What kind of tank background do you use?

hurricanejedi said:
I want to do this for my background:
Lava Rock Grotto
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I absolutely love that idea and definitely will use it when I set up my larger tank this summer (my balas cant stay in that 45 forever). Will have to try some variation tho, bala's are silver and black, I tried the black background for a week and the fish didnt look too good and everything looked blah. I turned the bkg back around to the printed underwater scenery. I dont like that either.

Maybe I'll try some live plants with the black background or maybe buy a blue fade. I'm looking for depth without cluttering the tank with plants.
 
Well, for anyone interested....the mineral oil on the background worked like a charm....so far at least! :> The background has been on for three days now and is still beautiful and vibrantly colored.....no black bubbles where it dried out and came away from the glass as it did with the water.
 
I don't like backgrounds either. I like seeing my tank from all sides. I usually try to produce *room dividers* with the tanks I have had.
 
:read: Guess it's just us. I just find the printed backgrounds I see to be tacky or over busy, and I wouldn't want a solid color that's just bland...

Just wondering... what's your line of work? Looking for a pattern of behavior here, :rolleyes: you're not an artist or interior design are you? (wondering because of that "display" mentality...)
 
graphicdesign_r said:
:read: Guess it's just us. I just find the printed backgrounds I see to be tacky or over busy, and I wouldn't want a solid color that's just bland...

Just wondering... what's your line of work? Looking for a pattern of behavior here, :rolleyes: you're not an artist or interior design are you? (wondering because of that "display" mentality...)
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Hey, I like backgrounds and golly gee gosh I'm an artist :)

I think you need to distinguish between artist and fine arts artist. A fine arts artist will tell you just how important a proper background is. It's one of the first things we learn. Doesn't matter how well your subject is painted, if you put it against the wrong background, it will not work.

Roan
 
C'mon Roan... graphic design is a job, not a label... If I had my way I'd do fine arts all the time, but it's not exactly an easy field to make money in. I do art in every media out there (not some guy that went for design because it's artsy and can't draw/paint). You know what they say about assumptions...

Here's a sketch from a book I'm trying to get published (not easy either).



another thing to keep in mind, a tank is a 3d environment. A painting or drawing is a 2d piece. I like to be able to see around the environment, and I feel a background would flatten it visually. I think of the display more as a sculpture than an image.
 
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stingray4540 said:
This is the best background idea I've seen yet and will probably use it or a variation of it when I set up my 55 gal.
right now I have a solid blue ocean visions background on my 29 gal.
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My main problem with it is making room for the filter in/out tubes, heater, etc... So I was thinking of cutting away the corners to make room for the things that hang on the back and then use plants to cover these areas. Not sure yet if that will look completely goofy but I want to do something along teh lines of these massive amounts of caves plus the nice look it gives.
 
I changed my background to blue and stuck it to the tank with water, it looked horrible PLUS it was bright! So I taped it to the rear edge of the tank and let it hang. It not only made it darker, it also gave it a gradient look which I absolutely love.

Bad part, you cant really see it in my tank photo below. Well, you sorta can. Cant wait till the sword grass grows larger to provide a deeper look.
 
I do what Hondaman does: I tape the background to the tank so it will appear darker. I don't like a bright colored background but it's just perfect with its muted look. It really gives the tank depth, especially with all the (fake) plants in front of it. (Yeah, I know how folks here feel about fake plants but I like them...much less work for me.)
 
graphicdesign_r said:
C'mon Roan... graphic design is a job, not a label... If I had my way I'd do fine arts all the time, but it's not exactly an easy field to make money in. I do art in every media out there (not some guy that went for design because it's artsy and can't draw/paint). You know what they say about assumptions...
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Nice sketch :)

Yer taking what I said out of context, silly :)

You said
Guess it's just us. I just find the printed backgrounds I see to be tacky or over busy, and I wouldn't want a solid color that's just bland...

Just wondering... what's your line of work? Looking for a pattern of behavior here, you're not an artist or interior design are you? (wondering because of that "display" mentality...)
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Now, it wasn't a label. What I said has nothing to do with peoples' abilities talents or whatever. I'm not one of those hoity-toity artsy fartsy types that "look down" on anything but fine art. *SNORT* I do crafts all the time. It's fun :) That being said . . .

What I meant was that it has to do with what you are required to produce all the time.

If your primary job is graphic design, then the focus on what you produce is not the same as what a fine arts artist's would be. Your viewpoint will probably carry over into the non-job world. Same goes for the fine arts person, the focus is different.

If I were to get a job as a graphic designer, then backgrounds may not mean the same to me as they do to me as a fine arts artist, and vice versa, and I will probably start seeing things differently than I do now.

Dats what I meant, but I dunno if I made myself clear :)

Roan
 
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