come on, now, where ARE my state refunds already!!!) I'll be building the stand, getting my substrate and light, and redoing the lid, since it needs to be made backwards now. :lol2: It's pretty sad that the little 24 inch stock light from my 20H gives me more illumination in there than the 48 stock light that came with the big tank.
I'll update this as I move along!
Thanks for looking, and I look forward to your feedback and ideas as I go!
