mirror backing on tanks

[CiXeL]

has anyone considered using a mirror backing on the sides and back of your tank?

advantages:

- bonus of added light for your corals
- allows you to see around your rockwork to see what is lurking behind
- gives your tank a greater appearance of depth like you would see on a real reef

 

[Anonymous]

I had a mirrored back on a freshwater tank for a while and didn't like it.
I didn't think it made the tank look deeper, in fact I think it had the opposite effect since I could see my livingroom furniture in my tank.

Plus the mirror is very stressful for any fish that have any territorial issues with conspecifics.

I've heard claims of people seeing very nice tanks with mirrors on the back, but I have never seen one.

 

[mokujin22]

i think that with coraline forming on the back glass, it may look a bit funny. i would feel compelled to scrape the tiniest bit off and (for me at least) would become a pain in the next very quickly. i scrape off my back glass from time to time, but with the rockwork, i can only go so far down.

tony

 

[utahsaltreefer]

Like Pitpat said. Many fish are very aggressive against conspecifics. They end up "attacking" themselves in the mirror until the become stressed. This makes them more prone to problems. I've seen this happen before even when an accidental mirror like substance is used on the back.

 

[SpecialK]

I am getting blue Mirrored Acrylic for the back of my 300, I placed a large mirror to the tank so could check for aggression. My lions wanted to group with themselves, my trigger was fine, it was my male Bird wrasse that had a problem but the female was fine.

I left the mirror and in a few hours he (Bird wrasse) was fine again, you may want to check it out with a large mirror first. You dont want to stress your fish or start any aggression issues with them.


Kaye