Can you paint the inside of a tank?

[premier]

hi there, after reading the recent discussion where Ben painted some tanks and the fridge door, my brain generated the above question-
reason being i have a 4 foot tank with a partition and would like to prevent a couple of breeding pairs being able to see each other, painting would be quick and easy for me and hopefully longlasting.

any replies greatly appreciated.
this site rocks!

[goldenpigeon]

nope sorry you cant paint the inside because it is toxic or somethin like that (this includes all paints). but u can paint the outside.

[Merrilyn]

Glad you like it here premier. Thanks for the compliment.

Painting the inside of the fish tank has been tried before, with limited success. Never seems to work quite well enough, and there is always the danger of the paint being toxic.

A quick fix for you might be one of those tall plastic background pictures you buy to put on the outside of the tank, well you cut that to size and use silicone to attach it to the divider.

Quick, easy and safe. Just let it cure for at least 72 hours before use, and do make sure you use aquarium safe glue.

[Ben]

Hi Mate,
the other suggestion but not quite as good as Merrilyns is to buy some plasctic plants and line them up where the partition is.
I have tried and it works %80
I had a plastic grid and divided up suspect pairs in a 6 foot tank, worked ok.

Ben

[DR.V]

hmm i painted my tank using spray paint only $6 from bunning, but i painted outside the tank. Works well

[chrissyoscar]

I remember reading on another forum about marine paint. It's a two pack paint meaning you have to mix two parts together ( I think). Anyway from memory it's expensive but give a boating or marine store a call and see what they say.

Oscar

[Sutto]

its an Dye Based Epoxy I believe Chrissy Oscar.

The only thing I can think of that could possibly help si the stuff sold as paint-on pond liner. I honestly dont know if it will work or not but it is available rather cheaply through Here. (http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/categories.asp?cID=41)

HTH,
-Sutto

[premier]

thanks very much for ideas, previously i siliconed background to the partition as Merrilyn described i think i'll do it that way again. i'm interested in the idea of the plastic grid, thanks ben.

[Woll]

i dont know if this would help, but you can buy plastic in all different colours, maybe you could get a bit the right size and silicon it to the divider. im not sure of the toxicity of the plastic, but some should be ok (i think)

[Merrilyn]

Hi Woll, welcome to the forum. Thanks for sharing.

[premier]

thanks woll, acrylic is non toxic and fairly inexpensive, a sky blue colour is available although only up to 6mm in thickness, so as a divider alone i'm tempted to give it a go, my concern is it flexes a fair amount, if one side of the tank was empty and the other full things could get interesting. i know if u use about 240 grit sandpaper on the edge of the acrylic acetic cure silicone adheres it to glass suitably.
something to consider

[Woll]

you could buy some thin acrylic and sanwhich it between 2 pieces of glass