# I need aquarium-safe two-part epoxy paint



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Don't you want the background on the outside? You should anyway so you'd have a glass surface for easy cleaning (algae).


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Dang it I did this on another forum, too.... I forgot to include an important part of the story:

This tank is a 20 year old 75g by Oceanic, and it came with a permanently-siliconed-into-place blue background, on the inside of the aquarium. I cannot remove it without deconstructing the entire aquarium, because the center brace is siliconed on top of the blue background panel.

So I really have ZERO options here, other than to paint over the existing background and then seal that with something like 2-part epoxy that is safe for potable water tanks?

Thank you for responding, mistergreen.


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## planBtypeA (Jul 19, 2012)

Would window tint be an option, or are there all sorts of nasty chemicals in it that would be bad for the tank? Or what about marine epoxy, the stuff they paint boats and PWCs with? Just trying to help think of some options here for you.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

I did actually think about window tint, but then the thought occurred to me that that stuff scratches relatively easily, at least it does in cars, and the first time it scratches, it's fubar'd. I really want to go with a good, permanent kind of coating, so that this tank will last another 20 years.

After I paint it, I will be resealing the seams with new silicone. I already have to scratch the old silicone off so that I can paint the entirety of the back wall (since you can't paint silicone!), so I figure this will be a good reason to redo ALL of the silicone.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

What material is the background made out of? Epoxy sticks to most things that are not flexing much.

Check out Sweetwater Epoxy paint, sold by Aquatic Eco. It is expensive, and might kill you if you are not careful, but once dry it is very durable, nice, and safe.

I think Aquatic Eco is close by you so you might save a couple bucks on shipping.

You would have to clean the background well before applying it. Perhaps even rough it up a bit. Not sure...


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## DerekFF (May 24, 2011)

Ive been contemplating something like line-x for a background. Just trying to find out if it would be aquarium safe.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Wasserpest said:


> might kill you if you are not careful


lol, yikes


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

If the background is plastic, Krylon or the new Rustoleum for plastic, would work. Either take a week to cure or catalyze. After that they are part of the plastic, not a coating on top of the plastic. You couldn't use a razor blade to scrape on them like you probably can with epoxy. 

For epoxy
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3048/Epoxy-Paints


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Wasserpest said:


> What material is the background made out of? Epoxy sticks to most things that are not flexing much.


It looks to be a large sheet of blue-tinted acrylic. There are scratches on it from 20 years' worth of the previous owner moving live rock and corals around in there, and via those scratches I can tell that this is acrylic. This is a "reef ready" aquarium by Oceanic, which means it contains an internal overflow in the back left corner of the tank, and this overflow is constructed from what I believe is the same blue acrylic that they siliconed onto of the back glass. I think when this aquarium was being sold in retail stores, it was probably an option, to buy the blue one, for reef tanks. But that doesn't go well with my ideas of what I want to do with it, so it gotsta go!



> Check out Sweetwater Epoxy paint, sold by Aquatic Eco. It is expensive, and might kill you if you are not careful, but once dry it is very durable, nice, and safe.


LOL. Alright, thanks for the heads up, I will look them up. And I promise I know what I'm doing, and have a proper workspace with proper airflow and respirators. Safety first!





[email protected] said:


> If the background is plastic, Krylon or the new Rustoleum for plastic, would work. Either take a week to cure or catalyze. After that they are part of the plastic, not a coating on top of the plastic. You couldn't use a razor blade to scrape on them like you probably can with epoxy.


Oh really? That's interesting, because I was reading a lot about Krylon on the reef forums and some people were saying that after a while there would be paint flakes floating around in the overflow or whatever. But I wouldn't be surprised to find out that's just because they didn't let it cure properly before submerging it, or some other kind of user error. So you are saying that with a proper cure, and provided I scratch the acrylic up enough so it bonds, I could just use paint and be done with it? I mean, I would still be able to use a plastic algae scraper on it? I don't want to go the expensive route if the economical route is still 100% effective when done right.



> For epoxy
> http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3048/Epoxy-Paints


Awesome, I don't have to look it up after all!

Thanks, you guys are great. I will have to post up a journal of all the work I'm going to do, since there doesn't seem to be much info out there about this specific type of scenario. Hopefully it will be helpful to someone else out there.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Yeah, the Krylon-Fusion-black painted plastic pipes that used to be invisible in my tank are now white. The paint held up for about a year.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

So, that's another vote _against_ the Krylon method. Wasserpest, I noticed from dbosman's link that the stuff you mentioned is just way too expensive, before even getting to the point where I can save money on shipping because of how close they are to me. I don't think I want to spend $74 plus tax on the solution to this problem. So, even though that I acknowledge that this is the perfect solution, I must keep looking for other options.

I should take the time to mention here that I posed this same question to a friend of mine who used to run an aquaculture business here in Florida, and had a live rock farm down in the keys... just, someone I know who has been doing aquariums and boats and marine stuff in general for over 50 years... and this is his response to me:



> Yes, trying to take it apart would be a major pain. What you need is marine paint aka Gel Coat. You can buy it at any marine store, but of course you need so little for the tank you don't want to have to buy way more than you need, a pint maybe or you can buy a quart and mix only what you need. 2 other possiblities are find the boat painting places in your area, ask if they can paint it when they have paint prepared for a boat, I can't see them charging you over about $20 or ask if they will sell you about a pint of the paint. The paint will come with a hardner (MEK) that hardens the paint once it is applied. You add it by drops and never add too much! They will be able to tell you how many drops. Do a light sanding on the blue, just to take the shine off it, maybe 220 grit sand paper and wipe it clean with a spong or rag and water , then when you mix the paint and MEK, have all your things ready to go and paint it with nice even strokes, but paint it quick before the paint "kicks" or hardens. This will give you a smooth hard coat like a boat. Hope this helps! Let me know.


