painting back of a fish tank

[mooch4056]

How do you paint the back of a fish tank black? is there a special paint or special prep I need to do. Is there a prime coat of something I need. Thanx in advanced

Paul

 

[Rbishop]

Clean with glass cleaner and then a good quality flat black spray paint like Krylon.

 

[247Plants]

Yep, what rb said. If its glass it can always be scraped off with a razor blade later on down the road.

 

[Mustang Boy]

yea you dont want to use primer cause it would only show that through the back of the tank

 

[beviking]

I've always used flat black latex paint and a roller. You have to put it on the roller fairly thick and the first coat or two will not cover completely, but I don't have a garage or outdoor covered place to spray paint in. 3 or 4 coats should do it.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

i done roller and spray and i like spray paint by far. doesnt take too long to do. what i did was use windex to get most of the dirt off then rubbing alcohol. once it was dry i taped it off and took it outside to spray. if i can do it anyone can.

 

[johnlarson66]

I have used the cheap wal-mart spray paint on my tanks.

 

[Rbishop]

For me, it takes fewer coats with the higher quality spray paints with more pigment.

 

[SubluxT7]

I just did my 55g with Krylon flat black. cleaned it with windex and taped it off. Took about 1/1/2 cans and about an hour but it turned out well. The Krylon dried in less than 10 min per coat so I was happy.

SubluxT7

 

[brentling]

I just did this very project using Windex Green to clean he back. I taped off everything well, turned the tank upside-down so that excess paint wouldn't get inside and went to town. Several light coats of spray paint did the job. I used satin/semi-gloss finish rather than flat but that is personal choice. I read a bunch of articles and decided on dark hunter green rather than black. I've always used some kind of black background before, but my black angelfish disappeared! Dark green allows me to see my angels and gives tremendous depth to the tank. I have read article showing how different colors create different effects...tan/brown simulates a rocky wall, black simulates deep water, dark blue for ocean effects, green for planted tanks to provide the illusion that the tank goes on for long distances, etc. Black can look really awesome depending on your fish. It makes red, yellows and blues really pop.