Paint for Acrylic tanks.

[Mr. Limpet]

Well, I just looked through all of the threads, and I couldn't find anything about what kind of paint to use to paint the back and bottom of an acrylic tank. Has anybody done this?
My wife is a pretty good artist and has done some really nice jungle scenes, so I though we might try to paint a background on an acrylic tank.
So, the paint needs to be water proof, but it would also be nice if it could be removed if it doesn't come out. She has a sheet to practice on, I just need to get some paint. Any help would be apprecaited. Thanks, Paul.

[Discusgeo]

Contact your local boating supplies store they should be able to give you a good idea.
George

[Mr. Limpet]

I will check out Tap Plastics also.
My wife tried some Glass and Tile paint on a practice piece yesterday. This is the kind of paint that is see through, so you can make glass look like stained glass. It turned out pretty well. It didn't mess up the surface and it is water proof. You have to apply a clear primer coat first. It has some potential, and could make for a very interesting background. Paul.

[henryD]

I have paint all of my tanks. If it is the outside of the tank. Any sort of interior paint will do. As long as it is waterproof you are ok.

This way you can apply a warm cloth to the paint for about 5 minutes to remove the paint in the future.

Henry

[Dissident]

Any two part, marine grade epoxy paint will be perfectly safe, once it has cured. However, its not going to hide anything, just change the color. If you want to hide equipment inside of the tank, try siliconing cork to it. Then you can attach Java Moss, Java Fern or Anubias to the cork. The plants will do a far better job of hiding unsightly equipment than any paint job.

Im not sure about readily available colors to do a scene that you and your wife are looking to do. If either of you are crafty at all this link might be of some use too: http://members.cox.net/jpmacke/design.htm You could always make a jungle type of background and hang it over the back of the tank with more of a 3D feel to recreate a biotope.

[Mr. Limpet]

Thanks everyone, we are leaning towards the glass paint. We will do some pricing this weekend. The bottles my wife has are only 2 ounces, and the back of the tank is 2'x4', so we will see what the colorr selection and pricing is. I will try to take some pic's as we go. There is a good thread on General discusion with some good looking background paint that we might try on another tank. TGIF and payday too, Paul.