painting acrylic?

[ichthyojason]

I want to upgrade to a bigger tank and am not sure if I should pay the extra to get colored acrylic, or just paint it myself. Any suggestions? Or alternatively, does anyone out there have a 180-250 gallon they want to part with???

 

[brandon0350]

i think you have to get a special paint for plastic. i believe it will still peel off very easily. but maybe im wrong ive never painted acrylic

 

[ichthyojason]

yeah - i've never thought to try it before, but have seen several postings of people who are painting their tanks, so thought i should ask about it. I assume most spraypaint would work though. . .

 

[d0cdave]

I use plastic model spray paint from hobby stores. Some have used Krylon fusion but I dont know how safe that is. I have the model spray paint on my 26 gallon and the acrylic bows quite a bit when the tank is full. At least 2 years later and no flaking or cracking. I dont know the brand of paint that I used.

 

[818]

Just about any paint that says it can paint on plastic will work. Just be sure to paint the back and not the inside

 

[Wilafur]

i assume you are talking about painting the back of the tank? if so, any spray paint will work fine as long as you are painting the outside back of the tank.

last time, i used a flat black krylon and it worked fabulously.

 

[ichthyojason]

yeah - i assumed outside was a given

 

[slavearm]

You can also use plastic dye. It also comes in a spray can, and can be purchased at home depot next to the spray paint. You can also get it at most auto part stores. It will NOT come off.

 

[Wilafur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7698516#post7698516 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ichthyojason
yeah - i assumed outside was a given

then why are you so worried? any spray paint will do well, just make the the surface is clean and spray away.

 

[ichthyojason]

not really worried as much as curious. How does it look in comparison to those with say black acrylic. Is it worth the extra cash to just get that in the first place?

 

[ScotchMaster]

Krylon fusion is the paint you want....The stuff is awesome and is made for plastic...

 

[Wilafur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7698809#post7698809 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ichthyojason
not really worried as much as curious. How does it look in comparison to those with say black acrylic. Is it worth the extra cash to just get that in the first place?

it looks identical if you spray multiple light coats on and no, the extra cost for black acrylic is not worth it when a $5 bottle of spray paint can yield identical results.

 

[ichthyojason]

cool, thanks - now i have to pony up the dough to actually buy a new tank. yikes!