Painting a room + reef tank = ?

[Monkeyfish]

Right before I left on vacation my portable AC decided to leak about 8 gallons of water onto the floor (my tanks are in a finished room in the basement). So, I had to tear out the carpeting and some of the wall/sheetrock. My question is - can I put up new sheet rock and paint without negatively impacting the reef tank?

[quagmire]

Avoid oil paints and you will be fine. You can use a latex primer instead of oil.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=202017427&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=202017427&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D24X-_-202017427&locStoreNum=1222&marketID=20

[WallysWorld]

Eric, Also avoid primer. If you have to use it cover the tank with a drop cloth and vent the room as much as possible. A good protien skimmer will keep the water clean.
I primed my living room yeasr ago. When I was done I notice my 125 was milk white. I didn't have corals at the time just fish, everybody was ok :) Took my protein skimmer over night to clean the tank.

[Monkeyfish]

Do you think I could get by with one of those paint/primer all in one combos?

[fishome25]

I heard the paint primer does not work with dark colors, fyi.

[kilroy217]

if you really want to go nuts, they now make that VOC-free paint. it's expensive, but offers less of a problem. i know a lot of expecting parents who painted their new baby's room with the VOC-free stuff, and it was amazing how clean the air was afterwards.

[Monkeyfish]

Looking to go either medium blue or light brown/beige color.

I'll have to look into that VOC paint. The part of the room that's getting repainted is fairly small so the expense shouldn't be to bad.

[Long Island Andy]

This has been just my experience, I have had my 120 set up in den since 2002. That room has been painted 3 times( 4 if you count the time my bride decided she didn't like the color after the room was done) without any problem with my tank. We have always used latex paint and primer. I shut off the skimmer and covered the tank with a drop cloth when we were actually painting

Andy

[WallysWorld]

+1 on the VOC free paint. Also do yourself a favor and don't buy paint from Home depot. Aboff's or Sherwin william's is well worth the $$.
Like Andy said covering the tank is probably all you need to do.