Finally, a background that works!

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stingraycrazy

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Feb 13, 2004
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Just joined the forum! A lot of good stuff going on here!

I came across a couple of posts about aquarium backgrounds and wanted to let readers know about a great product I just found! I occassionally travel to That Fish Place in Pennsylvania to pick up supplies and fish. I saw this product called Oceanvisions that claimed to be a self-adhesive background. I was setting up a new aquarium for stingrays so I purchased the length I needed for my tank. I followed the directions - READ THEM CAREFULLY AS IT IS A LITTLE TRICKY TO APPLY - and applied the Crystal Black Oceanvisions on my tank! Wow! This stuff works great! It seals itself to the back of the tank nicely! What's even better is the striking way it makes everything in my tank look clearer. It's unlike any background I ever tried. I'm not a big fan of those flower print backgrounds...

Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that this product works really well. It also comes in a lot of different colors.

Has anyone else tried this product out there?
 
Nope, I haven't seen it locally. But I'm usually willing to look at new backgrounds provided that they don't have really tacky photos on them.

And welcome to the forum - from another Marylander.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome, RTR.

This Oceanvisions product has no cheesy background printing on it. It is solid and beautiful! I saw about 8 or 9 different colors, too. Check it out if you get a chance.
 
Welcome to AC.

I saw this background and all the different colors that it comes in when I got my last catalog from That Fish Place. I was thinking of giving it a try when I re-setup my tanks when I move. Just out of curiousity, what was the tricky part of applying it?

Dave
 
If you want to yourself some money, get some vinyl (3 mil thickness preferable) from a local sign shop. Just wet the sticky side with water and a very small amount of soap, and squegee it on. Eventually the water/soap will evaporate and the adhesive will stick to the glass without any bubbles (much like how you apply tint in a car). When you want to change colors or remove it, all you need is to start peeling. If it's been on for a few years, a razorblade or hairdryer will work wonders. It's easy to work with, farily easy to remove, and you can choose any color under the sun.

It looks just like a painted background when you are finished, without the mess and cleanup hassle.

Cheers,
Raithan O. Ellis
 
Hey Tyler, i think if you give Oceanvisions a try, you won't be disappointed. The tricky part for me, was lining up the background after spraying its adhesive side (and the back of the tank) with a mild soapy solution. But once everything is lined up, squeegeeing takes care of all the bubbles! And, great results will follow! If you are going to try Oceanvisions, make sure you read the installation instructions.

Raithan had some decent words of wisdom about the possibility of using vinyl from a sign shop. The only thing that I question - and I think I can reasonably question this since I used to contract sign companies to do vinyl lettering installations for some of my customers (for a former employer) - is how regular sign shop vinyl performs. Regular sign shop vinyl usually has a paper liner whereas Oceanvisions has a plastic liner. When you remove the plastic liner from Oceanvisions, the product's memory lets it go flat. Also, the adhesive on Oceanvisions, while fairly aggressive, doesn't seem to be as 'sticky' as sign shop vinyl. So, I'm assuming that the Oceanvisions product is engineered differently than standard sign shop vinyl. Perhaps Oceanvisions is coated with an adhesive that will work better with normal aquarium conditions. Standard sign shop vinyl has to be stickier (I'm assuming) to maintain its bond on glass in colder situations where adhesives lose their strength. I would question the adhesive bond of sign shop vinyl on tanks that are maintaining warm temperatures over a longer period of time.

I'm not sure about all this - just guessing. All that I know is that the Oceanvisions product seems to be working well for me. Also, it's not expensive. For my tank, I spent around $12.00. For me to go hunt down a sign shop reallt wouldn't make sense when we're talkin' about less than $20.00.

Let me know if you buy the Oceanvisions and apply it to your tank. I'm curious to know.

Ciao.
 
I'm going to be an advocate of saving money here, not trying to downplay any products as I have not fully checked out Oceanvisions yet. Experience in the hobby tells me that money saved is an aquarium earned. :D

When I was working in the sign business we made all kinds of vinyl signs, some of which were used for cars, buildings, and boats. If you have ever tried removing 5+ year old vinyl off the bosses boat with just a heatgun, you're going to find yourself occupied for quite a long time.

The adhesive on vinyl is designed for outdoor use in extremely cold and hot tempatures, and the coloring is guaranteed not to fade for 5 to 10 years or more. There would be absolutely no problem for use on the exterior of aquarium glass, easy as pie to remove, and you can use a razorblade if need be. However, use on acrylic poses one problem even though vinyl is safe for use on it, removal would be incredibly tedious and you can't resort to razors and probably even heatguns would be a poor idea.

However, vinyl doesn't seem to have any memory when in such a thin state, it's like trying to handle rubber foil. Also, if you can get vinyl at cost, you could cover around a dozen 75g tanks for under $10.

I work down in Lancaster, actually in the plaza directly next door to That Fish Place. I'll stop over on lunch this week and take a look at this Oceanvisions product. I have a feeling it is nothing more than a repackaged thin mil vinyl with a much heavier pricetag.

Cheers,
Raithan O. Ellis
 
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The owner of the store I work at, Pet Supplies Plus, was going to try to get into that self adhesive background business. I just talked to him today and he said that the company that would do it wanted about $5 a foot.

I have also seen OceanVisions at Moby Dicks, one of the premier pet shops in Michigan. I think it's a good buy too.
 
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