Removing paint from back acrylic. Time sensitive.

[Miami Reef]

Painting black over blue on the outside of the tank is not going to make the inside change color.

Here is the tank setup:

Tank is made from acrylic.

Tank is painted blue on the outside.


I want to paint black on the outside.

 

[Miami Reef]

This is the back of the tank.

 

[JumboShrimp]

(Well that helps me understand a bit better. A lot of acrylic tanks with blue backs are made OUT OF blue acrylic. Making it black would have been just short of a magic trick! Lol.)

 

[Miami Reef]

(Well that helps me understand a bit better. A lot of acrylic tanks with blue backs are made OUT OF blue acrylic. Making it black would have been just short of a magic trick! Lol.)

Thanks. Luckily mine was just painted on blue

 

[CKinLA]

People have had sheets of back kydex cut (you could also use back acrylic) and put them in the tank against the back wall. When they get dirty or covered in coralline, remove it and replace it with a new sheet and clean the dirty one for next time.

 

[Miami Reef]

People have had sheets of back kydex cut (you could also use back acrylic) and put them in the tank against the back wall. When they get dirty or covered in coralline, remove it and replace it with a new sheet and clean the dirty one for next time.

Are they flexible enough to squeeze into a tight space?

 

[Miami Reef]

Notice how I have this acrylic slab in the middle of the top of the tank

 

[Miami Reef]

I originally wanted to get custom acrylic sheets but they are too stiff to fit through. If there was a material that I could maneuver into this that would be fantastic

 

[Miami Reef]

I could also get the acrylic sheets in 3 pieces…but I would assume the 2 seams where the slabs meet would get a bright blue vertical line shining through.

 

[KStatefan]

Here is the tank setup:

Tank is made from acrylic.

Tank is painted blue on the outside.


I want to paint black on the outside.

Then paint it black

 

[DrZoidburg]

Where is the facepalm emoji? Acetone not good it dissolves acrylic, but could also hurt your tank integrity. If there is live stock some stuff could die from it. I agree with above ^ put a few pieces to make the background. Alternatively put every thing in a storage container like a brute trash can, or another tank. Clean with fresh water and dry tank using black acrylic paint on inside.

 

[Miami Reef]

Where is the facepalm emoji? Acetone not good it dissolves acrylic, but could also hurt your tank integrity. If there is live stock some stuff could die from it. I agree with above ^ put a few pieces to make the background. Alternatively put every thing in a storage container like a brute trash can, or another tank. Clean with fresh water and dry tank using black acrylic paint on inside.

I can use black acrylic paint on the inside?

 

[DrZoidburg]

I don't see why not it is inert and reef safe. Clearly it bonds very strongly to acrylic. If that is what the blue paint was. The most important part to get acrylic paint to bond to acrylic is to make sure it is clean. Also get a non toxic acrylic sealer to maybe help it from getting worn away.

 

[Miami Reef]

What’s the best way to effectively clean before painting? I don’t want to accidentally ruin the paint seal

 

[Cell]

I used to care about the color of the background of my tanks. Now I just plan on it being purple after a year or so. No interest in cleaning the back regularly.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Hot soap water, wearing gloves, rinsed, and dried. Would be the best way some people use acetone, or denatured alcohol. Not really great using alcohols. I do agree again to above why care about color though. When either coralline covers it or you mount corals to it.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

People really need to start rolling latex interior paint onto their glass and acrylic. It stays as long as you want it to and it peels off of glass, scrapes off of acrylic.

 

[Tamberav]

Sorry I assumed you were painting the inside of the tank as I thought you mentioned the acrylic was black or such but painted blue. I misread back acrylic as black acrylic

People use krylon fusion to spray parts that go in the water like overflow boxes so thought that was being done here.

In that case the easiest method would be to buy a black sheet of acrylic to fit (or cut it) and silicone it to the INSIDE of the tank in front of the blue. Since it is not a structural piece of the tank… it doesn’t need to be very thick.

Be sure to let the silicone cure though.

 

[Miami Reef]

Sorry I assumed you were painting the inside of the tank as I thought you mentioned the acrylic was black or such but painted blue. I misread back acrylic as black acrylic

People use krylon fusion to spray parts that go in the water like overflow boxes so thought that was being done here.

In that case the easiest method would be to buy a black sheet of acrylic to fit (or cut it) and silicone it to the INSIDE of the tank in front of the blue. Since it is not a structural piece of the tank… it doesn’t need to be very thick.

Be sure to let the silicone cure though.

How long for silicone to cure?

 

[Tamberav]

How long for silicone to cure?

GE lists 24 hours for a 1/8 bead. Any larger and it takes longer. I always give mine a week but I also use large beads to secure sump baffles.

Another thought is to just lay it right up against the old back and clamp it on so you don’t have to wait for silicone to dry. Water will get behind it but my guess it that sponges, pods, worms, and debris will take refuge there. This could perhaps be an easier way to remove the back for cleaning of coralline because as others mentioned it will get covered quickly in a mature reef in tank.

I have laid acrylic on the bottom of a tank before to prevent a mantis shrimp from punching the bottom but never tried across the back.