Painting the back glass

So I just bought a 40 gallon breeder over the weekend, and i want to paint the black glass before i begin to set it up. I was thinking of going with white, black or blue, but then I was wondering if a metallic silver on the back glass would work. I was thinking that this would help reflect light back into the tank. Good idea or bad? I would appreciate your opinions and most of all your experiences in all of this.

 

Here's what I did.. http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/diy-painting-back-aquarium-94987.html Never seen white done before, or silver. So i wouldnt know what or how it would look.

 

Well all I can say is if you go white you will see every little spec of algae on the glass for sure. It will look dirty in seconds flat, and I would suggest against it. My 10g is blue and it looks really nice, but I may be going black on my 40b. Not entirely sure just yet. I may just get a double sided blue/black background see how it looks before I fill it up.

 

+1 not to mention, it wouldn't look "natural" if it were white or silver, but DON'T let my opinion stop you, if you want it shoot for the stars. The only reason black and blue are used is to simulate a dissipating ocean into the abyss or distance.

 

I've had a number of black-backed tanks and they are my favorite. Of course if you're doing a reef and have good lighting then coralline growth will cover the back anyway...

 

i have a 40 breeder that i painted black and its great.
-cant see algea
-makes the tank look deeper
-makes corals and fish seem brighter (high contrast)
those are the reasons why i picked black, in my oppinion though white may be something worth trying i just wouldnt go silver (too shiny). and blue seems too much like the tanks at the fish store to me. but either way im sure your tank will look great, just make sure to take time and put on multiple coats of paint.

 

Thank you for all of the great feedback everyone. I'm thinking with everything that I just read on the feedback and actually thinking about it some more, I will most likely go with a black paint. I have plenty of time to make sure I can get a couple of coats on there. My wife wants me to build a custom stand for this tank anyways instead of using existing furniture already in the house.

So my next project is planning the build for the stand that can eventually house a sump and frag/QT underneath.

 

I left mine alone.. The coralline algae did a wonderful job covering it.

 

That is very well an option as well.

 

Here is a pic of one with coralline algae and the other with star polyps.

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