Aquarium stand DIY

[Tom446]

Hi everyone. Need some advice please.
I’ve brought a fish tank off a friend as I want to start up my own aquarium.
The fish tank frame is very dark wood, potentially stained wood.
I want it to be a lighter colour like a light grey.
Could anyone recommend anything or any products to accommodate my preference in colour without sanding? It was some patterns/ grooves that I don’t want to sand out.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If it's just a wooden stand with paint, varnish or sealer on the wood, you should be able to just paint over it with any water or oil based paint. I prefer oil (turpentine) based paints but they smell bad for a while. If you can put the stand outside for a week after you paint it, then any fumes from the paint will disipate and you're good to go.

If you are concerned about new paint not sticking, you can use a very fine sand paper to give the surface a quick once over and this should scratch it enough for the new paint to stick but shouldn't remove the detail you want to keep.

[Tom446]

Hi Colin, appreciate that and thanks for your reply. I’m a novice at this and just starting out so thought I would join a forum to do some reading, learning and ask for tips/help along the way.