Painting tank screw up

[Seamonkey]

Hi, Need help! :cry:

A while ago I asked if anyone had experience with painting the exterior back of the tank instead of taping on one of the plastic sheets you buy from petstore.(I always get wet area's and salt creep).
I recieved some input and decided to go with the exterior latex, against the paintstore warning that in no way it would work, as the paint has no way to stick to glass. I went ahead and painted on one coat, looked a little scratchy, but the second coat actually started to peel it away, now it looks like **$#**! Basically did not work, as the paint store stated.
They said a light sanding was what would be needed, prior to the paint application. (I'm a little leary of doing this incase it looks worse) At this point I have to clean it all off and either try again or give in to taping.
Has anyone ACTUALLY ever tried this and had success. Let me know, as I am willing to try it again.
Thanks

[BCOrchidGuy]

I've done it, clean the glass well with vinegar and water or alcohol (rubbing) and make sure it's good and dry. I've only ever had trouble with the paint when it got water under it. I've also used tremclad spray paint and if you do a super light coat and then a bit heavier and a final coat you'll have to fight to get it off.
Just clean off the old paint with a razor blade (be careful). make sure it's good and clean before you do any more painting.

Doug

[Canadian Man]

Yes I have painted tank's and I used tremclad brush on paint.
Worked perfect. I didn't even clean the glass.

[UnderWorldAquatics]

Like Doug, I clean the glass with alcohol, then either spray paint it like Doug said with a good quality enamal paint like tremclad, or I use a marine paint. both work pretty good...
Dont use latex on glass unless you trying to make peel and sticks...lol

I have been spay painting more lately, as I have been blending from deep blue at the top, to black at the bottom

[whaase]

Look for Krylon Fusion paint. It comes in spray cans. I found some colors at HD but they didn't have all of them (no blue shades). Walmart had the rest. Latex paint made for painting acrylic/glass/plastic.

Walter

[Dazz]

you should take a sheet of plexi glass and paint it and just put it behind the tank. That way you can remove it or change the color any time you want.

[Arbee03]

I used Krylon Fusion (blue)as well. Bought from Canadian Tire. HD also carries them. Just wiped the glass down with a dry cloth.

[UnderWorldAquatics]

you should take a sheet of plexi glass and paint it and just put it behind the tank. That way you can remove it or change the color any time you want.

although this sounds like a good idea, from my experience you will get water and salt creep between the 2 layers and it just looks ugly after awhile...

[Dazz]

Nothing a quick wipedown wouldnt fix ;) and you could keep it 1/2 an inch from the glass

[Seamonkey]

:biggrin: Thanks for all your replies. As an afterthought, I painted tank in my garage which is kinda cool, could this have had an effect on the paint?

[UnderWorldAquatics]

yes, cold can affect paint

[Seamonkey]

:lol: Underworldaquatics said don't use latex unless your making peel and sticks. I just scraped the paint of back of tank, came of real easy, and that is exactly what it looked like. I shoulda made some blue Dori shapes for my kids. :biggrin:

[StirCrazy]

scrape the laytex off and go buy a 1l can of marine enamal. it takes about two cotes to cover nice and won't come off. use amonia (windex) to clean the tank it won't hurt the fish (unless you dump it in the tank) and it cleans way way better than viniger.

the marine enamal is formulated to be totaly water resistant which is more than can be said about other paints out there.

Steve