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Re: aluminum foil?
Erik wrote:
>Has anyone contemplated using aluminium foil as background and even on
the sides of the tank in order to utilize the lighting? <
I tried it briefly once. Just stuck it on the back of an existing tank and
then took it off. It's very hard to keep intact without tearing and
"bunching up", and I found that the irregularity of it bounced the light
right back into the viewers eyes at some wrinkle points, making it look too
"glittery". A very visible background makes the tank look finite and
smaller. Also, the light colored background sort of "absorbs" the plants in
front of it, and the eye just sees a confusing jumble. It is, of course, up
to the individuals' taste. If you look at Amanos NAW book, you'll notice an
invisible black background on almost all the tanks (when you can see the
background at all, that is :-) ) My suspicion that the fish would be
disturbed by the reflections was unfounded however, as my dwarf cichlids and
angels didn't seem to even notice it.
Personally, I use a product called "blackwrap" which is used in the motion
picture/photography field to mask out unwanted light leakage. It is
basically a thick, strong, aluminum foil which is completely matte black.
It reflects absolutely no light and the background disappears, giving an
appearance of infinite size and contrasts with the green plants very nicely.
FWIW :)
Darren