painting background

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bavass

bavass

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
1,797
Location
Waynesboro Virginia
I am this weekend going to be re-aquascaping my tank. Going to build a cave and a over hang out of pvc. To get some of the rock off the bottom and be able to get some corals closer to light. When I do this I would like to paint the back ground blue. Is there a safe way to do this on an existing tank? Can I just cover all with plastic with exception of the back, cut pumps, powerheads etc. off and have fans pulling anything out from behind the tank to keep it from getting in the water. Any suggestions would be great!
 
In doing some research it seems that the best option is rolling on a water based acrylic because it has less odor and less likely to get into the water as would a spray so i think that is the rout I am gonna go! I will post some pics, i have a lot of work to do, gonna take all the live rock background out and srub off the turf algae and attach it to pvc for the overhang and cave. I will leave the mangroves hanging in the back. I think the long roots reacjing the sand bed in the back will be pretty cool looking!
 
I took some PVC and built what is going to be a cave and an overhang. The rock goes on tomorrow in the morning and into the tank! Hope it comes out like I want it too!


1228590783_6iv5W-L.jpg
 
yes i think so, i can put right much weight on it, the hang over will only have smaller pieces and and the cave will only have like 2 big pieces stacked on it, I have a support for the middle if you look you will see pvc hanging down in the middle towards the back with a "T" at the bottom. I should have added I still need to drill some holes for water flow. I will post pics tomorrow
 
I think rolling paint on will be fine. My 125 was painted when I got it. It is a baby blue, which I don't particularly care for, but didn't feel like scraping it off. I would definitely suggest a dark blue. There's some kind of paint that I was discussing with another member who has the same idea. It's a low odor paint. Maybe baby safe? I think they call it low DOC's? It's been a while, sorry. That will keep your house from stinking up. We had to paint while my son was home when he was just a few months old. We closed the doors to the room we were painting, but didn't even smell the paint in there.
 
I didn't paint my 46g before it was full of water so I was stuck using a background. I learned my lesson and just painted the back of my 100g just a few hours ago!

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium
 
After painting a couple or tanks with acrylic and spray paint I found ther perfect solution. WINDOW TINT. It is easy to find in blackout or 5%. They also make colors (blue, red, green, mirror) very easy to apply and no fumes....and you can easily change it.
 
The background was very easy to paint, I use a waterbased acrylic blue cobalt and just rolled it on took about 4 or 5 coats with about 30min each drying time. Only used about half a sample can the lady at Home Depot said that a sample can will cover 24sq feet. I will post some pics soon
 
Ok here it is the before pics and after pics. I have not finished covering the pvc yet. But see what you think any advice will be appreciated.

1233251890_wnwTU-L.jpg


1233251913_tNnKx-L.jpg


1233251208_bPvFY-L.jpg


1233251236_xd6dC-L.jpg


1233251252_LaNuN-L.jpg
 
Mangroves got about 20-25 hanging in the back of the tank. The roots run all the way to the botom I think it adds a natural looking habitat. I think I am gonna get a few more. Got them from www.reefcleaners.org
 
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