Painting back of tank after it's been up n runnin

[Gluestick]

Okay, so as a newbie I was a little hasty to get my tank up and running. In a few weeks I am going to be removing the inhabitants, which are just a few fish, all the rock, and most of the water (which I will save half of, and then do a water change.) I am going to be putting some PVC under the rocks and my DSB, then securing the rocks with some zip ties and epoxy stuff. I also am hoping that with help from my husband and the neighbor or someone, we will be able to pull the tank away from the wall and paint the back, which I was too excited to do. Any tips would be great, I know that I was hasty and I wish I would have done this before, so please keep those comments to yourself. How many coats of paint should I need? What kind of paint in your experience is best? What should I stay away from? I want to do this before the DSB is too established, and before I add corals. Through doing more research and hearing people's opinions I have decided that these changes will probably be better to do now than wait till later. Thanks for you help. I want my tank to be awesome eventually!

[Andrew]

Kylon Fusion paint works pretty good. One or two coats should be enough.

[sir_dudeguy]

hey, instead of painting the tank itself, you could get like a big piece of plastic and paint that..then just fit it to the back of your tank...this way, if you ever get a scratch on the front, or if you just wanna turn your tank around, you dont have to worry about takin all the paint off..you can just slide the plastic (or if you really wanted it cheap..cardboard!!) out and put it on the other side..i myself am thinkn of takin cardboard and getting some black/blue cloth or material or whatever you call it from walmart and seeing how that works out.

[Gluestick]

Thanks for the idea dudeguy, but because of the built in overflow i wouldn't really want to turn it around anyway. I've tried to put one of those store bought sheets back there, which would be similar to the plastic, but the salt creep gets crazy and kind of a pain in the you know what

[beaniebeagle]

someone mentioned tinting for your car window will work well

[keinreis]

I always recomend going to a local Sign Shop, and purchasing black, or blue self adhesive vinyl. This stuff is available in various sizes, and won't scratch easily like paint. It is opaque where car tint is not. they should be able to sell you a piece big enough to use for a decent price. I was in the sign business for 15 years, and I always used this stuff for my tanks. It is the same thing they use for the lettering on signs and vehicals, so you will never have to wory about the durability of it. If you have any questions about it feel free to ask. BTW it is real easy to put on also.