i like the black... but I just leave mine clear!

if you are doing an inwall then access and ability to view from the back is something to be considered. I know it was for me.
My DT is inwall and all access/fish room / equip access is behind that.

I wanted a black background but I needed to be able to see in when I had too.

Took a few months of thinking, perking, pondering then finally figured out what works for us.

I bought 2 large sheets of the corrugated plastic ( like they use for signs) and carefully cut them to fit around all the stuff on the exterior of the back wall of the tank. Then i spray painted them black with many thin coats of paint.

Can slide them off when I need access/view......put them on when I want the black background look.

worked like a dream and very glad I didn't rush into a solution that wouldn't have worked out nearly as well.

I had blue back ground on the 210 and it was really nice until stuff started to grow on it, you are always obligated to clean it up or it will look like carp. Black on the other hand will allow you to go weeks maybe even month without cleaning it and it will still look decent.

Ive always done vinyl because its less time consuming for something thats mostly going to be hidden by rockwork and covered coraline....Ive always been too lazy to clean the back glass....I voted black, although I have blue now....

I voted other, as mine is coraline :biggrin:

My black background is $6 of nylon from fabricland and industrial adhesive velcro from home depot

i did a blue background with fabric and velcro as well, then if i get sick of the colour i can change it easily

I've always experienced that if the background material wasn't adhered to the glass it looked crappy. Is this not the case with black maybe? I do like the idea of a removable background because I will have full open access to the tank from behind, which doesn't help much if you can't see anything.

On the right tank blue can look really good but on a standard type size such as 120 or smaller I don't think it looks good at all. Black for sure.

My wife sewed the velcro for me. That coupled with the industrial strength tape allows me to pull it taught. It's attached to the black frame on all 4 corners. From the front you can't tell it's not painted.
I had the same idea on my 125g FW and it makes for easy algae magnet access.