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RE: NFC: Aquarium backgrounds

> No one happens to know if spray paint will damage plexiglass 
> do they? 

I have painted plexi without any immediate problems but have never had the
opportunity to check for longterm problems.

>I was thinking I'd
> like how the black would look, but it seems like it would 
> make the tank kind
> of dreary.

I prefer using a dark green paint (some variation of "forest green") for
backgrounds.  It gives a fairly natural underwater tone to the whole tank.
I have also experimented with varying degrees of success with painting tanks
using a variety of earth tones using diluted paints in spray bottles.  You
can set the spray bottles to mist and then using them in random patterns and
random colors get a unique and fairly natural mottling of colors which look
like algae covered rocks.  I learned this technique from a reptile exhibit
designer at a zoo where I used to work.

Rob Denkhaus
Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge
 "El muerto a la sepultura, el vivo a la travesura"
 "The dead to burial, the living to mischief"



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry [mailto:lbn at iceprototyping_com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 3:10 PM
> To: nfc at actwin_com
> Subject: Re: NFC: Aquarium backgrounds
> 
> 
 I'm
> wondering if any of the chemicals in the paint could possibly 
> have an affect
> on the surface of the plexi.  I bet the paint comes off easy 
> enough in both
> situations...does it not Doug?
> 
> My tank is 30 inches tall and I have yet to find anyone to 
> supply backing
> paper that tall.  I have always used the solid blue 
> background and always
> loved it.  I just bout two pieces that I plan on butting 
> together for the
> tank that are blue on one side and black on the other. 
> 
> Larry
> 
> >
> > I simply spray-paint the back (outside) of all my new tanks 
> before I bring
> them into the house, using std. painters masking tape and old 
> newspapers to
> mask off the areas I don't' want painted.  And sometimes, 
> depending on where
> the tank is going to be placed, I'll also paint one or both 
> short-sides as
> well.
> >
> > As I assume Johnny Cash (aka The Man in Black) would say, 
> black goes with
> everything. Which is to say I think it complements and 
> accentuates whatever
> fish plants etc you have in the tank. Hang on the back 
> filters and fittings
> become near invisible, especially if the in-tank fittings are 
> also black.
> >
> > I was in the Florida Aquarium (Tampa) a couple of days ago 
> ... (BTW, they
> have a BUNCH of native killies and some of the most 
> spectacular natives
> mollies I've seen  , VERY nice) ... and noticed that most all 
> of their most
> of their more or less conventional tanks (i.e., not the large 
> exhibits that
> are fully aqua-scaped) have solid light blue backgrounds, of 
> the color you'd
> see if you were looking out while snorkeling into 100' 
> visibility water in
> the Caymans or somewhere. Of course, those were salt-water tanks with
> salt-water inhabitants. I think I still prefer my black, but 
> it's possible
> that marine fish are psychologically happier with a blue 
> background that
> presumably seems more natural to them.
> >
> > I haven't found that any particular brand of type of tank 
> adheres to glass
> any better than any other. They all will flake off to some 
> degree if they're
> bumped/nicked the wrong way.
> >
> > .02
> >
> > Doug Dame
> > Interlachen FL
> >
> >
>