applying a background

[skoom]

i recently put up one of those plastic waterscape backgrounds behind the glass. At first I wet the plastic and scraped out the bubbles like you would when contacting books... so the background is tight against the glass and show off better colours...and not dull. However in days the moisture started to dry off and i am left with a dull background. Any tips on how to keep nice and bright? I was thinking of some kind of oil or lubricant.... anything anyone has used and been successful? THanks.

skoom

[Merrilyn]

Apply Vaseline to the back of the tank. It will hold the plastic background firmly against the glass, and doesn't dry out.

[skoom]

thanks. i'll give it a try.

[Mattzilla]

why not paint the back of your tank? looks great and leave a perfect job all the time with no mess

[kalebjarrod]

i was gonna make some crude ky vs vas joke but i won't

seriously

vas is the way to go

[Merrilyn]

And we all appreciate that restraint Ryan.

[jwight]

By and away the quickest, most effective, cheapest, safest option is to line the edges with double sided sticky tape. put the background on making sure it is flat with no bubbles and then cut off any excess. I have tried all the others and they do dry out after a while. Go with da tape.

[Sime76]

does anyone have any tips on applying the vas and attaching the plastic backing? I'm doing it now and there are heaps of streaks and bubbles, its taking ages to work them out.

Sime

[kalebjarrod]

use a plastic gyprock screed

looks like a plastic paint scrapper

[revkev]

I seen some where on the net they used olive oil to stick a background on
just use an old credit card to smooth it out and remove the excess oil.
would this work ok? never tried it myself.
Revkev