Background color

[Gerryd]

Hi all,

I have one of those double-sided glossy paper type backgrounds with black on the one side and a light blue on the other.

I switched to the blue side yesterday and here is my issue.

When the tank lights are OFF, and the tank is lit by NATURAL light (not direct sunlight) coming from the sliding glass doors a few feet from the tank, the blue is very visible and looks great, like a blue sky background, which is exactly what I want.

However, when the tank lights are ON, the color is a very much like black and is NOTHING like when lit by the natural light, even if the natural light is the same, as if the MH from the top overpowers it?

I have 3X150W 6500k MH bulbs suspended 12" above the surface. I tried lowering the height by 1.5" increments, and moving the entire fixture from the front of the tank to the back at each adjustment. It made very little difference.

Question:

How can I get the blue color I want, when using tank lighting? Or is it impossible due to the differences between artificial and natural light???

I appreciate any help.

I will post some pics if you think it would help.

 

[creighton]

That sounds like a tough one. Could you artificially back light the background?

 

[Gerryd]

Creighton,

You got me thinking a bit...............

I tried placing the background on the wall behind the tank, rather than stuck to the back pane.

This helped as you can see from the split color pic.

Unfortunately, I only have a bit of space between the tank and the wall so that the tank itself shades the background (back of tank pic).

Other pic is of closet suspension hardware.

I tried using a dual floro strip I had, placed it all around at diff places (bot, top, side), but the MH just overpowers it.....

I can't place the MH to the back of the tank to illuminate more, as the rest of the tank would be out of balance then.

Getting closer, but you can imagine why I want to try the blue background. I think it may look spectacular (I hope).

Thanks for your help,

Here are links to pics


gerrydirish/Background - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

 

[tedr108]

The only thing I could think for you to try is to basically use your floro light to shine directly onto the paper as it sits on the wall. If you set the floro light across 2 brackets that were set lower than your MH brackets and put something under the back end near the wall so the back end was tilted up, wouldn't that work?

(P.S.) You still have your Boesmanis (sp?) and SAEs, I see. Two of my SAEs leapt to their deaths the other nite. Can't say you didn't warn me! I really had a good 3-man SAE team up to that point.

 

[creighton]

Gerry,

See if I'm thinking about this right... when you had the background flat against the back of the tank you got the dark blue color? Was it entirely against the glass or was there a little slack in the background? You could maybe try some soapy water on the back glass, stick the background to it and see what color that gives you. If that works you can just squigie out the air bubbles, but I'm not entirely sure that that will work.

 

[Gerryd]

tedr108,

Great minds think alike! I was thinking the same, but couldn't find a way to support the light temporarily, to see how it would work (only two hands).

I was also thinking of lighting from underneath, partly for aesthetics.

Also, I have an open top tank, so need to keep the fixture dry...

Sorry about your SAEs, I am down to 2 from 10. Look at their shape and tell me they aren't jumpers?????? All of my lost 8 were jumpers. No natural deaths.... Call in CSI Miami lol

Yep, bosemani are still here. Lost another male 2-3 weeks ago as a jumper..

Creighton,

Yes, flat against the back glass, taped and firm against the glass and is very dark.

Issue, is that the light doesn't hit it properly as it hits the back wall of the tank, and the light reflects off the glass, and doesn't go through the glass, if that makes any sense. You can see that once I moved it away, and some light hit it properly, the color shows nicely.

You both have given some more ideas, so I will play around and let you know how I make out.

Not a lot of room for me to mount anything, as only 6 inches behind the tank, and I can't quite get myself that thin................

Thanks again!

 

[fjf888]

You probably already thought of this but maybe one of those t-5 strip aqualights, they are thin , perhaps could be mounted to the very back of the tank and be angled downward and hit your entire background.