Warning about coatings on DIY Hoods

[tkos]

So my dad just made a nice simple hood to hold a double 20 watt lighting system (40 watts total). We let the oil paint off gas for a week and could not smell anything coming off of it. We put it on the tank at night but didn't turn the light on right away as it was past the photo period for the day. The next morning everything looked great in the tank. The light came on at 1 pm and by 5 pm the gouramis eye had bulged almost out of his head. All other fish were fine and I thought I had a infection happening in the tank. I treated for popeye but every day the fish looked great in the mornign and horrible as the day went on.

I figure that as the lights get warm they are driving out more fumes in the coating and this is aggrivating the gourami. I have removed the hood for now and will let it offgas for another week. Things look good in the tank (as far as the eye goes).

Just a little warning to watch your fish closely and to make sure that you let any coated hood off gas for a considerable amount of time.

 

[yaksplat]

I would mot suggest finishing the inside of the hood for this reason. I use a natural tung oil on wood finishing. It makes the wood look nice without adding all of the extra crap that might hurt the fish.

Jim

 

[tkos]

Well we needed a highly reflective surface to bounce the light back into the tank.

Regardless I doubt it is just the paint fumes from the inside of the hood. The heat even a flourescent light can throw off is enough to drive off fumes from the outside as well.

 

[Thaiboxer]

Good to know... does tung oil put a nice finish on wood?

 

[tkos]

I have used tung oil on wooden bowls before and it is a nice finish. But it isn't highly reflective so I wouldn't personally want to use it in place of a reflective surface.

 

[Mr Burns]

would an exterior grade acrylic paint (white in color) work ok?

 

[BONESTOCK]

What about black? I have a black setup and if I made my own hood..I also want it to be black....

Any way to do this?

 

[yaksplat]

Yeah, tung oil makes a great finish on wood. I use it on all of the furniture that I build. You can buff a tung oil finish up to a high gloss, but it won't be reflective. I have a reflector inside my hood for this reason.

MrBurns: Sure, just make sure it's sufficiently dry

BONESTOCK: Black absorbs light, just paint the inside of your hood white. You'll never know from the outside and you'll reflect more light into your tank.


Jim