So, now I am interested in this route. As much as I appreciate this gentleman's response to me, I don't necessarily think he knows everything, lol, so would anyone care to comment on his suggestion? I _really_ like the idea of asking a few boat painting shops (of which there are MANY around these parts) if they could paint my aquarium the next time they are painting a boat, and doing it for hopefully less than $50, so I think I might start calling a few places. I think there will be a few boat-painters out there who are also fellow hobbyists, and will want to help me out... hopefully.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

If it's acrylic, Is simple gluing a thin 1/8 Black (or color of choice) new sheet right over it.

There is vendor from Indiana on e>b/a/y that I have bought from several times that will cut for you. Instead of searching through his auctions, simply email him through the "seller question" link. He also sells weld-on use to glue up acrylic. It has to ship separately as the glue is hazmat rated.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

DogFish said:


> If it's acrylic, Is simple gluing a thin 1/8 Black (or color of choice) new sheet right over it.
> 
> There is vendor from Indiana on e>b/a/y that I have bought from several times that will cut for you. Instead of searching through his auctions, simply email him through the "seller question" link. He also sells weld-on use to glue up acrylic. It has to ship separately as the glue is hazmat rated.


Thanks for the response DogFish... I thought about this, and the initial problem I run into is I would have to install the new acrylic sheet in two pieces, because the center tank brace is in the way. So I worry that there would be a visible seam? Any thoughts?


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Church said:


> Thanks for the response DogFish... I thought about this, and the initial problem I run into is I would have to install the new acrylic sheet in two pieces, because the center tank brace is in the way. So I worry that there would be a visible seam? Any thoughts?


\\

That's easy, cut a template out of heavy cardboard, if the template goes in so would the acrylic.

If I had to use two pcs for one background and be force to have a seam, I'd put the seam off as far as I could to one side. With the hope I could hide the sean with driftwood or plants or both. If you use black and move thew light forward off the back that will help to hide a seam also.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Putting an acrylic sheet against a glass sheet, with the end restrained, could cause big problems. Acrylic expands about 10-30 times as much per degree of temperature change than glass does, plus the acrylic would also absorb some water and expand a little from that too. A sheet of glass 4 feet long would expand about .005 inch for a 20 degree F change in temperature, while a matching sheet of acrylic would expand about a 1/8th of an inch. It would either buckle, bend the glass, or push the ends of the tank apart with rising temperature. Or, it would leave a 1/8th inch gap with dropping temperature.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Hoppy, that is how this tank came from Oceanic's factory! It's got the blue acrylic sheet glued over the inside of the back glass. I can see that that is the case, because when I look at the back of the aquarium I can see the squiggly glue lines that are holding it in place. Then, it was siliconed into the seams of the aquarium, and then the center brace was siliconed last. So if what you said above is true, is it possible they used something other than acrylic? It sure looks like acrylic in every way.

DogFish, thank you for your advice. I really don't have much of an option, though. I just did the math, and if I insert a sheet of acrylic diagonally through the widest space I have available to me, that is only ~29 inches. Which means I have another 19 inch piece to join up to it, and even if I can blend the seams naturally, I get the impression it will still be noticeable.

I would never go through this voluntarily. But I was given a free tank and I'll be dang'd (royally dang'd) if I can't figure out a way to make it work for me.

I appreciate everyone's help. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but i do plan on calling a few boat painting shops now.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Well, I guess this thread is about to become a journal. This way if anyone else out there in the world runs into this problem and they find this, it might be helpful. At the very least it will help me to photojournal the project.

So, here's a pic of the tank:











You can see I've already started removing the old silicone seams.




















In these next 2 pics you can kind of see what I was talking about, about the blue background being just siliconed right on top of the inside of the back glass. Now that I've scraped the silicone away you can see that this is the case:


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## sphack (May 2, 2012)

Is the entire back covered with one piece or does it stop before the overflow? Iow does hoppy's problem apply? With the overflow I think you could install a new sheet since it would Niu be the entire width.


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

You could dye the material, but the proper solvent (MEK) is nasty. 
The dye can penetrate some, but deep scratches would show the color underneath.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

I like this idea of covering the plastic but why not use cork sheeting or one of the other aquarium background products.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Sphack, the overflow is a separate unit from the background piece. But even then, if I were to put a new sheet of acrylic over it, I would have to split it into 2 pieces because of the cross brace. As mentioned up above. At least, I think? I guess I'll try it with a piece of cardboard and report back...

BruceF, the only real reason why I want a solid colored background is for aesthetics, to create the illusion of there being depth beyond the back glass. With cork, or moss walls, DIY backgrounds, that sort of thing, it would change the entire aquascape I intend for this tank. That's really the only reason. I want a specific look.

dbosman, I'm interested in your thoughts on the krylon paint. What you said in the previous page conflicts with what many people say about it. Including Hoppy. So, any further thoughts?

Thank you, everyone, for chiming in.


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