Painting Concrete Aquarium

Kharn

Kharn

MANTISMAN
Hello

Just wondering if anyone has ever had a concrete tank and painted the interior of the tank, what sort of paint can be used on concrete being that its a vastly different surface to glass/plastic ?

Also if this changes things a bit I was hoping to be able to use a sealer on the concrete FIRST then paint over the sealer with the paint, to take out some of the sealers 'shine/reflection'.

Cheers
 
Concrete is too pourous for an aquarium, you will need a good epoxy sealant. Also you can just use a colored epoxy.
 
I read a little article just then about how you apply the epoxy to the concrete surface then after a few days whilst it is still curing, apply the first coat of desired paint so the epoxy and 1st paint layer sort of "fuse" together because it takes at least a week for the epoxy to cure.
 
maybe you can coat the inside with some kid of sealant?

however concrete will need to cure for about 6 months to a year before you can introduce fish. and you will have to do NUMEROUS amounts of water changes to make sure all leach-able chemicals are done leaching. That is my understanding.
 
FraggledRock said:
maybe you can coat the inside with some kid of sealant?

however concrete will need to cure for about 6 months to a year before you can introduce fish. and you will have to do NUMEROUS amounts of water changes to make sure all leach-able chemicals are done leaching. That is my understanding.
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Yeah I do plan to use a concrete epoxy sealer inside the aquarium itself, I was just curious about painting that sealer and what kind of "based" paints can be used inside aquariums.
 
Kharn said:
Yeah I do plan to use a concrete epoxy sealer inside the aquarium itself, I was just curious about painting that sealer and what kind of "based" paints can be used inside aquariums.
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ahh thats a whole different ball game.

hmm i guess anything that will handle expansion and contraction.

maybe some form of polyurethane paint?
 
i would go VERY HEAVY on the application though. minimum 5 coats to get into each and every nook and cranny and get a solid thick layer!
 
Well the paint I have planned is quite specific...Chroma Key Green because of the heavy filming I do and I wanted to apply it on top of the sealant to retain the uniform layer and reflection it would give.
 
CStrickland said:
Be careful choosing a boat paint. Many have a sort of anti-bacterial ingredient to make them last longer, but I don't think it is good for your biofilter. Copper too. It's called anti-fouling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-fouling_paint

Another option might be to line it like one does a pool
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Because the tank base is effectively the same as a pool (curved edges to tank bottom) I did intend to make it like a pool 'per-say' each tank.

I don't intend to use boat paint I am going to use "video paint" the same stuff they use for green screen walls, chroma key paint.
 
Oh I see, I thought that was just a color you fancied, but it's the specific shade for a green screen. Interesting

Pools usually try to be a little rough so people can gain purchase to stand up. I would think you will need yours fairly smooth to be able to scrape off coralline that might interfere with the effect, but you probably though of that already. Some say polyurethane is reef safe once cured, but I'm not sure. That would help with scratches and such, and is likely available at bulk prices. Several coats of sealant, a couple coats of fancy paint, several coats of poly. I think that could be maintained like the back wall of an acrylic tank. Maybe some urchins to keep it clean between shoots.
Cool tank, good luck!
 
I saw a holding tank that used a product called pond armor. The guy said he just used multiple coats and had no issues.
 
CStrickland said:
Oh I see, I thought that was just a color you fancied, but it's the specific shade for a green screen. Interesting

Pools usually try to be a little rough so people can gain purchase to stand up. I would think you will need yours fairly smooth to be able to scrape off coralline that might interfere with the effect, but you probably though of that already. Some say polyurethane is reef safe once cured, but I'm not sure. That would help with scratches and such, and is likely available at bulk prices. Several coats of sealant, a couple coats of fancy paint, several coats of poly. I think that could be maintained like the back wall of an acrylic tank. Maybe some urchins to keep it clean between shoots.
Cool tank, good luck!
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I'd really like to keep the paint coat as the final layer...just to once again limit any reflection/distortion that might come off a clear layer on top of it...

As for the coralline algae growth, because I will work with the tanks daily I will clean them daily and not just this but there will be no lighting on the tanks like a reef tank, they have "special" lights only for when filming/photographing though.

The project is a lot larger then what it seems like there are 9 tanks each between 500-1000L hence I want to minimize on glass and doing it this way I only need....9 pieces of glass :D.
 
Very cool. Start a build thread if you haven't. I need that chroma green so I can photoshop Brad Pitt into my tank ;)

ETA: haha, a build thread like the one in your sig? :headwally: your links busted though, I had to cut and paste
 
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Rather than dealing with people speculating, you might want to talk to people who have already dome this. Large public aquariums and or some universities would be a good place to start. In addition, there is a fellow in the Large Tank Forum who is building a couple of large concrete tanks (20,000G+ IIRC) in his house. His username is hedgedrew. I'd read his thread and PM him for advice.
 
CStrickland said:
Very cool. Start a build thread if you haven't. I need that chroma green so I can photoshop Brad Pitt into my tank ;)

ETA: haha, a build thread like the one in your sig? :headwally: your links busted though, I had to cut and paste
Click to expand...

Yeah I plan to start a second threat counter to what I have had done todate simply because everything I am about to do is effectively everything I did in the 1st current thread, minus a bunch of errors plus a bunch of added crazyness.
 
Rybren said:
Rather than dealing with people speculating, you might want to talk to people who have already dome this. Large public aquariums and or some universities would be a good place to start. In addition, there is a fellow in the Large Tank Forum who is building a couple of large concrete tanks (20,000G+ IIRC) in his house. His username is hedgedrew. I'd read his thread and PM him for advice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up :)
 
Although I hear the theory of being able to chromakey a background, how would you stop algae from growing on it? The painted epoxied concrete will not lend itself to easy scrapeing. This seems like an awful lot of work and expense for something you would only use as intended for a short time.

Maybe trying to figure out an insert-able green screen to use for filming could accomplish what you need?
 
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