[ApePlanet]

👋 Hey everyone! New member here and my first post. I'm currently in the research phase now. I had tree frogs when I was a kid and am looking to get back into it with some Leucs. One choice I'm deciding on is to apply a background to the backside only or to the back and sides. If I did do the sides, they would be visible and nothing would be obstructing the view of them from the outside. So, my question is, with the foam and silicone against the tank, does it look terrible from the outside or not? Post pics, please. Thank you!

 

[Partsgardener]

many people paint or cover the outside behind the background. My project had a painted back already. there are a few places were the foam crossed over to the sides and I had to seal it. It is not unattractive to me. This is a spot where there was a void I needed to seal.

 

[fishingguy12345]

Paint the outside to hide it.

 

[JasonE]

I always paint the outsides of my enclosures.

 

[ApePlanet]

many people paint or cover the outside behind the background. My project had a painted back already. there are a few places were the foam crossed over to the sides and I had to seal it. It is not unattractive to me. This is a spot where there was a void I needed to seal. View attachment 313009

That's a great idea. Thank you very much and for attaching a pic!

 

[ApePlanet]

Paint the outside to hide it.

That's a great idea and I will do that if I wrap the background to the sides. Appreciate the response!

 

[ApePlanet]

I always paint the outsides of my enclosures.

That's a great idea and I will do that if I wrap the background to the sides. Appreciate the response!

 

[JasonE]

That's a great idea and I will do that if I wrap the background to the sides. Appreciate the response!

You can also paint the bottom where your false bottom is so you don't have to look at that. I usually paint up to the soil level.

 

[niputidea]

I prefer background all the way around because it provides more useable/plantable space. I did a back-only background on a viv that’s more visible in the room thinking that it’d look better. The thing I didn’t think about until later is that the side glass ends up looking cruddy in time as it gets dirtier. (Even with RO water, the animals track dirt and poop everywhere). Cleaning it often enough to keep it nice would disturb the animals, and I don’t even think I could do a decent job trying to reach around the plants and hardscape.

Another thing that people try is black contact paper on the outside of their viv. This sounds more appealing to me than paint because it sounds like it’d be easier to undo if you change your mind or redesign later. Admittedly, I haven’t tried either method.

 

[MasterOogway]

Black contact paper. No mussing about with paint.

 

[solidsnake]

Painting works great, but now I absolutely love black adhesive contact paper. A wise dendroboard moderator got me using it. 😁

 

[ApePlanet]

You can also paint the bottom where your false bottom is so you don't have to look at that. I usually paint up to the soil level.

That's another thought. Do you think there would be a negative side effect from covering up the false bottom? Would there be a reason you would want to see it?

 

[ApePlanet]

@solidsnake , @MasterOogway , and @niputidea the black contact paper is a genius idea! I was just about to research painting on glass, but this method seems far less destructive and seems like the results would be a lot nicer. Definitely going to look into this!

 

[IShouldGetSomeSleep]

That's another thought. Do you think there would be a negative side effect from covering up the false bottom? Would there be a reason you would want to see it?

I like seeing all sides of my viv's, it's just nice to know what's going on but I wouldn't say it's necessary.

 

[JasonE]

That's another thought. Do you think there would be a negative side effect from covering up the false bottom? Would there be a reason you would want to see it?

If your tank is drilled there's not much reason to need to see what's going on down there.

 

[KrewNK]

I have a three sided background that I made with black spray foam and it isn't as big an eye sore that I thought it would be. However, using contact paper or painting the sides of your tank are both great options.

 

[atelopusman50]

I use black contact paper you can find on Amazon

 

[Cordon]

@solidsnake , @MasterOogway , and @niputidea the black contact paper is a genius idea! I was just about to research painting on glass, but this method seems far less destructive and seems like the results would be a lot nicer. Definitely going to look into this!

I’m also about to build my first Viv and I’ve decided to go the black contact paper route. I watch this guy from Korea on YouTube (biotope gallery) and his vivs look super sleek with the black contact paper.

 

[ApePlanet]

I’m also about to build my first Viv and I’ve decided to go the black contact paper route. I watch this guy from Korea on YouTube (biotope gallery) and his vivs look super sleek with the black contact paper.

Oh noice! I’ll look him up. Thanks!


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