Black backgrounds are the best.

Which aquarium background is the best? We find black ones are the most well rounded.

[remhk]

Black background and white sand substrate look awesome.

[seanyoung]

And it adds depth to the tank, giving the illusion that it continues into darkness

[ersg]

I did a Black Background for the first time recently and my family loves it

[AndrewCoad]

Painted mine with black plastidip - can always peel off if you change your mind and looks excellent. Love black backgrounds 👍

[kellybarrett]

I painted my 29 gallon black background after listening to you Cory. I just love it! It looks sooo much better

[williamleidy]

Hides internal filters, heaters and airlines better then anything IMO.

[ddc]

The textured 3D background is unbeatable for a display tank.

[zerohero]

I do enjoy a castle background with dragons myself

[misteriguana]

All my aquariums have black matten filters, natural gravel, sand, rock pile, twisted roots, and live plants.

[syedzaidi]

Would you recommend using a paper black background or just paiting the backside of the aquarium with black paint?

[hal-c]

It depends what's appropriate for the scape. Black, white, or white gradient,

[ryanmassey]

Black is best but I spray tinted a few and I really liked it as well

[NotSure]

Black is definitely one of my favorites, I guess it really depends what you’re going for. When i do a tank, I watch scuba videos of where the fish are from and try to mimic what I see as best I can…usually

[naysneedle]

Yes, and even better when the tank is made with black silicone, as that also doesn't show algae so you never have nasty looking corners.

[c.b.kansan]

I get a satin black spray paint and hit all my tanks that my nicer fish will be in.

I just set up a 55 gallon 1/4 cylinder. Looks a lot deeper with those 2 sides black like that.

[Itsjustme-Justme]

Black is the most universal background, it looks good or even great under almost all conditions. And as you say, it hides algae and a lot of other imperfections.

Under certain conditions frosted glass background can look great too, but it heavily depends on which wall color is behind the tank and it doesn't look good with every setup. A major shortcoming is, you can't hide anything behind it, for example you can't use a HOB filter unless you place it on the side wall.

Again, under certain conditions, a rock wallpaper can look quite good, but that really heavily depends on the setup.

Once I had an underwater pebble wallpaper behind a creek setup that matched the background. It looked great, but that kind of wallpaper really can only be used with a perfectly matching setup, it looks bad behind anything else.

Blue always looks like swimming pool, even behind seawater tanks, don't do that.

[SEahorSe]

Thats true. Black / dark fish also stand out in a beautiful way on black background. Easy.

[williamjansson]

Black or dark is really great, however, you might need to have a decent light to show the fish at its best. The COOP light will do the job 😂

[yancyhammondjr]

What do you use for the Black background?

[shelbytaylor]

100% agreed. White walls behind tanks or blue backdrops are unsightly.