New Tank with Nice Black Vinyl but worried of sunlight.

[Skymoon]

Hi i'm a little new to the hobby and I hope someone can help me with an issue I found. So I got some new fish tanks and wanted one of them to have a nice black back background. I heard Blackout Vinyl for windows is a great way to do that before i set up my tank. I bought some and I read on the label that it isn't recommended to use on non tempered glass if in direct sunlight which I checked and both of my tanks aren't tempered. They are behind a door window that's south facing, it does has a frosted vinyl over it. I also have a side window that's west facing, though the blinds are mostly down. I'm worried if I put it on it'll cause my tank to crack. Should I still do it or should I switch to a frosted white vinyl instead? I was wondering if maybe I put a black poster board behind instead so it won't cause that issue or maybe do the black vinyl and cover it with a white poster board so the black won't absorb the sunlight and crack? Any tips or opinions will be appreciated!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Interesting to learn something new every day. I do see it's because of the heat potentially causing thermal glass breakage. With blinds mostly closed to the west (where the sun typically would be) or a south facing window with frosted vinyl already (where the sun isn't typically) - I would probably do it BUT if you are AT ALL in doubt, I'd do one of two things, TAPE the vinyl to the glass so it's not full contact but will still have a nice solid color and it will be waterproof OR go with posterboard. 

[Tanked]

You are more than likely safe either way.  Think about all of the people who paint the back of their aquariums black. 

The question you need to answer: Is the blackout vinyl side (the back) of the Aquarium in full direct sunlight during the hottest part of your day?  12-18 inches of water is a pretty good light diffuser and heat dispersion tool. 

 

[Skymoon]

That is true on the water diffusion. Thanks for the reply, I checked for the past few days and it doesn't seem like the sun hits directly during the hottest part of the day but I vaguely remember during other parts of the season it has with my old tank, I believe it felt very warm on the back when adjusting my poor attempt of a background that fell off at one point. I'm probably going to use some kind of white frosted vinyl and return the black vinyl since i haven't opened it yet.

[Pepere]

The water in the tank provide an excellent heat sink.  I woul not be terribly worried myself.

 

black film in direct sunlight without a heat sink on the glass would indeed be an altogether different situation.

 

i am absolutely sold on a black background.  Black equipment on tank back is far less noticeable as is algae or biofilm growing on the back.

[Skymoon]

On 4/17/2023 at 2:30 AM, Pepere said:

The water in the tank provide an excellent heat sink.  I woul not be terribly worried myself.

 

black film in direct sunlight without a heat sink on the glass would indeed be an altogether different situation.

 

i am absolutely sold on a black background.  Black equipment on tank back is far less noticeable as is algae or biofilm growing on the back.

Got it, so that's a definite no on anything without a heat sink like on my gecko terrarium I had at one point thought of doing using the extra vinyl to.

I never thought about the black hiding the algae, I was thinking more on what it would look like for my aquascape lol and felt that maybe white would look nice since with all the light my windows give off lol. Now that I think about it I might run the risk of more algae if i switch to frosted white lol.

[Pepere]

A frosted white background can be very attractive. 
 

more maintenance to keep it that way, and all items such as heaters, airline hose, filters stand out in sfatp relief…

[Skymoon]

Here's what I ended up with! I learned the aquarium frosted was a lot harder to apply then the windows frosted. Left was the windows since I messed up the frosted for that one and had to trash it. The right one is using the aquarium frosted and that one looks good too!