Hi folks,
As above I'm interested to know what people are using. I attempted to put car vinyl on today after about half an hour of messing about I admitted defeat I couldn't remove all the bubbles and creases. I thought about spray painting it but want to keep shrimp and was worried about polluting the tank.
Many thanks
Be prepared for some mess - lay the tank on the opposite side to the one you want to apply the vinyl to (very carefully) then absolutely soak the glass with water, preferebly sprayed, some say add some fairy liquid but I never had the need. If you've been struggling then I'd suggest getting two, or even three people to remove the backing and lay the vinyl very carefully and held tight onto the soaked glass, then working in one direction look to push all the water out from underneath the vinyl using a credit card or better still a felt backed tool meant for the job.
You will get water all over the floor but a few towels underneath should take care of that, leave it to adhere overnight and then trim the excess off with a sharp blade held on an angle to the glass, if you happen to have left any small bubbles then you might be able to get them out by pricking them with a pin and again using the tool push the air/water out.
I've done this many times and it does work, just be patient with it.
If it's definitely permenant then brick/tile paint or similar can be applied, if you do happen to get a little over an edge you may find carefully using a sharp blade that you can tidy this edge up like you were trimming the vinyl off but I'd mask up regardless.
I've left the hobby now but am in Oxfordshire, I've kept CRCS in varying colours in our very hard water, just be careful where you source them from. Starting a system that relies upon RO can become very time consuming.
Good luck.