Anybody try a Shadowbox Background?

i am thinking about giving this shadowbox background a try. i have enough room behind my tank to pull it off, just wondering if i have the artistic ability to make it look realistic. anyone ever try this?

 

Picture example?

 

Here is a example. not sure whose tank this is, its off a thread on another forum.

 

That's pretty darn neat...how is it done exactly?

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That background shown above is from an example of what someone on RC wanted for their tank background. The thread is "A Reef in the Sky" thread on RC. I'm not going to link to it, but that thread has a lot of great info in it.

But the picture belongs to the guy's friend. And while he had tossed around the idea of a shadow box, that is actually airbrushed on a single acrylic sheet.

 

huh lol didnt know all that.
the threads i have seen with these look pretty amazing.
just not sure how my abilitys will make it look lol

its a peice of blue acrylic sheet that is sanded to create a faded look. then behind the acrylic you cut out rock shapes and paint them to look almost realistic (you could use real rocks to i guess) then its lit from above. it creates a depth to the tank that is amazing.

 

Yes, I have seen both of those done. They look good but I have to say the real rock looks much better. I also left you a message on your profile.

 

Unless you've got a way to clean that back glass, it's going to become overgrown with coralline regardless of what's behind it.

 

One thing I think is really cool with the shadow box backgrounds is that if you have dimmable lighting, throughout the day, the "foggy water" background changes color slightly, just like it would in the ocean.

 

I clean my every few days with a razor blade. I'm pretty ocd about it.

Although, if you have an overflow on the back of your tank, the plumbing won't look so good, sticking into the middle of your background.