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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

paint for background in discus tank

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05 Jan 2015 12:26 #1 by alan 64 (alan)
OK guys hopefully my new tank is on the way so I am thinking of painting the background maybee matt black, I have never painted a background so any suggestions or tips on this like colour or type of paint to use would be appreciated

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05 Jan 2015 12:38 #2 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
I'd go for black. It covers a multitude of flaws, most aquarium equipment is black so they're less visible and it's a good neutral colour. Use a roller. There are various types of paints you could use but in my experience almost any kind of household interior paint will do. I've used hammerite and ordinary vinyl emulsion. The hammerite is harder wearing but it goes on less easily and takes quite a while to dry properly. The emulsion is what I'd go for, or something similar. Even if you accidentally scratch some off it'll be easy and cheap enough to repair.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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05 Jan 2015 13:45 #3 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
I use black acrylic works great and doesn't scratch off too easily.

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05 Jan 2015 14:16 #4 by Ski (Alan McGee)
I just recently painted two tank with acrylic black paint and liked it at first but don't anymore. In the process of getting rid of the paint now :crazy: easy job though, just wet the paint with warm water and scrap off.

I just found it too dark and the black background makes the water look dirty and shows up any scrapes as well. Plus there was a small bit of a spillage down the back of one and that messed up the paint.

I couldn't see into the tanks without the lights being on. Here's some pics and what I've changed them back to. All personal taste really.

Easy to paint and to take off.











Attachments:

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05 Jan 2015 15:09 #5 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
I love that several of my tanks look so dark! :laugh: I can hardly see the back of my Trigon190, because it's painted black and there's only a 9w light on the tank. And my cave tank is sooo dark that I think a iPhone would light up a room more!
It's all a matter of taste, isn't it? ;)

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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05 Jan 2015 15:15 #6 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Yep, sure is. My black piranha's are starting to turn black so all I could see was red eyes :)

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05 Jan 2015 15:30 #7 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Black/Blue Acrylic paint put on with good rollers...It takes about 5 good coats with a decent amount of drying time (about 2 hours) in between coats....Personally i prefer black because it contrasts really well with alot of fish colours and also because most equipment (filters/heaters/pipework etc) are black and with a black background fade into it and arent as ugly and obvious when viewing...

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05 Jan 2015 15:36 #8 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)

Yep, sure is. My black piranha's are starting to turn black so all I could see was red eyes :)


I'm sure that was the look they were going for :laugh: :evil:

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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05 Jan 2015 15:39 #9 by Ski (Alan McGee)

Yep, sure is. My black piranha's are starting to turn black so all I could see was red eyes :)


I'm sure that was the look they were going for :laugh: :evil:


Ha ha, yeah true. I do like the black and agree with gunnered that's it's good at hiding equipment, but was just letting Alan know that I came across some down sides

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05 Jan 2015 15:52 #10 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)

Yep, sure is. My black piranha's are starting to turn black so all I could see was red eyes :)


I'm sure that was the look they were going for :laugh: :evil:


Ha ha, yeah true. I do like the black and agree with gunnered that's it's good at hiding equipment, but was just letting Alan know that I came across some down sides


Yeah, definitely. I'm going for a cave appearance in one tank and a woodland river floor in another. All the fish in the trigon benefit visually from being in a dim tank with some sidelighting but there's a whole rake of fish that'd just be lost in that setup. In fact neither tank really comes into its own until nightfall. Either way, I don't think I'd use a stick on background ever again.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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05 Jan 2015 17:01 #11 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Blue

Something fishie going on here

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05 Jan 2015 17:15 #12 by alan 64 (alan)
Now I'm torn between blue or black ha god damm anyways the tank came today from discus.ie nice lad he is and I got a good deal from him

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05 Jan 2015 17:55 #13 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
I too was torn between blue and black when i was getting my tank...i went with black and im so glad i did...the blue to me looks too unnatural and personally i think blue only ever looks anyway half decent on marine tanks.The black background adds depth also to your tank appearance.
Gavin

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05 Jan 2015 18:03 #14 by alan 64 (alan)
Where do I get the black acrylic is it just in ur regular diy shop

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05 Jan 2015 20:15 - 05 Jan 2015 20:19 #15 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Art/School supply stores...Ebay...Amazon..Just make sure ya get enough...Especially if its to cover a bigger area of glass...

Crafters Acrylic Paint is what ive used

www.ebay.ie/itm/Large-Black-Acrylic-Pain...&hash=item2edb7af868
Last edit: 05 Jan 2015 20:19 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered). Reason: Forgot to put in extra info

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05 Jan 2015 20:19 - 05 Jan 2015 20:20 #16 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Uaru Joey has good videos on You Tube about painting aquariums
Last edit: 05 Jan 2015 20:20 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered).

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05 Jan 2015 21:14 #17 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
I would not use black for Discus => if they have any type of peppering it will get worse IMO.

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06 Jan 2015 08:54 #18 by Homer (Kevin)
Hey Alan,

I use black acrylic car Paint spray from a can and all I can say is it is the best thing ever, a couple of passes and 15 mins and it is dry and perfect, make sure you clean the glass well with alcohol, easy as he'll.

Kev.

The Glass is always greener on the other side.


It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!

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06 Jan 2015 21:23 #19 by alan 64 (alan)
Y banks for the replys now I am concerned about what miami said so maybee I will go with a blue

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06 Jan 2015 21:29 #20 by Aroshni (Lydia Olivera)
A dark blue rocks, like the one that Jeff has.
In case you interested in a 3D background check 'Back to nature', they're awesome.

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06 Jan 2015 22:03 #21 by alan 64 (alan)
Back to nature I will check that as maybee 3d will be awsome

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